154 ROCHESTER. 
of the Protestants, and governed itself for some time in the 
form of a republic. It was several times besieged by the 
Catholics without success, and stood out until 1637, when 
it was taken by Louis XIII. after a memorable siege of 
thirteen months, during which the inhabitants suffered all 
the horrors of famine. It was to exclude supplies during 
this siege, that Cardinal Richelieu caused the construction of 
an immense mole across the roadstead, above a mile and a 
half in length: remains of this vast work are still visible. Its 
fortifications were razed on that occasion, but they were re¬ 
erected under Louis XIV. such as they are at present. The 
environs of La Rochelle are unhealthy, on account of the 
number of salt marshes. This town was the birth-place of the 
naturalist Reaumur; 78 miles south of Nantes, and 335 
south-west of Paris. Lat. 46. 9. 21. N. long. 1. 9. 40. W. 
ROCHELLE, New, a township of the United States, in 
West Chester county, New York, on Long Island sound; 21 
miles noith-north-east of New York. Population 996. 
ROCHELOIS, two rivers of St. Domingo, which run 
south-east, and enter the sea, on the north coast of the bay 
Grande. 
ROCHEMAURE, a town of France, department of the 
Ardeche, near the Rhone. Population 1050; 6 miles north¬ 
west of Montelimart. 
. ROCHESTER, a city in the hundred of Rochester, lathe 
of Aylesford, and county of Kent, England, is situated on 
an angle of land formed by the current of the river Medway, 
at the distance of 8|- miles north from Maidstone, and 29 
miles east-by-south from London. It contained, in con¬ 
junction with the adjoining town of Chatham, 3838 houses, 
and 21,722 inhabitants. 
Rochester is said to have been originally founded by 
the ancient Britons, who gave it the appellation of Dwr- 
bryf, which signifies “ a swift stream," in allusion to 
the rapidity of the Medway at this part of it's course. 
When the Romans established themselves in Albion, it be¬ 
came one of their stipendiary stations, and was denomi¬ 
nated by them Durobrivse, or Durobrivis, afterwards con¬ 
tracted to Roibis. These facts are evidenced by the Itinerary 
of Antoninus, and also by the Peutingerian Tables, and 
receive strong confirmation from the frequent discoveries of 
Roman remains, which have been made at different periods 
within the area of the present city. During the government 
of that people, however, its history is completely barren; 
nor did it attain any celebrity for more than a century after 
the arrival of the Saxons, who altered its name to Hrof- 
ceaster, whence its modern designation is derived. Ethel- 
bert, king of Kent, who was converted to the Christian 
faith, A. D. 597, first erected a church here, and constituted 
the town a bishop’s see. Still, however, it was regarded 
chiefly as a military station, and hence is styled by Bede 
« a castle of the Kentish men.” In the year 676, Ethelred, 
king of Mercia, pillaged Rochester, as did Ceadwalla, king 
of Wessex, within a few years of the same period. The 
Danish invaders likewise frequently plundered it, particularly 
in 839, when they sacked the city and committed many 
cruelties. In 885 they besieged it again, but were effectu¬ 
ally kept in check by the inhabitants, till the great Alfred 
arrived with his army, and drove them back to their ships. 
About a century afterwards, Ethelred, king of Kent, met 
with a similar reception, and being frustrated in his attempt 
upon the city, gratified his vengeance by laying waste all the 
lands belonging to'the see. But these sieges were trivial to 
what the inhabitants suffered from the Danes in 999, when 
the city was pillaged to the uttermost, and all the inhabitants 
who remained in it were put to death. From that period 
Rochester seems to have continued mostly in possession of 
the Danes till the death of Canute the Great. In the time 
of Edward the Confessor it belonged to the crown ; and as 
part of the royal'domains it was seized by the Conqueror, by 
whom it was granted to his half-brother, Odo, bishop of 
Baieux, on whose disgrace, in 1083, it reverted to the mon¬ 
arch. Henry I. farmed it out to Ihe citizens at the yearly 
rent of 20/., which was paid by the praepositus, or bailiff. 
He also granted to bishop Gundulph, and to the churclr 
of Rochester, an annual fair to be held on the eve and day 
of St. Paulinus, together with various rights and immuni¬ 
ties. In the same reign, on the 11th of May 1130, while 
Henry himself, the archbishop of Canterbury, and other 
prelates, and many of the nobility were at Rochester, most 
of its buildings were consumed by fire. A similar misfor¬ 
tune befell it in the year 1137, and again in April, 1379. 
These several calamities retarded the prosperity of the city ; 
and the intestine commotions happening soon afterwards, it 
did not regain any great degree of consequence till the reign 
of Henry III. This monarch repaired, or rebuilt, the city 
walls, and invested it besides with a deep fosse. In 1251 
the same prince held a solemn tournament here, which was 
attended by most of the English nobility, and by a great 
concourse of foreign knights. In the time of the wars be¬ 
tween York and Lancaster, Rochester suffered much from 
the arms of the contending parties, and was more than once 
visited by the plague. Henry VIII. was twice here,' once in 
company with the emperor Charles V. and again when he 
came hither to meet his consort, Ann of Cleves. During 
the reign of queen Mary several individuals suffered martyr¬ 
dom here for their religious opinions. Queen Elizabeth, her 
successor, lodged upwards of a week at Rochester; and this 
was the first city in which Charles II. was publicly received, 
after his restoration to the throne in 1660. In 1665, Ro¬ 
chester was visited with the same plague which committed 
such dreadful havoc among the inhabitants of the metropolis. 
From that period nothing worthy of historical record has-, 
occnrred. 
Rochester probably possessed a corporate community 
even in the time of the Saxons, but its Jnature cannot 
now be precisely ascertained. The first Norman monarch 
who granted to the inhabitants any privileges by charter, 
was Henry II. This prince gave them the city “ in fee, 
or perpetual ferm, for 20/. sterling per annum, to hold 
of him and his heirs for ever, with all the appurtenances, 
liberties, and free customs; and that they should have 
a guild merchant, and several other privileges and immu¬ 
nities.” These advantages were still further increased by 
Richard I. who directed his writ to the bailiff, and the whole 
hundred of Rochester, ordaining, “ that no one, except his 
servants, should purchase victuals in the city till the monks 
of St. Andrew had been first served." This right was after¬ 
wards so far extended, that even the servants of the monarch 
were forbidden to make a prior purchase; and the monks 
continued to enjoy the privilege thusgiven till the dissolution. 
Henry III. not only confirmed to the citizens all former 
grants, but remitted to them a portion of their annual fee- 
ferm, and declared they were to be “exempt from toll, last- 
age, stallage, and murage, throughout England and the sea¬ 
ports, and should have a free market within their city, and 
the return of all writs whatsoever.” These privileges were 
renewed by Richard II. in 1378 ; by Henry VI. in 1438 
and 1446; and by Edward IV., who further extended the 
bounds of the city, and ordained that the corporation should 
be styled “ The Mayor and Citizens of Rochester.’’ Henry 
VIII. was the next monarch who confirmed the privileges of 
Rochester; and his successors, to the time of Charles I. 
severally did the same. By the last-mentioned monarch, the 
corporation was made to consist of “ a mayor, twelve aider- 
men, (of which latter number the mayor was to be one,) 
twelve assistants, or common council-men, a recorder and 
town-clerk, two chamberlains, a principal sergeant-at-mace, 
a water-bailiff, and other inferior officers.” Under this 
charter the city is now governed; and by virtue of it, the 
mayor is elected annually on the Monday previous to St. 
Matthew's day. The mayor and citizens hold a court of 
admiralty once a-year, for regulating the oyster fishery in 
those creeks and branches of the river Medway which are 
within their jurisdiction. Here are also held the county as¬ 
sises, alternately with Maidstone; likewise the petty sessions 
for the north division of the lathe of Aylesford. The market- 
day is Friday, weekly; and there are two annual fairs, on 
the 30th of May and the 11 th of December. Rochester 
sends' 
