XXII., built at the
beginning of the 14th century; a massive square tower is still standing,
but the rest is in ruins. The residence of the seneschals of Quercy, a
building of the 14th to the 17th centuries, known as the Logis du Roi, also
remains. The chief of the old houses, of which there are many in Cahors, is
one of the 15th century, known as the Maison d'Henri IV. Most of the state
buildings are modern, with the exception of the prefecture which occupies
the old episcopal palace, and the old convent and the Jesuit college in
which the Lycee Gambetta is established. The Porte de Diane is a large
archway of the Roman period, probably the entrance to the baths. Of the
commemorative monuments, the finest is that erected in the Place d'Armes to
Gambetta, who was a native of the town. There is also a statue of the poet
Clement Marot, born at Cahors in 1496. Cahors is the seat of a bishopric, a
prefect and a court of assizes. It has tribunals of first instance and of
commerce, a chamber of commerce and a branch of the Bank of France. There
are also training colleges, a lycee, a communal college for girls, an
ecclesiastical seminary, a library, museum and hospital. The manufacture of
farm implements, tanning, wool-spinning, metal-founding, distilling and the
preparation of _pate de foie gras_ and other delicacies are carried on.
Wine, nuts, oil of nuts, tobacco, truffles and plums are leading articles
of commerce.

_History._--Before the Roman conquest, Cahors, which grew up near the
sacred fountain of Divona (now known as the Fontaine des Chartreux), was
the capital of the Cadurci. Under the Romans it enjoyed a prosperity partly
due to its manufacture of cloth and of mattresses, which were exported even
to Rome. The first bishop of Cahors, St Genulfus, appears to have lived in
the 3rd century. In the middle ages the town was the capital of Quercy, and
its territory until after the Albigensian Crusade was a fief of the counts
of Toulouse. The seigniorial rights, including that of coining money,
belonged to the bishops. In the 13th century Cahors was a financial centre
of much importance owing to its colony of Lombard bankers, and the name
_cahorsin_ consequently came to signify "banker" or "usurer." At the
beginning of the century a commune was organized in the town. Its constant
opposition to the bishops drove them, in 1316, to come to an arrangement
with the French king, by which the administration of the town was placed