185 



POITOIT. 



POLAND. 



1S8 



a village a few miles west of the town ; the defeat of the Saracens under 

 Abd-el-Rahmau, under the walls of Poitiers by the Franks, commanded 

 by Charles Martel A.D. 732 ; and the victory of the Black Prince at 

 the head of 8000 English and Gascon soldiers in 1356, over an army 

 of 50,000 French troops under Jean II., who was taken in the action. 

 By the marriage of Eleanor of Guienne to Henry Plantagenet, Poitiers 

 came into the hands of the English kings, who held it till 1204, when 

 it was wrested from them by Philippe Auguste. By the treaty of 

 ny in 1360 it was ceded to England, but it reverted to France 

 in 1372, by the voluntary surrender of the townsmen to Charles V. 

 For 14 years, while the English were masters of the greatest part of 

 France, Charles VII. kept his court and parliament in Poitiers, and 

 great additions were then made to the extent of the town. During 

 the religious wars it was taken from the Huguenots by the Catholics, 

 and was the scene of great cruelties ; Admiral Coligny made an 

 unsuccessful attempt to retake it in 1569. 



Poitiers is inclosed by old turreted walls pierced by six gates, four 

 of which open on bridges over the Clain. The space within the walls 

 comprises large gardens and orchards, so that the extent of the place 

 is much greater than the population would lead one to suppose. The 

 streets are mostly narrow and steep ; a few of them have been widened 

 and modernised of late years ; the leading thoroughfares are well 

 paved and furnished with sidepaths for foot passengers. On the 

 whole it is an irregular ill-built place, with houses mostly old, lum- 

 bering, and inconvenient, squares small and mean ; yet its position 

 on a hill-slope above the winding river, aud its public buildings, 

 remarkable for their antiquity, give Poitiers a picturesque and inter- 

 esting appearance. The most remarkable structure is the cathedral 

 of St-Pierre, which was commenced by the English Henry II., in 

 1152, but not finished till 1379. The western front, which is flanked 

 by two low but graceful towers, presents three magnificent portals of 

 great depth and richly decorated, the central one being surmounted 

 by a handsome rose window. The interior, consisting of choir, nave, 

 and Bill.,-.', is 323 feet long, 99 feet wide, and 96 feet high ; in the choir 

 are 70 stalls of carved woodwork, which date from the 13th century. 

 The other remarkable churches are the church of Sainte-Kadegonde, 

 with a crypt and nave, which date from the 12th century ; the church 

 of Montierneuf, which belonged to a Benedictine abbey and was 

 finished in 1096; the church of Notre-Dame, a Byzantine structure, 

 which, dating partly from the 9tb, partly from the llth century, is 

 the admiration of archaeologists for its magnificent portal, and the 

 delicacy and multiplicity of its sculptured ornaments ; the church of 

 St-Porchaire; what remains of the ancient basilica of St-Hi'.aire 

 noted in the beginning of the llth century; and near the cathedral 

 the church of St-Jean, a venerable monument of the 5th century, 

 which now serves for a museum of antiquities. In the centre of the 

 town stands a large building called Le-Palais, formerly the residence 

 of kings and of the hereditary counts of Poitou, but now used a* a 

 town-hall and chambers for the courts of justice. The house occupied 

 by Diane de Poitiers still stands at the corner of the streets St-Paul 

 ami Du-Coq. Besides the collection of antiquities, Poitiers ha* a 



library of 35,000 volumes, a cabinet of natural history, a 

 botanical garden, and a departmental nursery. Of Roman structures 

 there are still remaining some arches of an aqueduct to the south of 

 the town, and within the walls the ruins of a vast amphitheatre, which 

 is called le* Arene*. 



icrs gives title to a bishop, whose see is formed by the depart- 

 ments of Deux-Scvres and Vienne ; it is the scat of a High Court, 

 whi h has jurisdiction over the departments of Charente-Iufe'rieure, 



-evres, Vend(5e, and Vienne. It has a University-Academy, 

 v. lii.-h embraces within its limit* the departments just mentioned and 

 those of Charente, I ml re, Indre-et-Loire, and Haute-Vienne. Con- 

 nected with the University-Academy, there are in the town a faculty 

 of law, a secondary school of medicine, aud a national college. The 

 other institutions of the town are tribunals of first instance and of 

 commerce, a consultative chamber of manufactures, a free architec- 

 tural and drawing school, and several literary, scientific, artistic, and 

 agricultural societies. 



The chief manufactures are coarse woollen-cloth, blankets, hosiery, 

 lace, playing-cards, vinegar, leather, and dressed skins. The tradu in 

 these articles and in seeds, wheat, wine, hemp, flax, wax, honey, hides, 

 and dressed goose-skins, with the down on for furriers, is considerable. 

 (ttitfi'/nnairc de la France ; Annunire pour [An 1854.) 

 PUITOU, a province of France which now forms the departments 

 of Vienne, !) iix-Scvres, and Vendee, was bounded N. by Anjou and 

 Bratsgne, E. by Touraine, Berri, and Marohe, S. by Saintonge and 

 Annis, and W. by the Ocean. It was divided into Haut-Poitou and 

 BM-I'uiUiu, which had Poitiers and Fontenay for their respective 

 'i. Poitou is the country of the Celtic Pictones. Under the 



i empire it formed part of Aquitania Secunda ; it was invaded 



lively by the Vandals, the VUigoths, and the Franks ; and was 

 r the sway of the last, governed by its own count.', or dukes, until 



into the bands of the English on the marriage of Henry Plau- 

 nt to Kleanor of Guienne in 1152. Conquered by Philippe Auguste 

 i 1294, it was ceded to the English by the treaty of Bretigny in 1360; 

 1 finally reunited to the crown of France in 1375 by Charles VII. 

 ) inhabitants of too province were called Poitevuu. 

 ST. ' 



POL, ST. [PAS-DE-CALAIS.] 



POLA. [ISTRIA.] 



POLAND, a portion of the once powerful kingdom of the Jagellous, 

 which now constitutes a vice-royalty and forms au integral part of tho 

 Russian empire. It consists chiefly of a large quadrangular territory, 

 from the north-eastern angle of which a long narrow tract, forming 

 part of the government of Augustovo, projects to the northward, the 

 whole lying between 50" 4' and 55 5' N. lat., 17 30' and 24 20' E. 

 long. The narrow projection extends between 53 20' to 55 N. lat., 

 being about 120 miles in length, its breadth varyiug from 20 to 50 

 miles. The mean breadth of the quadrangular portion, from east to 

 west, is above 200 miles, and its length from north to south about the 

 same. The area of Poland, as we have denned it, is 49,091 square 

 miles. The population in 1851 was stated ta be 4,851,639, among 

 whom were 563,970 Jews, 291 Mahometans, and 162 gipsies. The 

 viceroyalty forms a vast solid projection, extending westward from the 

 Bug to the frontier of Germany, and separating Austria from Prussian 

 Poland. It is bounded N. by East and West Prussia, E. and N.K 

 by the Russian provinces of Wilna, Grodno, and Volhynia, S. by 

 Galicia, which includes the suppressed republic of Cracow, and W. by 

 Prussian Silesia and Posen. The Bug, the Narew, and the Niemeu 

 run along the eastern boundary, and the Vistula to its junction with 

 the San along the south. From the junction the Vistula sweeps 

 through the centre of the country, passing Warsaw and leaving the 

 viceroyalty at its north-western extremity a little above the Prussian 

 town of Thorn. The Prosna, a feeder of the Warta, a tributary of the 

 Oder, forms a large part of the western boundary. 



Soil and Surface. Though Poland is generally considered a perfect 

 level, the surface exhibits considerable diversity, and some districts 

 rise many hundred feet higher than others. The northern boundary 

 of Poland runs over the southern declivity of that swell of high 

 ground which must be considered as the southern limit of tho plain 

 of the Baltic, and which, beginning weat of the western corner of that 

 tea, and between it and the North Sea, extends eastward, at a varying 

 distance from it* shores, to the heights of Waldai and the source of 

 the Wolga, into the centre of Russia. The most elevated parts of the 

 surface of this tract (300 to 500 feet above the sea) are interspersed 

 with numerous lakes, and some districts are literally dotted with them. 

 Though the soil is sandy, the abundant moisture by which it is 

 saturated for a great part of the year imparts to it a moderate 

 degree of fertility, and it produces tolerable crops of rye, buckwheat, 

 barley, and oats. The southern declivity of the swell is still more 

 gentle. The river Bug in its western course is probably not more 

 than 300 feet above the sea-level, so that in a distance of more than 

 50 miles the country hardly descends 150 feet. Hence the rivers in 

 many parts have a sluggish course, not being able to carry oil' the 

 great supply of water in spring-time, and a considerable portion of 

 the adjacent lowlands is inundated at that period. Several largo 

 tracts along the Bug, Narew, and Bobr remain under water fur the 

 greatest part of the summer. A large portion of this region is covered 

 with woods ; the most common tree is pine. 



The most southern districts of Poland, the greater part of the 

 provinces of Cracow and Saudomir, aud that portion of Lublin which 

 lies between the rivers Vistula aud Wieprz, are hilly, and rise in some 

 places to a considerable elevation. The surface of the Vistula above 

 Sandomir is about 600 feet above the sea-level. At no great distance 

 from tho banks of the river the country rises with a steep ascent until 

 it has attained au elevation of more than 10UO feet, which may be 

 considered the mean height of nearly the whole country between the 

 Vistula and Pilica, with the exception of some tracts along the banks 

 of the first-mentioned river. The country between the Vistula and 

 Wieprz has a less elevation, though it is not less hilly. In the wide 

 valleys of this hilly region the soil, though somewhat sandy, is of 

 excellent quality, and yields good crops of excellent wheat. 



The country which extends from the hilly region to the banks of 

 the rivers Bug and Vistula, where they flow westward, and to tho 

 western boundary line of Poland, may be considered level, as the 

 highest ground, which runs in a south-eastern and north-western 

 direction, hardly rises more than from 200 to 300 feet above the low 

 tracts along the rivers, and the slopes are long and very gentle. The 

 more elevated parts of these higher grounds contain large tracts of 

 sand, nearly without vegetation : in other places they are covered 

 with heath, and here and there some swamps occur, but they are not 

 of great extent The slopes have a more fertile soil, but even there 

 the crops of rye and oats are scanty. In the vicinity of the rivers 

 fertile tracts are numerous, especially on the low lauds along their 

 banks ; but in some places, and more especially along the banks of 

 the Worta, these tracts arc so low, that the soil is wet nearly all the 

 year round, aud they serve only as pasture-ground in the latter part 

 of the summer and the beginning of the autumn, A large portion of 

 this region also is covered with pine forests. 



Climate. The range of the temperature is above 100 degrees in 

 the course of the year. The summers are generally very hot, the 

 thermometer rising to above 90 under the influence of the south- 

 eastern wind, which blows from the steppes of Southern Russia ; but 

 these winds are not frequent, and when succeeded by north-western 

 winds, the thermometer in a few hours sinks 1 a degrees. The winters 

 are very cold, the thermometer generally descends to 10" below zero, 



