PONTOISE, a commercial town of France, at the head of an arrondissement of the department Seine-et-Oise, 18 miles by rail north-west of Paris, picturesquely situated on the right bank of the Oise where it is joined by the Viosne, and at the intersection of the railway from Paris to Dieppe by Gisors with that of the valley of the Oise. The traffic on the main river is large, and the tributary drives numerous mills. Of the many convents and churches that used to exist in the town two only remain: St Maclou, a church of the 12th century, was altered and restored in the 15th and 16 th centuries by Pierre Lemer-oier, the famous architect of St Eustache at Paris; and Notre Dame, of the close of the 16th century, contains the tomb of St Gautier (13th century). Grain and flour are the principal staples of the trade of Pontoise; the population in 1881 was 6675....
Pontoise existed in the time of the Gauls as Briva Isarae (i.e., Bridge of the Oise). The Romans made it the seat of forges dedicated to Vulcan, and thus the district came to be distinguished as Pagus Vulcanius or the Vexin. Pontoise was destroyed by the Normans in the 9th century, united with Normandy in 1032, and acquired by Philip I. in 1064. Lying on the borders of the two states it often passed from one to the other. The English took it in 1419, and again in 1436. In 1441 Charles VII. took it by storm after a three months’ siege. After belonging to the count of Charolais down to the treaty of Conflans, it was given as a dowry to Jeanne of France when she was divorced by Louis XII. The parlement of Paris several times met in the town; and in 1561 the states general convoked at Orleans removed thither after the death of Francis II. During the Fronde it offered a refuge to Louis XIV. and Mazarin. Henry III. made it an apanage for his brother the duke of Anjou. At a later period it passed to the duke of Conti. Down to the Revolution it remained a monastic town. Philip the Bold, founder of the house of Burgundy, the architects Pierre and Jacques Lemercier, and Tronson-Ducondray, one of the defenders of Marie Antoinette, are among the natives of Pontoise.
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