HOUSE

house, plate ii. figs. 7 and 8). its wings surround a courtyard into which three staircase turrets project; one of these leads to a chapel, the ceiling of which is decorated by fine frescoes. bourges is the seat of an archbishopric, a court of appeal, a court of assizes and a prefect; and is the headquarters of the viii. army corps. it has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, and a chamber of commerce, and a branch of the bank of france. its educational institutions include an ecclesiastical seminary, a lycee for boys, and a college for girls, training colleges, and a school of industrial art. the industrial activity of bourges depends primarily on its gunpowder and ammunition factories, its cannon-foundry and gun-carriage works. these all belong to the government, and, together with huge magazines, a school of pyrotechnics, and an artillery school, lie in the east of the town. the suburb of mazieres has large iron and engineering works, and there are manufactories of anvils, edge-tools, biscuits, woollen goods, oil-cloth, boots and shoes, fertilizers, brick and tile works, breweries, distilleries, tanneries, saw-mills and dye-works. the town has a port on the canal of berry, and does a considerable trade in grain, wine, vegetables, hemp and fruit. bourges occupies the site of the gallic town of _avaricum_, capital of the bituriges, mentioned by caesar as one of the most important of all gaul. in 52 b.c., during the war with vercingetorix, it was completely destroyed by the roman conqueror, but under augustus it rose again into importance, and was made the capital of aquitania prima. about a.d. 250 it became the seat of a bishop, the first occupant of the see being ursinus. captured by the visigoths about 475, it continued in their possession till about 507. in the middle ages it was the capital of berry. during the english occupation of france in the 15th century it became the residence of charles vii., who thus acquired the popular title of "king of bourges." in 1463 a university was founded in the city by louis xi., which continued for centuries to be one of the most famous in france, especially in the department of jurisprudence. on many occasions bourges was the seat of ecclesiastical councils--the most important being the council of 1438, in which the pragmatic sanction of the gallican church was established, and that of 1528, in which the lutheran doctrines were condemned.