in the hands of the English, was finally
re-united to the crown of France. In 1465, Coutances lost its military
character: its walls were then destroyed, and the fortifications rased,
by order of Louis XI. as a punishment upon the inhabitants for their
conduct, in aiding the treasonable attempt of Charles, the brother of
the monarch, to obtain forcible possession of the dukedom of
Normandy.[206] Not long subsequently, Francis I. gladdened the city with
the royal presence, on his return from his pilgrimage to Mont St.
Michel, in 1487; and his grandson, Henry III. bestowed upon it the
distinction of being the capital of the bailiwick; soon after which, it
suffered severely during the religious wars, especially when it fell
into the power of the Calvinists, in 1562. Those merciless religionists
pillaged it with an unsparing hand, even consigning a portion of it to
the flames: they sacked the churches, and carried off the prelate, whom
they forced to accompany them upon an ass, with his face turned to its
tail.

Of the bishops of Coutances, it will be sufficient here to mention
three--Richard de Longueuil, who was nominated in 1455, one of the four
commissioners to revise the process of the Maid of Arc, and declared
her innocent; Nicholas de Briroy, who, at the end of the following
century, obtained from the Pope, Paul V. in return for his extensive
charities, the enviable title of _Father of the Poor_; and Geoffrey de
Montbray, a prelate honored with the especial favor of the Conqueror, to
whom he frequently rendered the most essential service, as well in arms
as in peace. He it was, who performed mass in the Norman camp,
preparatory to the battle of Hastings, and who preached at the
coronation of the monarch, from whom he is said, by Ordericus Vitalis,
to have received no fewer than two hundred and eighty manors in England.

The present population of Coutances amounts to between eight and nine
thousand inhabitants. The remains of the noble aqueduct in the
neighborhood, though commonly ascribed to the times of Roman power, are
said to be with more justice referable to a nobleman of the family of
Haye-Paisnel, and to have been erected in the thirteenth century. The
principal feature and great ornament of the city is its noble cathedral,
which, regarded as a whole, may, in the opinion of M. de Gerville,
challenge a comparison with any other in France. Its architecture,
according to the same able antiquary, affords a satisfa