The Bas-Vendômois is a small district in central- western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, consisting of the 14

communes 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 ...

of the canton of Montoire-sur-le-Loir, in the arrondissement of Vendôme, ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of

Loir-et-Cher Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region of France. It is named after two rivers which run through it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher (river), Cher in its southern p ...

, France. The capital of Bas-Vendômois is

Montoire-sur-le-Loir Montoire-sur-le-Loir (, literally ''Montoire on the Loir''), commonly known as Montoire, is a commune near Vendôme, in the Loir-et-Cher department in Centre-Val de Loire, France. History Montoire-sur-le-Loir is known as the location where, ...

History

The area corresponds to the central portion of the east-west flowing

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 indirectly ...

valley. Before the French Revolution the area depended administratively on

Vendôme Vendôme (, ) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Loir-et-Cher, France. It is also the department's third-biggest Communes of France, commune with 15,856 inhabitants (2019). It is one of th ...

and was part of the

Orléanais The Duchy of Orléanais () is a former province of France, which was created during the Renaissance by merging four former counties and towns. However after the French Revolution, the province was dissolved in 1791 and succeeded by five ''départ ...

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, but ecclesiastically on the Diocese of Le Mans in the

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

province. The division thus corresponds to that between the late

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

s of '' Tertia Lugdunensis'' (Tours) and '' Quarta Lugdunensis'' (

Sens Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km southeast from Paris. Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second la ...

) and the

civitates In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on the ...

of the Cenomani and of the

Carnutes The Carnutes or Carnuti (Gaulish: 'the horned ones'), were a Gallic tribe dwelling in an extensive territory between the Sequana (Seine) and the Liger (Loire) rivers during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Carn ...

respectively. The Bas-Vendômois was part of the

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

kingdom of

Neustria Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks during the Early Middle Ages, in contrast to the eastern Frankish kingdom, Austrasia. It initially included land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, in the north of present-day ...

. The area was fought over during struggles between the Angevin Plantagenêts and the French monarchy. There are fortified castles at Montoire-sur-le-Loir and Lavardin. There are a number of Romanesque churches, e.g. Saint-Jacques-des-Guérets, the chapel of St. Giles at Montoire. The area shared in the general prosperity of the later 15th century and the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

- e.g. Manor of La Possonnière at

Couture-sur-Loir Couture-sur-Loir (, literally ''Couture on Loir'') is a former commune in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Vallée-de-Ronsard.Geography of Loir-et-Cher