◆Famous fortified city and seaport on the Atlantic coast of France; 800 miles S. W. of Paris, capital of the modern Department of Charente-Inférieure. [27] P. 45: ◆The interview between François de La Noue, surnamed Bras-de-Fer (iron arm), and the representatives of Monsieur, François, Duke d’Alencon, took place February 21, 1573. The scene that Brantôme describes happened Sunday, February 22. [28] P. 46: ◆What Brantôme advances here is to be found in Jacques de Bourbon’s _La grande et merveilleuse oppugnation de la noble cité de Rhodes_, 1527. ◆The siege took place in 1536. [29] P. 47: ◆August 14, 1536. Count de Nassau besieged Péronne at the head of 60,000 men; the population defended itself with the uttermost energy. Marie Fouré, according to some, was the principal heroine of this famous siege; according to others, all the honor should go to Mme. Catherine de Foix. (Cf. _Pièces et documents relatifs au siège de Péronne, en 1536._ Paris, 1864.) ◆The siege of Sancerre began January 3, 1573; but the rôle of the women was more pacific than at Péronne; they nursed the wounded and fed the combatants. The energetic Joanneau governed the city. (Poupard, _Histoire de Sancerre_, 1777.) ◆Vitré was besieged by the Duke de Mercœuer in 1589. This passage of Brantôme’s is quoted in the _Histoire de Vitré_ by Louis Dubois (1839, pp. 87–88). ◆Péronne, a small fortified town of N. W. France, on the Somme and in the Department of same name. It was bombarded by the Prussians in 1870, and the fine belfry of the XIVth Century destroyed. Its siege by the Comte de Nassau was in 1536. ◆Sancerre, a small town on the left bank of the Loire, modern Department of the Cher, 27 miles from Bourges. The Huguenots of Sancerre endured two terrible sieges in 1569 and 1573. ◆Vitré, a town of Brittany, modern Department Ille-et-Vilaine, of about 10,000 inhabitants. Retains its medieval aspect and town walls to the present day. [30] P. 48: ◆Collenuccio, Bk. V. [31] P. 49: ◆Boccaccio has arranged this story in his _De claries mulieribus_, cap. CI. Vopiscus, _Aurelius_, XXVI–XXX, relates this fact more coolly. ◆Zenobia, the famous Queen of Palmyra, widow of Odena—thus, who had been allowed by the weak Emperor Gallienus to participate in the title of Augustus, and had extended his empire over a great part of Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt. She was eventually defeated by Aurelian in a great battle on the Orontes not far from Antioch. Palmyra was destroyed, and its inhabitants massacred; and Zenobia brought in chains to Rome.