upon pile, or double pile), and by brocading with plain silk, with uncut pile or with a ground of gold tissue, &c. The earliest sources of European artistic velvets were Lucca, Genoa, Florence and Venice, and Genoa continues to send out rich, velvet textures. Somewhat later the art was taken up by Flemish weavers, and in the 16th century Bruges attained a reputation for velvets not inferior to that of the great Italian cities.
VELVETEEN, a cotton cloth. made in imitation of velvet.
The term is sometimes applied to a mixture of silk and cotton.
Some velveteens are a kind of fustian, having a rib of velvet
pile alternating with a plain depression. The velveteen trade
varies a good deal with the fashions that control the production of velvet. 'Velveteens are commonly woven in sheeting looms, and manufacturers are able to alternate the two kinds of goods according to the demand.
VENAPRUM, an ancient town of Campania, Italy, close to
the boundaries of both Latium adjectum and Samnium. Its
site is occupied by the modern Venafro, a village with 4716
inhabitants (1901), on the railway from Isernia to Caianello,
15 m. S.W. of the former, 658 ft. above sea-level. Ancient
authors tell us but little about it, except that it was one of those towns governed by a prefect sent yearly from Rome, and that in the Social War it was taken by the allies by treachery. Augustus founded a colony there and provided for the construction of an aqueduct (cf. the long decree relating to it in Carp. Inscr. Lat. x. No. 4842). It seems to have been a place of some importance. Its olive oil was the best in Italy, and Cato mentions its brick works and iron manufactures. The original line of the Via Latina probably ran through Venafrum, making a détour, which the later road seems to have avoided (cf. Latina, Via). Rufrae was probably dependent on it. Roads also ran from Venafrum to Aesernia and to Telesia by way of Allifae. Of ancient remains hardly anything is left—some traces of an amphitheatre and fragments of polygonal walls only.
(T. As.)
VENDACE, the name of a freshwater fish of the genus
Coregonus, of which two other species are indigenous in the
fresh waters of the British Islands, the gwyniad and the pollan.
The vendace (C. vendesius) is restricted to some lochs in Dumfriesshire,
Scotland; it is, however, very similar to a species
(C. albula) which inhabits some of the large and deep lakes of
northern Europe. From its general resemblance to a dace the
French name of the latter, vandoise, was transferred to it at the period when French was the language of the court and aristocracy of Scotland. So great is the local celebrity of the fish that a story has been invented ascribing to Mary Queen of Scots the merit of having introduced it into the Lochmaben lochs. It is considered a great delicacy, and on favourable days when the shoals rise to the surface, near the edges of the loch, great numbers may be taken. It spawns in November. In length it scarcely exceeds 8 in.
VENDÉE, a maritime department of western France, formed
in 1790 out of Bas-Poitou, and taking its name from an unimportant tributary of the Sèvre Niortaise. It is bounded by Loire-Inferieure and Maine-et-Loire on the N., by Deux-Sèvres
on the E., by Charente-Inferieure on the S. and by the Atlantic
Ocean on the W. for 93 m. Pop. (1906) 442,777. Area, 2708
sq. m. The islands of Yeu (area, 812 sq. m.) and Noirmoutier
(q.v.) are included. The Sèvre Nantaise on the N.E. and the
Sèvre Niortaise on the S., besides other streams of minor importance,
form natural boundaries. The department falls into
three divisions—woodland (Bocage), plain (Côte) and marsh
(Marais).
The highest point (748 ft.) is situated in the woodland, which occupies the greater part of Vendee, on the water-parting between the Loire and the rivers of the coast. This region, which, geologically, is composed of granite, gneiss, mica-schist, schist and lias, abounds in springs, and is fresh and verdant; the landscape is characterized by open fields surrounded by trees, which supplied ambushes and retreats to the Vendeans in the civil war at the end of the 18th century. The marshes, raised above the sea-level within historic times (four centuries ago), consist of two portions, the Breton marsh in the north and the Poitevin marsh in the south; the latter extends into the departments of Charente-Inférieure and Deux-Sèvres. The region includes productive salt marshes and fertile cultivated areas artificially drained. Its area is constantly being increased by the alluvium of the rivers and the secular elevation of the coast. The celebrated beds of sea-shells near St Michel en l’Herm—2300 ft. long, 985 ft. broad and from 30 to 50 ft. deep—show to what extent the coast has risen. The plain of Vendee lying between the Bocage and the Poitevin marsh is bare and treeless, but fertile, though poor in springs ; geologically it is composed of lias and oolite. The department is drained by the Sèvre Nantaise (tributary of the Loire) and the Boulogne (a feeder of Lake Grandlieu in Loire-Inferieure), both draining into the basin of the Loire; and by the Vie, the Lay (with the Yon), and the Sèvre Niortaise (with the Autise and the Vendee), which flow into the Atlantic. The climate is that of the Girondine region , mild and damp, the temperature rarely rising above 77° or falling below 18° F.; 120 to 150 days of rain give an average annual rainfall of 25 in. The woodland is colder than the plain, and the marsh is damp and unhealthy.
The department is agriculturally prosperous. Wheat is the most important crop, oats, potatoes, clover, lucerne and mangold-wurzels ranking next. Beans, flax and colza may also be mentioned. Wine is grown in the south of the department. The rearing of live stock flourishes in the Bocage and the marsh, the pastures of the latter nourishing fine oxen and horses, and sheep famous for the excellence of their mutton. Cider-apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries and walnuts are among the fruits grown. Coal is mined in the south-east of the department (basin of Vouvant) and antimony is found; limestone is quarried. The spinning and weaving of wool, cotton and flax is carried on, and there are potteries, paper-mills, tan-yards, dye-works, manufactories of hats, boots and shoes, glass and lampblack, flour-mills, distilleries, oil-works, tile-works and shipbuilding yards. Sardines and tinned foods are prepared. The sardine fishery is active on the coast and there are extensive oyster-beds near Sables-d’Olonne. Corn, cattle, mules, fish, salt, wine, honey, wood, glass and manure are exported; wine, wood, building material, coal, phosphates and petroleum are among the imports. Sables-d’Olonne is the principal fishing and commercial port.
Vendee is served by the Ouest-État railway and has 81 m. of navigable rivers and canals. The department forms the diocese of Lucon, has its court of appeal and educational centre at Poitiers, and is included in the district of the XI. Army Corps (headquarters at Nantes). There are three arrondissements (La Roche-sur-Yon, Fontenay-le-Comte and Sables-d’Olonne), 30 cantons, and 304 communes. The principal towns are La Roche-sur-Yon, Les Sables-d’Olonne, Fontenay-le-Comte and Lucon, which are treated under separate headings. Other places of interest are Foussais, Nieul-sur-l’Autise and Vouvant, with Romanesque churches; Pouzauges, which has a stronghold of the 13th century; Maillezais, with the ruins of its old cathedral; Talmont and Tiffauges, both possessing ruined castles; and Le Bernard with noteworthy megalithic remains.
VENDÉE, WARS OF THE, a counter-revolutionary insurrection which took place during the French Revolution (q.v.), not only in Vendée proper but also in Lower Poitou, Anjou, Lower Maine and Brittany. The district was mainly inhabited by peasants; it contained few important towns, and the bourgeois were but a feeble minority. The ideas of the Revolution were slow in penetrating to this ignorant peasant population, which had always been less civilized than the majority of Frenchmen, and in 1789 the events which roused enthusiasm throughout the rest of France left the Vendeans indifferent. Presently, too, signs of discontent appeared. The priests who had refused to submit to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy perambulated these retired districts, and stigmatized the revolutionists as heretics. In 1791 two “representatives on mission” informed the Convention of the disquieting condition of Vendee, and this news was quickly followed by the exposure of a royalist plot organized by rae marquis de la Rouerie.
The signal for a widespread rising was the introduction of conscription acts for the recruiting of the depleted armies on the eastern frontiers. In February 1793 the Convention decreed a levy on the whole of France, and on the eve of the ballot the Vendée, rather than comply with this requisition, broke out in insurrection. The Vendéan peasant refused to join the republican army, not for want of fighting qualities or ardour, but because the army of the old regime was recruited from bad characters and broken men, and the peasant, ignorant of the great change that had followed the Revolution, thought that the barrack-room was no place for a good Christian. In March 1793 the officer commanding at Cholet was killed, and republicans were massacred at Machecoul and St Florent. Giving rein to their ancient antipathy, the revolted peasantry-attacked the towns, which were liberal in ideas and republican
