Vendôme (, ) is a
subprefecture
A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province.
Albania
There are twelve Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several districts, sometimes translated as subprefectures. ...
of the
department of
Loir-et-Cher,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. It is also the department's third-biggest
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
with 15,856 inhabitants (2019).
It is one of the main towns along the river
Loir. The river divides itself at the entrance of Vendôme, intersecting it into numerous different arms. The town has a rich
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
history and many historical monuments.
History
Vendôme (in la, Vindocinum) appears originally to have been a
Gallic , replaced later by a feudal castle, around which the modern town arose. Christianity was introduced by in the 5th century, and the important abbey of the Trinity (which claimed to possess a tear shed by
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
at the tomb of
Lazarus) was founded about 1030. When the reign of the
House of Capet
The House of Capet (french: Maison capétienne) or the Direct Capetians (''Capétiens directs''), also called the House of France (''la maison de France''), or simply the Capets, ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328. It was the most ...
began, Vendôme formed the chief town of a county belonging to Bouchard, called "the Venerable", who died in the monastery of in 1007.
The succession passed by various marriages to the houses of , and .
Bouchard VI, Count of Vendôme and Castres (died ), left as his heiress his sister Catherine, the wife of John of
Bourbon,
count of La Marche
The County of La Marche (; oc, la Marcha) was a medieval French county, approximately corresponding to the modern ''département'' of Creuse.
La Marche first appeared as a separate fief about the middle of the 10th century, when William III, D ...
. The
county of Vendôme
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
was raised to the rank of a duchy and a
peerage of France
The Peerage of France (french: Pairie de France) was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 in the Middle Ages.
The prestigious title and position of Peer of France (french: Pair de France, links=no) was ...
for
Charles of Bourbon (1515); his son ,
king of Navarre
This is a list of the kings and queens of Pamplona, later Navarre. Pamplona was the primary name of the kingdom until its union with Aragon (1076–1134). However, the territorial designation Navarre came into use as an alternative name in the ...
, was the father of
Henry IV, who gave the
duchy of Vendôme in 1598 to his illegitimate son
César de Bourbon (1594–1665). , Duke of Vendôme, took part in the disturbances which went on in France under the government of and of ; he was the father of
Louis, Duke of Vendôme
Louis de Bourbon (October 1612 – 6 August 1669), was Duke of Mercœur and later the second Duke of Vendôme, and the grandson of Henry IV of France and Gabrielle d'Estrées. He became Duke of Vendôme in 1665, after the death of his father.
Biog ...
, who married a niece of Mazarin, and . The last of his family in the male line was
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ver ...
's famous general, (1645–1712).
,
King of Brittany, died undefeated in Vendôme in 851, after conquering the counties of and .
The , leader of 6,000 French troops in the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, was born in Vendôme.
Place Vendôme
The Place Vendôme (), earlier known as Place Louis-le-Grand, and also as Place Internationale, is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madeleine. It i ...
in Paris had been the site of the , a mansion which belonged to , the illegitimate son of Henry IV and his mistress .
Geography
Vendôme is located northwest of the city of
Blois
Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours.
With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...
and 40 minutes from
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
by
TGV
The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...
train (
Vendôme-Villiers-sur-Loir TGV station). The town lies on the river
Loir, which here divides into numerous arms intersecting the town.
Administration
Vendôme is the capital of the
arrondissement of Vendôme in the
Loir-et-Cher department, of which it is a
sub-prefecture. It has a tribunal of first instance.
Population
Sights
On the south, it is overlooked by an eminence on which stand the ruins of the castle of the
counts of Vendôme
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
. The
abbey-church of the Holy Trinity has a façade in the florid
Gothic style. Abbey buildings of various periods lie round the church. The church of ''La Madeleine'' (15th century) is surmounted by a stone spire, an imitation of that of the abbey.
The tower of
''Saint-Martin'' (16th century) represents the vanished church of that name.
Other monuments are: the old gate, the ''Porte Saint-Georges''; its river front is composed of two large crenelated and machicolated towers, connected by a pavilion, and the ancient hospital of Saint-Jacques that afterwards became a college of the
Oratorians An Oratorian is a member of one of the following religious orders:
* Oratory of Saint Philip Neri (Roman Catholic), who use the postnominal letters C.O.
* Oratory of Jesus (Roman Catholic)
* Oratory of the Good Shepherd (Anglican)
* Teologisk Orator ...
, then a ''lycée'' for boys and that is now occupied by the town administration offices. The charming chapel, in the most florid Gothic style, is preserved. In the garden surrounding, is located the tourism office in an ancient building called ''l'Orangerie'' (facing the public library). The town has a well-known archaeological and scientific society, and possesses a library with more than three hundred manuscripts, and a museum, mostly archaeological, in front of which stands a statue of the poet
Pierre de Ronsard
Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet or, as his own generation in France called him, a " prince of poets".
Early life
Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière, in the village of ...
. There is also a statue of
Marshal Rochambeau
Marshal Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, 1 July 1725 – 10 May 1807, was a French nobleman and general whose army played the decisive role in helping the United States defeat the British army at Yorktown in 1781 during the ...
, born at Vendôme in 1725. Some interesting houses of the 15th and 16th centuries survive.
Twin towns – sister cities
Vendôme is
twinned with:
*
Gevelsberg
Gevelsberg (; Westphalian: ''Gievelsbiärg'') is a town in the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
The town lies in the valley of the river Ennepe in the Süder Uplands, which is part of the Rhenish Mas ...
, Germany
*
Hampton
Hampton may refer to:
Places Australia
*Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia
*Hampton, New South Wales
*Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region
* Hampton, Victoria
Canada
* Hampton, New Brunswick
*Ha ...
, United States
*
Rizhao
Rizhao (), alternatively romanized as Jihchao, is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Shandong province, China. It is situated on the coastline along the Yellow Sea, and features a major seaport. It borders Qingdao to the northeast, Weifang t ...
, China
See also
*
Communes of the Loir-et-Cher department
The following is a list of the 267 communes of the Loir-et-Cher department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):[List of counts and dukes of Vendôme
Count of Vendôme and, later, Duke of Vendôme were titles of French nobility. The first-known holder of the comital title was Bouchard Ratepilate. The county passed by marriage to various houses, coming in 1372 to a junior branch of the House of ...]
*
Oratory of Jesus
The Congregation of the Oratory of Jesus and Mary Immaculate (french: Société de l'Oratoire de Jésus et de Marie Immaculée, la, Congregatio Oratorii Iesu et Mariæ), best known as the French Oratory, is a society of apostolic life of Catho ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vendome
Communes of Loir-et-Cher
Subprefectures in France
Burial sites of the House of Albret
Orléanais