t was at one time the seat of a countship,
the lords of which were already powerful in the 11th century. Raoul de
Clermont, constable of France, died at Acre in 1191, leaving a daughter
who brought Clermont to her husband, Louis, count of Blois and Chartres.
Theobald, count of Blois and Clermont, died in 1218 without issue, and
King Philip Augustus, having received the countship of Clermont from the
collateral heirs of this lord, gave it to his son Philip Hurepel, whose
daughter Jeanne, and his widow, Mahaut, countess of Dammartin, next held
the countship. It was united by Saint Louis to the crown, and afterwards
given by him (1269) to his son Robert, from whom sprang the house of
Bourbon. In 1524 the countship of Clermont was confiscated from the
constable de Bourbon, and later (1540) given to the duke of Orleans, to
Catherine de' Medici (1562), to Eric, duke of Brunswick (1569), from
whom it passed to his brother-in-law Charles of Lorraine (1596), and
finally to Henry II., prince of Conde (1611). In 1641 it was again
confiscated from Louis de Bourbon, count of Soissons, then in 1696 sold
to Louis Thomas Amadeus of Savoy, count of Soissons, in 1702 to
Francoise de Brancas, princesse d'Harcourt, and in 1719 to Louis-Henry,
prince of Conde. From a branch of the old lords of Clermont were
descended the lords of Nesle and Chantilly.

CLERMONT-FERRAND, a city of central France, capital of the department of
Puy-de-Dome, 113 m. W. of Lyons on the Paris-Lyon railway. Pop. (1906)
town, 44,113; commune, 58,363. Clermont-Ferrand is situated on an
eminence on the western border of the fertile plain of Limagne. On the
north, west and south it is surrounded by hills, with a background of
mountains amongst which the Puy-de-Dome stands out prominently. A small
river, the Tiretaine, borders the town on the north. Since 1731 it has
been composed of the two towns of Clermont and Montferrand, now
connected by a fine avenue of walnut trees and willows, 2 m. in length,
bordered on one side by barracks. The watering-place of Royat lies a
little more than a mile to the west. Clermont has several handsome
squares ornamented with fountains, the chief of which is a graceful
structure erected by Bishop Jacques d'Amboise in 1515. The streets of
the older and busier quarter of Clermont in the neighbourhood of the
cathedral and the Place de Jaude, the principal square, are for the most
part narrow, sombre and bordered by old houses built of lav