COSNE

cosne, a town of central france, capital of an arrondissement in the department of nievre, on the right bank of the loire at its junction with the nohain, 37 m. n.n.w. of nevers by the paris-lyon railway. pop. (1906) town, 5750; commune, 8437. two suspension bridges unite it to the left bank of the loire. the church of st aignan is a building of the 12th century, restored in the 16th and 18th centuries; the only portions in the romanesque style are the apse and the north-west portal. it formerly belonged to a benedictine priory depending on the abbey of la charite (nievre). the manufacture of files, flour-milling and tanning are carried on in the town which has a subprefecture, a tribunal of first instance and a communal college. cosne is mentioned in the antonine itinerary under the name of _condate_, but it was not till the middle ages that it rose into importance as a military post. in the 12th century the bishop of auxerre and the count of nevers agreed to a division of the supremacy over the town and its territory.