CORBEIL

corbeil, a town of northern france, capital of an arrondissement in the department of seine-et-oise, at the confluence of the essonne with the seine, 21 m. s. by e. of paris on the orleans railway to nevers. pop. (1906) 9756. a bridge across the seine unites the main part of the town on the left bank with a suburb on the other side; handsome boulevards lead to the village of essonnes (pop. 7255), about a mile to the south-west. st spire, the only survivor of the formerly numerous churches of corbeil, dates from the 12th to the 15th centuries. behind the church there is a gothic gateway. a monument has been erected to the brothers galignani, publishers of paris, who gave a hospital and orphanage to the town. corbeil is the seat of a sub-prefect, and has tribunals of first instance and commerce and a chamber of commerce. it has important flour-mills, tallow-works, printing-works, large paper-works at essonnes, and carries on boat and carriage-building, and the manufacture of plaster. the decauville engineering works are in the vicinity. there is trade in grain and flour. from the 10th to the 12th century corbeil was the chief town of a powerful countship, but it was united to the crown by louis vi.; it continued for a long time to be an important military post in connexion with the commissariat of paris. in 1258 st louis concluded a treaty here with james i. of aragon. of the numerous sieges to which it has been exposed the most important were those by the huguenots in 1562, and by alexander farnese, prince of parma, in 1590. corbel (lat. _corbellus_, a diminutive of _corvus_, a raven, on account of the beak-like appearance; ital. _mensola_, fr. _corbeau_, _cul-de-lampe_, ger. _kragstein_), the name in medieval architecture for a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any super-incumbent weight. a piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a tassel or a bragger. thus the carved ornaments from which the vaulting shafts spring at lincoln are corbels. norman corbels are generally plain. in the early english period they are sometimes elaborately carved, as at lincoln above cited, and sometimes more simply so, as at stone. they sometimes end with a point apparently growing into the wall, or forming a knot, as at winchester, and often are supported by angels and other figures. in the later periods the foliage or ornaments resemble those in the capitals. the corbels carrying the arches of the corbel tables in italy and france were often elaborately moulded, and sometimes in two or three courses projecting over one another; those carrying the machicolations of english and french castles had four courses. the corbels carrying balconies in italy and france were sometimes of great size and richly carved, and some of the finest examples of the italian cinquecento style are found in them. throughout england, in half-timber work, wood corbels abound, carrying window-sills or oriels in wood, which also are often carved. a "corbel table" is a projecting moulded string course supported by a range of corbels. sometimes these corbels carry a small arcade under the string course, the arches of which are pointed and trefoiled. as a rule the corbel table carries the gutter, but in lombard work the arcaded corbel table was utilized as a decoration to subdivide the storeys and break up the wall surface. in italy sometimes over the corbels will be a moulding, and above a plain piece of projecting wall forming a parapet (see also masonry).