ORLEANOIS, a province of France, including
the several districts of Orleanois-Proper, Beauce-Pro-
per or Chartrain, Dunois, Vendomois, Blaisois, the
greatest part of Gatinois, and Perche-Gouet. The
principal rivers of it are the Loire, the Loiret, the
Cher, the Laconie, the Aigle, the Hyere, the Yonne,
and the Evre. There are also some remarkable can-
als, particularly those of Briare and Orleans. The
river Loire, and the canals drawn from thence, great-
ly facilitate and promote the inland trade of the king-
dom; and particularly of this government, which lies
entirely within the jurisdiction of the parliament of
Paris; and, besides the chief governor, has several sub-
ordinate ones.
Orleanois, in Latin Aurelianensis Ager, is bounded
on the south by Sologne, on the north by Upper-
Beauce, on the east by Gatinois, and on the west by
Dunois and Vendomois. The Loire divides it into
Upper and Lower; the former lying to the north,
and the latter to the south of that river. It yields plenty
of grain, wine, wood, and fruit, and abounds in cattle,
game, and fish. The principal places in it are,
Orleans, from which it derives its name, and is the
capital, not only of it, but of the whole government.
It was anciently called Genabum or Genabum, and af-
terwards Aurelia, Aurelie, and Aurelianum; and stands
20 leagues from Paris to the south, on the northern
bank of the Loire, over which there is here a fine stone
bridge of 16 arches, leading into a suburb on the south
side of the river. In Julius Cæsar's time it was the
capital of the Carnutes. Aurelian, the emperor, en-
larged it, and gave it his name. It is one of the larg-
est cities in the king; but meanly built, and most of
the inhabitants are poor; though there are here sev-
eral inferior courts of justice, with an university, at pre-
sent in no great repute; a public library; a stately Go-
thic cathedral, and a great number of other churches,
some of which are collegiate; a public walk, planted
with several rows of trees; some sugar-bakers; a man-
ufacture of stockings and sheep-skins; a seminary, in
which divinity is taught; and a great trade in brandy,
wine, spices, and several manufactures, which, with
many other commodities, are conveyed from hence to
Paris, and other places, by means of the Loire, and
the canal which takes its name from the city. Some
of the trading people are very rich. The canal begins
about two miles above the city; is near 18 leagues in
length; and terminates on the Loing, which falls into
the Seine. To the north of the city is a forest, the
largest in the whole kingdom, belonging to the duke
of Orleans; to whom the timber felled in it brings in,
one year with another, about 100,000 livres. Ever
since the year 1344, this city has been a dukedom and
peerage, and usually an appennage of some prince of
the blood. Lewis XIV. gave it to his brother Philip;
who begun and finished the canal, in whose family it
still continues. The duties paid by vessels going up
and down the canal, amount, in some years, to 150,000
livres. The bishop of this city is suffragan to the arch-
bishop of Paris, and has a revenue of 24,000 livres,
out of which his tax to Rome is 2000 florins. It is
said, a new bishop, on the first day of his entering the
city, has the privilege to release all the prisoners in it,
except those committed for treason. On the eighth of
May, 1429, Orleans, then closely besieged by the
English, was relieved by Joan of Arc, commonly call-
ed the Maid of Orleans; and the anniversary of that
deliverance is still kept here. To perpetuate the me-
mory of it, a monument of brass was erected on the
bridge, which is still in being.