d, and it was counted a place of some consideration when
Philip Augustus attacked it in 1195. By Richard I. of England it was
bestowed in 1197 on the archbishop of Rouen in return for certain
territory in the neighbourhood of the episcopal city. In 1339 it was
plundered by the English, but it soon recovered from the blow, and in
spite of the opposition of the lords of Hantot managed to surround
itself with fortifications. Its commercial activity was already great,
and it is believed that its seamen visited the coast of Guinea in 1339,
and founded there a Petit Dieppe in 1365. The town was occupied by the
English from 1420 to 1435. A siege undertaken in 1442 by John Talbot,
first earl of Shrewsbury, was raised by the dauphin, afterwards Louis
XI., and the day of the deliverance continued for centuries to be
celebrated by a great procession and miracle plays. In the beginning of
the 16th century Jean Parmentier, a native of the town, made voyages to
Brazil and Sumatra; and a little later its merchant prince, Jacques
Ango, was able to blockade the Portuguese fleet in the Tagus. Francis I.
began improvements which were continued under his successor. Its
inhabitants in great number embraced the reformed religion; and they
were among the first to acknowledge Henry IV., who fought one of his
great battles at the neighbouring village of Arques. Few of the cities
of France suffered more from the revocation of the edict of Nantes in
1685; and this blow was followed in 1694 by a terrible bombardment on
the part of the English and Dutch. The town was rebuilt after the peace
of Ryswick, but the decrease of its population and the deterioration of
its port prevented the restoration of its commercial prosperity. During
the 19th century it made rapid advances, partly owing to Marie Caroline,
duchess of Berry, who brought it into fashion as a watering-place; and
also because the establishment of railway communication with Paris gave
an impetus to its trade. During the Franco-German War the town was
occupied by the Germans from December 1870 till July 1871.

See L. Vitet, _Histoire de Dieppe_ (Paris, 1844); D. Asseline, _Les
Antiquites et chroniques de la ville de Dieppe_, a 17th-century
account published at Paris in 1874.

DIERX, LEON (1838- ), French poet, was born in the island of Reunion
in 1838. He came to Paris to study at the Central School of Arts and
Manufactures, and subsequently settled there, taking up a post in