Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/244

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222 Y I E V I E and variety of its leather and other fancy goods it rivals Paris ; and among manufactures of a more solid character may be instanced machinery, ironwares, carriages, cotton and silk goods, &c. The beer of Vienna is also famous. The municipal government of Vienna is entrusted to a gemeinderath of 120 elected members, with an executive and police magistracy. The annual income of this body amounts to about one and a half millions sterling. In the national parliament the city is represented by 10 members. The climate of Vienna is changeable, and rapid falls of tempera ture are not uncommon. The range between January and June is about 40 Fahr. Violent storms often occur in spring and autumn ; and the heat of summer is accompanied by a plague of dust. Good water is brought by an aqueduct from the Schneeberg, 50 miles to the south-west. The annual death-rate is about twenty- six per thousand. History. For several centuries Vienna filled an important role as the most advanced bulwark of Western civilization and Christian ity against the Turks, for during the whole of the Middle Ages Hungary practically retained its Asiatic character. The story of Vienna begins in the earliest years of the Christian era, with the seizure of the Celtic settlement of Vimlomina by the Romans, who changed its name to Vindobona, and established a fortified camp here to command the Danube and protect the northern frontier of the empire. The fortress grew in importance, and was afterwards made a municipium ; and here Marcus Aurelius died in 180. On the decline of the Roman empire Vindobona became the prey of successive barbarian invaders. Attila and his Huns were among the temporary occupants of the place (5th century), and in the following century it came into the possession of the Avars, after which its name disappears from history until towards the close of the 8th century, when Charlemagne expelled the Avars and made the district between the Enns and the Wiener Wald the boundary of his empire. In the time of Otho II. (976) this "East Mark" (Ostmark, Oesterreich, Austria) was granted in fief to the Baben- bergers, and in the reign of Frederick Barbarossa (1156) it was ad vanced to the rank of a duchy. There is no certain record that the site of Vindobona was occupied at the time of the formation, of the Ostmark, though many considerations make it probable. It is not likely that the Avars, living in their "ring" encampments, de stroyed the Roman municipium ; and Bees, the Hungarian name for Vienna to this day, is susceptible of a Slavonic interpretation only, and would seem to indicate that the site had been occupied in Slavonic times. The frequent mention of "Wiene" in the oldest extant version of the Nibclungenlied points in the same direction. Passing over a doubtful mention of "Vwienni" in the annals of 1030, we find the " civitas " of Vienna mentioned in a document of 1130, and in 1156 it became the capital and residence of Duke Hem- rich Jasomirgott. In 1237 Vienna received a charter of freedom from Frederick II., confirmed in 1247. In the time of the crusades Vienna increased so rapidly, in consequence of the traffic that flowed through it, that in the days of Ottocar II. of Bohemia (1251-76), the successor of the Babenbergers, it had attained the dimensions of the present inner town. A new era of power and splendour begins in 1276, when it became the capital of the Haps- burg dynasty, after the defeat of Ottocar by Rudolph of Hapsburg. From this time on it has shared the fortunes of the house of Austria. In 1477 Vienna was besieged unsuccessfully by the Hungarians, and in 1485 it was taken by Matthew Corvinus. Of more import ance were the two sieges by the Turks (1529 and 1683), when the city was saved on the first occasion by the gallant defence of Nicholas von Salm, and on the second by Riidiger von Starhem- berg, who held out until the arrival of the Poles and Germans under John Sobieski of Poland. The suburbs, however, were destroyed on both occasions. In 1805, and again in 1809, Vienna was for a short time occupied by the French. In 1814-15 it was the meeting- place of the congress which settled the political affairs of Europe after the overthrow of Napoleon. In 1848 the city was for a time in the hands of the revolutionary party ; but it was bombarded by the imperial forces and compelled to surrender on 30th October of the same year. Vienna was not occupied by the Prussians in the war of 1 866, but the invaders inarched to within sight of its towers. Since then the most important event in its history has been the exhibition of 1873. See Weiss, Cesch. der Shalt Wien (2 vols., 2<1 ert., 1882-83), containing an ample bibliography ; Oesterreich in Wort und Jiild, &c., Krste Abth. (18St>) ; Weiss, Tojwgraphie der Stadt Wien (1S7C) ; Victor Tissot, Vienne et la Vie Viennoise (Paris, 1878). (J. F. M.) VIENNE, a department of France, formed in 1790 out of Poitou (four-fifths of its present area), Touraine (one- seventh), and Berry, lies between 46 3 and 47 10 N. lat. and 6 W. and 1 12 E. long., and is bounded by Deux- Sevres on the W., Charente on the S., Haute- Vienne on the S.E., Indre on the E., Indre-et-Loire on the N.E. and N., and Maine-et-Loire on the N.W. The river Vienne, which gives its name to the department, with its tributaries the Creuse (subtributary the Gartempe) on the east and the Clain on the west, flows from south to north. The general slope of the department is in the same direction, the highest point (764 feet) being in the south-east and the lowest (115 feet) at the junction of the Vienne and the Creuse. In the south the Charente, on the north west the Dive, and in the west some streams belonging to the basin of the Sevre-Niortaise drain small portions of the department. The average temperature is 54 Fahr. The prevailing winds are from the south-west and west. The annual rainfall is 23 inches. Of the total area of 1,722,478 acres arable land occupies 1,119,675, grass 76,899, vines 90,750, woods 193,322, and heath, pasture, and uncultivated land 146,971. In 1881 the live stock included 22,637 horses, 7176 mules, 9679 asses, 63,052 cattle, 155,212 sheep of native and 47,970 of improved breed, 66,655 pigs, and 21,744 goats. There were also 11,047 beehives (32^ tons of honey and as much of wax). The crops in 1884 were wheat 4,557,146 bushels, meslin 245,641, rye 291,673, barley 1,063,647, oats 4,295,742, buckwheat 27,813, maize 51,529, potatoes 3,455,220, beetroot 54,941 tons, colza seed 668 tons, hemp 323 tons, flax 3J tons, hay 108,955 tons, clover 54,862, lucerne 98,282, sainfoin 53,350, other fodder 10,079 tons, wine 20,288,952 gallons (average for last ten years 21,384,880 gallons). Oak, ash, alder, and birch are the principal forest trees, and among the fruit-trees are the chestnut, walnut, and almond. Iron and manganese occur, and there are numerous quarries of building and lithographic stones, lime, limestone, mill stones, marl, and a sort of pebbles which are cut into "Chatel lerault diamonds." There are sulphur and iron mineral springs. The most important industrial establishments are the national arms manufactory and- the cutlery works at Chatellerault ; in other parts of the department are forges, blast furnaces, wool-spinning mills (580 spindles), hemp-spinning mills (4000 spindles, of which only 1500 are in use, and 28 looms), manufactories of serges and coarse cloth, vinegar, candles, leather, tiles, and pottery, paper-works, breweries, distilleries, rope-yards, lime-kilns, and numerous plaster and flour mills. Corn, wine, brandy, vegetables, fruit, chestnuts, fodder, cattle, cutlery, and dressed hides are exported ; butcher s meat, colonial produce, and coals are imported. The department has 233 miles of railway, 239 of national and 8704 of other roads, and 32 of waterway (the Vienne from Chatellerault, the Dive below Moncontour, and some miles of the Creuse being navigable). The population in 1881 was 340,295 and in 1886 342,785, an increase of.^01,795 since 1801. Vienne forms part of the diocese of Poitiers, has its court of appeal and academy at Poitiers, and belongs to the Tours army corps district. The chef-lieu is Poitiers (population 34,628 in 1886), and the department is divided for purposes of ad ministration into 5 arrondissements (Poitiers ; Chatellerault, popu lation of town 14,498 in 1886; Civray, 2464; Loudun, 4041; Montmorillon, 4155), 31 cantons, and 300 communes. VIENNE, a town of France, chef-lieu of an arrondisse- ment in the department of Isere, historically and in dustrially the first, and by population the second, city of Dauphine, is situated on the left bank of the Rhone, at the point where it is joined by the Gere, 19 miles S. of Lyons by the railway to Marseilles. On the north, east, and south the town is sheltered by low hills. Its site is an immense mass of ancient debris, which is constantly yielding interesting antiquities. Along the Gere are traces of the ramparts of the old Roman city ; on Fort Pipet, to the east of the town, are the remains of a theatre and citadel and some vestiges of a pantheon and an amphi theatre ; and in the interior of the town are two arches of a theatre and the balustrade of a magnificent staircase. The ancient aqueducts, restored in 1822, still convey the waters of the Gere from a distance of 4 or 5 miles ; and there are several pieces of Roman road to be seen in the neighbourhood. The Plan de 1 Aiguille, a truncated quad rangular pyramid 55 feet high, resting on a portico with four arches, used to be pointed out as the tomb of Pontius Pilate (who, according to tradition, died here), but it is now recognized as having been part of the spina of a large circus, the outlines of which have been traced. The temple of Augustus and Li via, a rectangular building of the Corinthian order, was rebuilt at the end of the 2d century, and in the 5th century was converted into a

church. The " festival of reason " was celebrated in it at