BEAUVAIS, an episcopal city of France, in the department of Oise. The cathedral church, which
Beauvais is dedicated to St Peter, is much admired for its fine architecture. It contains a great number of relics, and a library of curious books. The town was ineffectually besieged by the English in 1443, and by the duke of Burgundy with an army of 80,000 men. In this last siege the women signalized themselves under the conduct of Jean Hachette, who set up a standard yet preserved in the church of the Jacobins. The duke was obliged to raise the siege; and in memory of this exploit, the women walk first in a procession on the 10th of July, the anniversary of their deliverance. The town had 12,800 inhabitants in 1815. Beauvais is situated on the river Therin, 42 miles north of Paris, in E. Long. 2. 15. N. Lat. 49. 26.