Loir-et-Cher
Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Its name is originated from two rivers which cross it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher in its southern part. Its prefecture is Blois. The INSEE and La P ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. It is also the department's third-biggest commune with 15,856 inhabitants (2019).
It is one of the main towns along the river
Loir
The Loir () is a long river in western France. It is a left tributary of the Sarthe. Its source is in the Eure-et-Loir department, north of Illiers-Combray. It joins the river Sarthe in Briollay, north of the city of Angers.
It is indirectl ...
. 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 a ...
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 relig ...
duchy of Vendôme
A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a medieval country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition.
There once existed an important difference be ...
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, who married a niece of Mazarin, and . The last of his family in the male line was
Louis XIV
Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
'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 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 and 40 minutes from
Paris
Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
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 ...
Loir
The Loir () is a long river in western France. It is a left tributary of the Sarthe. Its source is in the Eure-et-Loir department, north of Illiers-Combray. It joins the river Sarthe in Briollay, north of the city of Angers.
It is indirectl ...
, which here divides into numerous arms intersecting the town.
Loir-et-Cher
Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Its name is originated from two rivers which cross it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher in its southern part. Its prefecture is Blois. The INSEE and La P ...
sub-prefecture
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. ...
. 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 ...
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
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, 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.
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 Mass ...
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 Cathol ...