617 



COURSAN. 



COVENTRY. 



013 



herrings, sugar, and other colonial produce ; the exports consist of 

 flax, hemp, corn, calf-skins, salt meat, hides, bristles, bones, timber, 

 tallow, deals, &c. Ship-building and manufactures of various kinds 

 are actively carried on : the population of Libau is about 10,000. 

 Windau stands at the mouth of the river Windau, down which a 

 great deal of timber, the most important article of export, is floated : 

 the population of Windau is over 2000. The inland trade is mono- 

 polised by the Jews. 



COURSAN. [AuDE.] 



COURTENHALL. [NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.] 



COURTRAI (in Flemish Kortryk), a fortified and manufacturing 

 town of West Flanders, in Belgium ; 75 miles W. by railway 

 (through Malines and Ghent) from Brussels, 32 miles by railway S. 

 from Bruges ; stands in 50 49' N. lat., 3 18' E. long., and has 21,500 

 inhabitants. The town occupies both banks of the river Lys, by 

 means of which and by canals it has water communication with the 

 principal towns of Flanders. The river is crossed by an old bridge 

 flanked with towers. (Sourtrai existed in the time of the Romans 

 under the name of Cortoriacum (afterwards written Cartricum), and 

 as early as the 7th century enjoyed the privileges of a municipal city. 

 The fortifications were begun in 1290 ; the castle was built in 1385 

 by Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy. The works were enlarged 

 and perfected chiefly by the French, who built the citadel in 1647. The 

 ngs in 1302, commanded by John count of Namur, defeated a 

 French army under the Count of Artois near to Courtrai. After 

 the battle about 700 gilt spurs were gathered on the field from the 

 slaughtered French, and hung up as a trophy in the church of the 

 convent of Groenangen, now destroyed. This circumstance caused 

 the battle to be called the Battle of Spurs. A small chapel built in 

 1831 a little outside the Ghent Gate marks the centre of the field of 

 the Battle of Spurs. The town was taken by the French successively 

 in 1643, 1646, 1667, and 1683, and was restored to Spain by the peace 

 of Ryswick. The French destroyed the fortifications in 1744 ; in 

 1793 they obtained a victory over the English near the town, of 

 which they took possession a few days afterwards, and constituted it 

 the capital of the department of the Lys. 



The streets of Courtrai are wide and clean ; the houses are well 

 built. The town contains several fine buildings, among others the 

 town-hall, the churches of St. Martin and of Notre Dame. The town- 

 hall, a gothic edifice erected in 1526, stands in the market-place : it is 

 disfigured by a modern front. The interior contains two remarkable 

 carved chimney-pieces, representing the Virtues and the Vices, in bas- 

 relief. St. Martin's church, originally founded by St. Eloi the apostle 

 of Flanders about A.D. 650, is remarkable for its lofty tower, which 

 commands a splendid view of the surrounding country, and for its 

 beautiful tabernacle of carved stonework in the richest gothic style. 

 The church of Notre Dame is a gothic structure founded in 1238 by 

 Baldwin, count of Flanders and emperor of Constantinople. It has 

 been modernised however and lined with marble. It contains 

 Vandyck's celebrated painting of ^thes Elevation of the Cross. Both 

 these churches are decorated with paintings and sculptures of more 

 than ordinary excellence. 



Courtrai contains an exchange, a college, and two asylums for 

 orphans. A great part of the working population is employed in 

 spinning flax and in weaving and bleaching linen and damask. The 

 line linens known under the name of Courtrai cloth are made in the 

 surrounding districts, and sold unbleached in the weekly market held 

 in the town, where the pieces are finished and prepared for sale to 

 the consumers. A vast quantity of the finest flax is grown in the 

 plain around Courtrai for the supplies of the manufactories of the 

 town and for export. There are large bleaching-grounds in the 

 neighbourhood. The waters of the Lys are said to possess very 

 superior bleaching qualities. The dyers of Courtrai imitate with 

 success the colour known as Turkey red. Thread-lace and silk-lace 

 are among the other industrial products. The earliest of the cloth 

 manufactures of Flanders was established at Courtrai in 1260. 



(Itictionnaire Giographiqiu de la Province de la, Flandre Occidental*; 

 Statistical Papen of the Belgian Government ; Handbook of Belgium 

 and the Rhine.) 



COUSERANS, LE, or, as it was written in the last century, 

 CONSERANS, a district of the former province of Gascoigue in 

 B'rance, was bounded E. by the county of Foix, N. and W. by the 

 district of Comminges, and S. by the Pyrenees, which separate it from 

 the province of Catalonia in Spain. It is a mountainous district ; and 

 is watered by several feeders of the Salat, which carries off the whole 

 drainage of the district into the Garonne. Couserans is now included 

 in the department of Ariege. [AmfeoE.] 



The district derives its name from the Contorani, or Consuarani, 

 one of the tribes of Aquitania or Narbonensis mentioned by Pliny. 

 They are not noticed by Caesar. Their chief town, Austria, or Con- 

 torani, assumed from one of its bishops its designation of St.-Lizier. 

 [AmfcjK.] Upon the downfall of the Roman empire Couserans came 

 successively into the hands of the Visigoths and the Franks. In 

 feudal times it ranked first as a county, afterwards as a vice-county. 

 The bishopric in which this district was comprehended originated 

 probably about the end of the 5th century : the bishop was a 

 suffragan of the archbishop of Auch. St. Lizier was elected bishop 

 about 698, and died 742. 



COUTANCES. [MANCHE.] 



COVENTRY, Warwickshire, a city, a municipal and parliamentary 

 borough, manufacturing town, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in 

 the hundred of Knightlow. Although in Warwickshire, it formed 

 (until recently) along with some adjacent villages a separate county. 

 In 1842 an Act of Parliament was passed which incorporated Coventry 

 with the county of Warwick ; and in 1843 an order in council was 

 issued, which formed Warwickshire into two divisions, the Warwick 

 division and the Coventry division, each having a separate commission 

 of assize. Coventry lies on the right bank of the river Sherbourne, 

 in 52 24' N. lat., 1 30' W. long. ; 10 miles N.N.E. from Warwick, 

 91 miles N.N.W. from London by road, and 94 miles by the London 

 and North -Western railway. The population of the municipal 

 borough in 1851 was 36,208 ; that of the parliamentary borough was 

 36,812. The borough is governed by a corporation consisting 01 

 10 aldermen, one of whom is mayor, and 30 councillors ; and returns 

 two members to the Imperial Parliament. Coventry is divided into 

 two parishes St. Michael's, a vicarage, and St. John's, a rectory ; 

 they are in the archdeaconry of Coventry and diocese of Worcester. 

 The Coventry Poor- Law Union is co-extensive with these two parishes. 



Coventry is a place of great antiquity, but its origin is involved in 

 obscurity. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, in 1044, Earl 

 Leofric, a powerful lord of the large territory of Mercia, with his 

 wife, the Lady Godiva, founded at Coventry a magnificent Benedictine 

 monastery. The capacious cellar of the monks still exists, measuring 

 75 yards in length by 5 yards in breadth. After the Conquest the 

 lordship of Coventry came to the earls of Chester. Leland and other 

 writers speak of the walls, gates, and towers by which the city was 

 defended, and of its streets, which were well built of timber. The 

 walls were demolished by Charles II. in consequence of the active 

 part taken by the citizens in favour of the parliamentary army. 

 During the monastic ages Coventry had a large and beautiful 

 cathedral. At the Reformation it was levelled to the ground by order 

 of Henry VIII. Coventry was the seat of a Parliament held by 

 Henry IV. in 1404, and of another by Henry VI. in 1459. It was 

 the scene of the famous meeting for trial by battle between the Duke 

 of Norfolk and the Duke of Hereford, afterwards Henry IV. 



From an early period Coventry was renowned for its exhibition of 

 pageants and processions ; and in the monastic ages it was remarkable 

 for the magnificent and costly performance of the religious dramas 

 called mysteries. Accounts are extant of these solemn shows as early 

 as 1416. They were performed chiefly by the Gray friars, on 

 moveable street-stages on the day of Corpus Christi. The subjects 

 were the Nativity, Crucifixion, Doomsday, &c., and the splendour of 

 the exhibitions was such that the king and the royal family, with the 

 highest dignitaries of the church, were frequently present as spectators. 

 An ample and exceedingly interesting account of these Coventry 

 Mysteries will be found in a ' Dissertation on the Pageants or Dramatic 

 Mysteries antiently performed at Coventry, and other Municipal 

 Entertainments,' by Thomas Sharp, 4to., 1825. The plates in this 

 work are extremely interesting, and the facts are valuable as illustrative 

 of the state of society at that period. The following work also contains 

 much curious information : 'The Pageant of the Company of Shereme'n 

 and Taylors in Coventry, as performed by them on the Festival of 

 Corpus Christi, with other Pageants at Coventry, on the Visit of 

 Henry VI. and his Queen in 1455 ; of Prince Edward in 1474 ; of 

 Prince Arthur in 1498, &c. ; with the Verses recited in Character on 

 those Occasions.' By W. Reader, Coventry. Other writers give 

 descriptions of the costly pageants exhibited to Henry IV., Henry 

 VII., and several other kings. Coventry was the favourite residence 

 of Edward the Black Prince. Here also Queen Elizabeth delighted 

 to sec ' The game of Hock Tuesday,' which represented the destruction 

 of the Danes by the English in 1002. The peculiar predilection of the 

 people of Coventry for pageantry is still displayed in the notorious 

 processional show at the great fair on the Friday in Trinity week, 

 when many thousands assemble to see the representative of Lady 

 Godiva. The legendary origin of this singular exhibition is as 

 follows : -Earl Leofric had subjected the citizens of Coventry to a 

 very oppressive taxation, and remaining inflexible against the entreaties 

 of his lady for the people's relief, he declared that her request should 

 be granted only on the condition that she should ride naked through 

 the streets of the city; a thing which he supposed to be quite 

 impossible. But the lady's modesty being overpowered by her 

 generosity, and the inhabitants having been enjoined to close all 

 their shutters, she partially veiled herself with her flowing hair, 

 made the circuit of the city on her palfrey, and thus obtained for it 

 those privileges which it from that time forth enjoyed. The story 

 is embellished with the incident of Peeping Tom, an inquisitive 

 tailor, who was struck blind for looking out as the lady passed. A 

 figure styled his effigy is still to be seen protruded from au upper 

 window in High-street, adjoining the King's Head tavern. In Gough s 

 edition of Camden's ' Britannia' (vol. ii. p. 346) it is stated that 

 Mathew of Westminster, who wrote in 1307, that is, 250 years aft< 

 the time of Leofrie, is the first who mentions this legend, and that 

 many preceding writers who speuk of Leofric and Godiva do not 

 notice it : a similar legend is said to be related of Briavel s Cast! 

 The Coventry procession, as at present exhibited, began only m the 

 reign of Charles II., in 1677; it consists principally ot St. George 



