rds
such a derivation as impossible.

AVERSA, a town and episcopal see of Campania, Italy, in the province of
Caserta, 15-1/2 m. S.S.W. by rail from Caserta, and 12-1/2 m. N. by rail
from Naples, from which there is also an electric tramway. Pop. (1901)
23,477. Aversa was the first place in which the Normans settled, it being
granted to them in 1027 for the help which they had given to Duke Sergius
of Naples against Pandulf IV. of Capua. The Benedictine abbey of S. Lorenzo
preserves a portal of the 11th century. There is also a large lunatic
asylum, founded by Joachim Murat in 1813.

AVESNES, a town of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the
department of Nord, on the Helpe, 28 m. S.E. of Valenciennes by rail. Pop.
(1906) 5076. The town is the seat of a sub-prefect, and has a tribunal of
first instance, a chamber of commerce and a communal college. Its church of
St Nicholas (16th century) has a tower 200 ft. high, with a fine chime of
bells. The chief industry of the town is wool-spinning, and there is trade
in wood. Avesnes was founded in the 11th century, and formed a countship
which in the 15th century passed to the house of Burgundy and afterwards to
that of Habsburg. In 1477 it was destroyed by Louis XI. By the treaty of
the Pyrenees (1659) it came into the possession of the French, and was
fortified by Vauban. It was captured by the Prussians in 1815.

AVEYRON, a department of southern France, bounded N. by Cantal, E. by
Lozere and Card, S.W. by Tarn and W. by Tarn-et-Garonne and Lot. Area, 3386
sq. m. Pop. (1906) 377,299. It corresponds nearly to the old district of
Rouergue, which gave its name to a countship established early in the 9th
century, and united with that of Toulouse towards the end of the 11th
century. The earliest known natives of this region were the Celtic Rutheni,
to whom the numerous megalithic monuments found in the department are
attributed. Aveyron lies on the southern border of the central plateau of
France. Its chief rivers are the Lot in the north, the Aveyron in the
centre and the Tarn in the south, all tributaries of the Garonne. They flow
from east to west, following the general slope of the department, and
divide it into four zones. In the north-east, between the Lot and its
tributary the Truyere, lies the lonely pastoral plateau of the Viadene,
dominated by the volcanic mountains of Aubrac, which form the north-eastern
limit of the department and include its highest sum