Bourges

Bourges, French town, department of Cher, head of department, arrondissement, and canton, at the junction of the Auron and Yevre, about 150 miles south of Paris. It is a town of considerable military importance, and contains an arsenal and cannon foundry. There are cloth and blanket factories, cutlery works, and nursery gardens, and there is a good trade in hemp, wine, wool and agricultural produce. The noble cathedral of St. Stephen is a fine specimen of thirteenth-century architecture. The Town Hall was the house of the famous Jacques Coeur, Charles VII.'s treasurer, and is a fine example of the domestic architecture of the fifteenth century. There are other good Renaissance houses. Bourges was the birthplace of Louis XL, and of Bourdaloue. Under the Roman occupation Bourges was called Avaricum, from Avara, the Italian name of the Yevre. Caesar, in his Commentaries, says it was one of the finest cities of the Gauls. It afterwards became the capital of Berry, and as such underwent many sieges. Charles VII. found a refuge here at the beginning of his reign, and was in consequence called the King of Bourges. The university founded at Bourges in 1463 by Louis XI. had a great reputation, and among its professors was the famous lawyer Cujas.