Vendôme

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Vendôme
Vendôme coat of arms
Vendôme (France)
Vendôme
region Center-Val de Loire
Department Loir-et-Cher
Arrondissement Vendôme
Canton Vendôme (main town)
Community association Territoires Vendômois
Coordinates 47 ° 48 '  N , 1 ° 4'  E Coordinates: 47 ° 48 '  N , 1 ° 4'  E
height 76-141 m
surface 23.89 km 2
Residents 16,569 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 694 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 41100
INSEE code

Old town of Vendôme as seen from the promenade de la Montagne by the castle

Template: Infobox municipality in France / maintenance / different coat of arms in Wikidata

Vendome is a French town with 16,569 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the department of Loir-et-Cher in the region Center-Val de Loire . It is located on the Loir River , which surrounds the old town with two arms.

history

Vendôme was a Gallo-Roman settlement as Vindocinum , which became a county in the 10th century. In 1035 a Benedictine abbey was founded here under Count Gottfried II Martel . The relics brought by the Count from Constantinople , a tear of Jesus and an arm of St. George (since the secularization of the monastery in the Vatican ), established the importance of Vendôme as a station on the Way of St. James and as a religious center, which contributed significantly to the development of the city in the High Middle Ages .

The town and castle were often fought over. In the 12th century, the Vendômois became the venue for the power struggle between the Plantagenets and the French royal family. In 1188, King Philip II of France took Vendôme Castle , but it was recaptured by Richard the Lionheart a little later . In 1194 Philip again occupied the city of Vendôme and again besieged the castle. With the relief army brought in by Lionheart, Philip fought on July 3rd of that year in the battle of Fréteval (northeast of Vendôme), in which Lionheart defeated him.

In 1515, Vendôme was raised to a duchy by King Francis I in favor of Charles of Bourbon and given the dignity of a peer . In 1562 Charles's grandson Henry of Bourbon, who later became King Henry IV , became Duke of Vendôme. As a Protestant in a strongly Catholic duchy, he had to watch the city draw closer and closer to the Catholic League . In 1589, now as king and liege lord, Heinrich had to retake Vendôme, with several castles, including those of Vendôme and Lavardin , being destroyed. In 1598 Henry IV made his son César Duke of Vendôme. The city remained a Bourbon duchy until 1712.

Attractions

Gothic abbey church (Trinity Church; Eglise de la Trinité)

West facade in flamboyant style
Porte Saint-Georges
Place St-Martin with the tower of the former Saint-Martin church

See main article La Trinité (Vendôme)

Porte Saint-Georges

The Porte Saint-Georges from the 14th century is a striking relic of the former city fortifications with its thick flanking towers and the Renaissance ornamentation from the 16th century . During the revolution, the passage had to be widened so that Napoleon's troops could march through with their military equipment.

City center

In the center around Place St-Martin , the first thing you notice is the single tower on the square itself. It belonged to the Renaissance church of Saint-Martin , which was demolished in 1857, and was left alone. The church of La Madeleine from 1474 has an equally elegant tower with a wooden barrel vault. The pilgrims found accommodation on the way to Santiago de Compostela in a hospice , which included the 15th century Saint-Jacques chapel .

The neighboring former oratorian college from the 17th / 18th centuries Century (today town hall) is known for his famous pupil Honoré de Balzac , who in 1807, at the age of eight, came under the thumb of this community. The poet dealt with the dreary period that lasted until 1813 in his novel "Louis Lambert".

Personalities

Town twinning

Vendôme is twinned with Gevelsberg .

traffic

The station Vendôme is situated on the railway line Vendôme Blois and at the railway track Tours-Vendôme and the station Vendôme Villiers sur Loire on the LGV Atlantique .

literature

  • Wilfried Hansmann : The Loire Valley. Castles, churches and cities in the «Garden of France» . 2nd Edition. DuMont, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-7701-3555-5 , pp. 247-251 ( online ).
  • Castles and cities of the Loire . Valoire-Estel, Florence 2006, ISBN 88-476-1863-0 , p. 108.
  • Castles on the Loire . The green travel guide. Michelin Reise-Verlag, Landau-Mörlheim 1997, ISBN 2-06-711591-X , p. 318.
  • Meyer's Encyclopedic Lexicon ; Bibliographisches Institut, Lexikonverlag, Mannheim / Vienna / Zurich 1975, Volume 24, p. 397.

Web links

Commons : Vendôme  - collection of images, videos and audio files