MONTARGIS, chief town of an arrondissement in the department of Loiret, France, lies 40 miles east-north-east of Orleans on the railway from Paris to Lyons. Traversed by the Loing, Montargis belongs to the basin of the Seine, but it communicates with the Loire by the Orleans and the Briare canals. It has a fine church (Ste Magdelaine), dating in part from the 12th century, a museum, and a public library; and it still preserves portions of its once magnificent castle, which was capable of containing 6000 men, and, previous to the erection of Fontainebleau, was so favourite a residence of the royal family that it acquired the title of “Berceau des Enfans de la France.” Paper-making (introduced in the beginning of the 18th century) and several other considerable industries are carried on. The population of both commune and town was 9175 in 1876.

Montargis {Mons Argi or Algi, Μ. Arginus, Montargium) was formerly the capital of the Gâtinais {Pagus Vastinensis). Having passed in 1188 from the Courtenai family to Philip Augustus, it long formed part of the royal domain. In 1528 Francis I. mortgaged town, castle, and forest (this last a tract of great value) to Renée d’Este, daughter of Louis XII., the .famous Huguenot princess; and in 1570 Charles IX. gave them in full property to her daughter Anne, through whom they descended to the dukes of Guise, but they were repurchased for the crown in 1612. Montargis was several times taken or attacked by the English in the 15th century, and is particularly proud of the successful defence it made in 1427. Both Charles VII. and Charles VII I. held court in the town; it was the latter who set the famous Dog of Montargis to fight a duel with his master’s murderer whom he had tracked and captured.