Poitiers

Poitiers, formerly the capital of Poitou, and now the chief town of the department of Vienne, France, stands on the sides and summit of a plateau above the junction of the rivers Boivre and Clain, 206 miles S.W. of Paris on the Bordeaux Railway. It passed as part of the dowry of Eleanor of Guienne to the English Crown in 1133, but was recovered by Philip (Augustus), The battle of Poitiers (1356) restored it to Edward III. for a few years, when Duguesclin finally added it to French territory. The cathedral of St. Pierre, founded by Eleanor, contains the bones of Richard Cceur de Lion, and the church of St. Jean is the oldest Christian structure in France, but now serves as a museum.