BERNAY, the chief town of an arrondissement in the department of Eure, in France, on the left bank of the Charentonne, 26 miles W.N.W. of Evreux. It is beautifully situated in the midst of green wooded hills, and still justifies Madame de Stael’s description— “Bemay is a basket of flowers.” Of great antiquity, it still possesses numerous quaint wooden houses and several ancient ecclesiastical buildings of considerable interest. The abbey church is now used as a market, and the abbey, which was originally founded by Judith of Britanny about 1017, and underwent a restoration in the 17th century, serves for municipal and legal purposes. The glass-work in the church of Nôtre Dame de la Couture is of great antiquarian interest. Among the industrial establishments of the place are cotton, woollen, and ribband factories ·

and the trade is chiefly in horses, grain, and flax. The town, which was formerly fortified, was besieged by Duguesclin in 1378; it was taken by the English in 1418 and again in 1421, and by Admiral de Coligny in 1563. The fortress was razed in 1589. Population in 1872, 5806.