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Beaugency, an ancient town of France, in the department of Loiret, on the right bank of the Loire, 16 miles SW. of Orleans by rail. It was successively in the hands of the Huns, Saxons, Normans, and English; and it sustained great damage during the religious wars of the 16th century. Here the French army under General Chanzy was severely defeated in a series of desperate struggles, December 7-10, 1870, by the German force under the Grand-duke of Mecklenburg. Pop. 3660.