MANTES-SUR-SEINE

mantes-sur-seine, a town of northern france, capital of an arrondissement in the department of seine-et-oise on the left bank of the seine, 34 m. w.n.w. of paris by rail. pop. (1906), 8113. the chief building in mantes is the celebrated church of notre-dame which dates in the main from the end of the 12th century. a previous edifice was burnt down by william the conqueror together with the rest of the town, at the capture of which he lost his life in 1087; he is said to have bequeathed a large sum for the rebuilding of the church. the plan, which bears a marked resemblance to that of notre-dame at paris, includes a nave, aisles and choir, but no transepts. three portals open into the church on the west, the two northernmost, which date from the 12th century, being decorated with fine carving; that to the south is of the 14th century and still more ornate. a fine rose-window and an open gallery, above which rise the summits of the western towers, occupy the upper part of the facade. in the interior, chapels dating from the 13th and 14th centuries are of interest. the tower of st maclou (14th century), relic of an old church and the hotel de ville (15th to 17th centuries), are among the older buildings of the town, and there is a fountain of the renaissance period. modern bridges and a medieval bridge unite mantes with the opposite bank of the seine on which the town of limay is built. the town has a sub-prefecture and a tribunal of first instance. mantes was occupied by the english from 1346 to 1364, and from 1416 to 1449.