ions, its limits were circumscribed by the ocean.[205] At
present, it includes the whole department of La Manche; the suppression
of the bishopric of Avranches having added considerably to its
extent.--In Roman Gaul, Coutances was included in the province called the
_Lugdunensis secunda_: but, on the subject of the foundation or early
history of the city, authors are, as commonly happens, much at variance,
ascribing to it, according to their fancies or their prejudices, very
different degrees of antiquity. Those who are most disposed to do it
honor in this respect, contend that it was the capital of the tribe
mentioned by Caesar, in his _Commentaries_, under the name of _Unelli_;
and called by Pliny, _Venelli_; and by Ptolemy, _Veneli_. They are
guided in this opinion exclusively by locality. Others, with a greater
appearance of probability, at least as far as any reliance may be placed
upon etymology, maintain that Coutances had no existence before the days
of the Emperor, Constantius Chlorus, father to Constantine the Great.
There have also not been wanting writers who have referred its origin to
Constantine himself, or who have maintained that it was indebted for its
name to its _constant_ and vigorous opposition to the Roman power. The
second of these opinions appears to have obtained general credence in
the time of Ordericus Vitalis, who, in speaking of Constantius,
expressly says, "Hic in Neustria civitatem condidit, quam a nomine suo
_Constantiam_ nominavit." Ammianus Marcellinus adds strength to the same
belief, when he calls Coutances, _Constantia castra_. It is probable
that the city was in reality the seat of the Emperor's camp, at the time
when he was about to lead his forces into Britain.

Of the future progress of the town, and the steps by which it rose to
its present eminence, no account whatever is left. History, so profuse
in details respecting many other places in Normandy, far inferior in
size and in distinction, has done little more with regard to the capital
of the Cotentin, than record the bare facts,--that it was pillaged by
the Normans in 888; was sold by Duke Robert to his brother, Henry I. in
1087; was taken by the Count of Anjou, in the twelfth year of the
following century; was, thirty years subsequently, surrendered to the
Empress Maude; was wrested from John, by Philip-Augustus, in 1202; in
1418, opened its gates to the victorious arms of Henry V.; and, after
remaining for thirty-one years