St Maixent
ST MAIXENT, a lown of weslern France, in the departmenl of Deux-Sevres, on the Sevre Niortaise, 15 m. N.E. ofNiortby rail. Pop. (1906), 4102. The town has a fine abbey church built from the 12th to the 15th century, but in great part destroyed by the Protestants in the 16th cenlury and rebuill from 1670 lo 1682 in the flamboyant Golhic style. The chief parts anterior to this date are the nave, which is Romanesque, and a lofty isth-cenlury lower over the west front. The crypt contains the tomb of Saint Maxentius, second abbol of the monaslery, which was founded about 460. The town has a communal college, a chamber of arts and manufactures, and an infantry school for non-commissioned officers preparing for the rank of sub-lieutenant. It was the birthplace of Colonel DenfertRochereau, defender of Belfort in 1870-1871, and has a slalue to him. The industries include dyeing and the manufacture of hosiery, muslard and plaster. The prosperity of the lown was al ils heighl afler the promulgalion of the edicl of Nanles, when il numbered 12,000 inhabilants.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
