_St. Vincent-de-Paul_, a church of the Jesuits, built 1626-1671, contains a monument to Gaston d’Orléans (to the right of the chief altar) erected by Mademoiselle de Montpensier, his daughter (known as La Grande Mademoiselle). _St. Saturnin_, in the Faubourg de Vienne, south of the river, belongs to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It has a statue of Notre-Dame des Aides, the object of a pilgrimage for which Anne de Bretagne (wife of Louis XII.) had a great devotion. Old Houses.--There are many Renaissance houses of stone, and also numerous wooden ones of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with curious carvings on brackets and corbels and moulded beams. Nos. 1 and 2, in the narrow old Rue St. Lubin, west of the market below the château, are particularly good. _Tour d’Argent_ (Rue des Trois Clefs) is the fifteenth-century octagonal tower of the Hôtel des Monnaies, or Mint, under Charles d’Orléans and Louis XII. _Hôtel d’Alluye_ (8, Rue St. Honoré) is a masterly example of Renaissance, built for Florimond Robertet, Baron d’Alluye, and Secretary of Finances under Louis XII. and François I. He also built the Château de Bury. _Hôtel Sardini_ (17, Rue du Puits-Châtel) is of the time of Louis XII. _Hôtel Denis-Dupont_ (Rue St. Honoré) is the sixteenth-century dwelling of Denis-Dupont, the celebrated lawyer of Blois. _The College_ (Place Louis XII.) is installed in the ancient Abbaye de Bourg-Moyen, rebuilt in the eighteenth century, with the exception of the fourteenth-century gable. _Hôtel Dieu_ (between the castle and the river) occupies buildings of the Abbey of St. Laumur; rebuilt under Louis XIV., and recently enlarged. _Fontaine Louis XII._, in the Place Louis XII., where markets are held, is a picturesque fifteenth-century work. _The Bridge_ was built between 1717-1724, from plans of Gabriel, father of the celebrated architect, the obelisk in the middle showing the arms of France. _History._--The name Blois is derived from the Celtic word _bleiz_, meaning wolf, possibly because the Celtic fort on the site of the château was in a wolf-infested country, and perhaps the name may have some totem significance. The Counts of Blois ruled over a vast district during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, including Chartres, Dunois, Vendômois, and even Champagne. Thibaut le Tricheur (or the Cheat) was the most celebrated of the first Counts. He built a keep on the site of the present château before his death in 978. 1135. Stephen, Count of Blois, became King of England. 1241. The Châtillons succeeded the first Counts. 1397. Louis d’Orléans, second son of Charles V., became possessor, began rebuilding the castle but his work remained unfinished. His illegitimate son Dunois, the Bastard of Orleans, guarded the château during the Hundred Years’ War. His own son Charles was taken prisoner at Agincourt, and was captive in England twenty-five years.