Charles the Bald to the abbey of St
Ouen at Rouen, gave its name to a seigniory during the middle ages, and
possessed a priory of which the church and a 12th-century chapel remain;
Conde-sur-Marne (_Condate_), once a place of some importance, preserves
one of its parish churches, with a fine Romanesque tower. The two towns
are:--

1. CONDE-SUR-L'ESCAUT, in the department of Nord, at the junction of the
canals of the Scheldt and of Conde-Mons. Pop. (1906) town, 2701;
commune, 5310. It lies 7 m. N. by E. of Valenciennes and 2 m. from the
Belgian frontier. It has a church dating from the middle of the 18th
century. Trade is in coal and cattle. The industries include brewing,
rope-making and boat-building, and there is a communal college. Conde
(_Condate_) is of considerable antiquity, dating at least from the later
Roman period. Taken in 1676 by Louis XIV., it definitely passed into the
possession of France by the treaty of Nijmwegen two years later, and was
afterwards fortified by Vauban. During the revolutionary war it was
besieged and taken by the Austrians (1793); and in 1815 it again fell to
the allies. It was from this place that the princes of Conde (q.v.) took
their title. See Perron-Gelineau, _Conde ancien et moderne_ (Nantes,
1887).

2. CONDE-SUR-NOIREAU, in the department of Calvados, at the confluence
of the Noireau and the Drouance, 33 m. S.S.W. of Caen on the Ouest-Etat
railway. Pop. (1906) 5709. The town is the seat of a tribunal of
commerce, a board of trade-arbitration and a chamber of arts and
manufactures, and has a communal college. It is important for its
cotton-spinning and weaving, and carries on dyeing, printing and
machine-construction; there are numerous nursery-gardens in the
vicinity. Important fairs are held in the town. The church of St Martin
has a choir of the 12th and 15th centuries, and a stained-glass window
(15th century) representing the Crucifixion. There is a statue to Dumont
d'Urville, the navigator (b. 1790), a native of the town. Throughout the
middle ages Conde (_Condatum_, _Condetum_) was the seat of an important
castellany, which was held by a long succession of powerful nobles and
kings, including Robert, count of Mortain, Henry II. and John of
England, Philip Augustus of France, Charles II. (the Bad) and Charles
III. of Navarre. The place was held by the English from 1417 to 1449. Of
the castle some ruins of the keep survive. See L. Huet, _Hist. de
Conde-sur-Noireau, ses sei