EVREUX (the ancient Mediolanum, and afterwards Eburuvices), a town of France, capital of the department of Eure on the Iton, an affluent of the Eure, 54 miles W.N.W. of Paris. Pop. (1851) 11,644. The town is generally well-built, and still contains many antique timber-framed houses. The cathedral is one of the most ancient and curious in France. It is a very imposing cruciform structure, though not uniform in style. The north transept and the portal are in the flamboyant Gothic, elaborately ornamented; the west front is in the Italian style. The beautiful rose window in the south transept, and the wooden screens of the side chapels round the choir showing the flamboyant Gothic style modified by the reviving Italian, also merit notice. The Lady chapel is of elegant architecture, with painted glass equally remarkable for its fine execution and perfect preservation. At the intersection of the nave and transepts rises an octagonal tower supported on four pillars, and surmounted by a pyramidal spire of open stonework. The church of St Taurin also displays various styles of architecture, and contains the shrine of St Taurin, a work of the thirteenth century. Among the other objects of interest are the clock-tower built in the fifteenth century, the bishop's palace, town-hall, prefect's residence, prison, theatre, public library, botanic garden, and the promenades. The chief manufactures are woollen and cotton stuffs, leather, tickings, &c. Excavations made at Vieil Evreux have led to the discovery of a theatre, baths, &c., and of various relics now deposited in the Musée d'Antiquités.

Mediolanum was the capital of the Aulerici Eburuvices, and hence it took the name of Eburuvices, which in the middle ages was corrupted into Ebroïce and Ebroas; whence the modern name. In 892 it was taken and sacked by Rollo the Norman; and in 989 Richard I., duke of Normandy erected it into a county in favour of his natural son Robert, who died in 1037. He was succeeded by his eldest son Richard, who followed William the Conqueror into England in 1066, and died the following year. His son William, who succeeded him, received a large grant of lands from the Conqueror for services rendered by his father and himself. This line became extinct in 1118, when the duke of Montfort, as the nearest heir, took possession of the estates; but his claim was disputed by Henry I. of England, who took and burnt Evreux, and obliged the duke to sue for peace. In 1193, Philip-Augustus, king of France, took the town, and gave it to prince John of England (called Lackland); who, in order to conciliate his brother Richard (who was now released from captivity), invited the French garrison to a splendid banquet, and butchered his unsuspecting victims, to the number of 300, in cold blood. In revenge for this act of treachery, Philip reduced the town to ashes. In 1199 it was burnt a second time by Philip, who soon afterwards obtained permanent possession of it. In the wars between France and England, this town frequently changed its masters. In 1441, after a vigorous resistance, it fell into the hands of the French; and shortly before the battle of Ivry it was besieged and taken by the celebrated Biron.