Angoulême

Angoulême, the capital of the French department of Charente, and formerly of the province of Angoumois, stands 220 feet above the winding Charente, 83 miles NE. of Bordeaux by rail. Its old town has narrow crooked streets, and it contains a fine Romanesque cathedral (1136), and a striking hôtel-de-ville, with which is incorporated the remnant of the ancient castle of Angoulême, where was born the celebrated Marguerite of Navarre, author of the Heptameron. Ravaillac was also a native. The old bastions have been converted into fine terrace-walks. There are manufactures of machinery, paper, and wire, and a brisk trade in brandy. Pop. (1866) 24,961; (1891) 34,188. The province of Angoumois was in early times a county; but in the 14th century Philip the Fair took possession of it, and it became an appanage of the younger branches of the royal family. It was made a duchy by Francis I., and was sometimes bestowed upon natural sons of the French kings, such as Charles de Valois (1573-1650), son of Charles IX., a distinguished general in the reigns of Henry IV. and Louis XIII. It was given by Louis XIV. to the Duc de Berri, after whose death (1714) the title was attached to the princes of the elder Bourbon line.