Rivers of France ...

… I’m continuing my journey along the Le Loir.  Come and join me ...

From Châteaudun, the Loir meanders south and pretty much follows the route of the RN10 and crosses under the road about halfway along to the city of Vendôme. Here the river scoots around the eastern side of St-Ouen – a modern suburb – before splitting and heading west around the old fortified town of Vendôme. The campsite is by the river on the edge of town which is an easy walk. And it is the southern end of town that is the most interesting as the river has created a small island full of history.

Vendôme is the sub-prefecture for the département of Loir-et-Cher. With a population of just over 16,000 inhabitants, it is the third largest city in Loir-et-Cher. The town has a long history, and today I’m going to take you to the château. But first I will need sustenance as lunch will be on the hoof today. From the campsite, it’s an easy walk past the abbey – more of that in my next post – to the clock tower and then left to the marketplace and the bakers. The little market hall sits in the centre of the square, and the bakers are just to the right – Epi d’Or. There’s a queue – always a good sign!  I wait my turn, and I buy a tarte-au-citron. Now it’s a short walk to the steps that lead up to the fort.

The earliest inhabitants here were the Gauls; there’s evidence of an old Iron Age fort (Gallic Oppidum) on the site of the town.  The earlier settlement was later replaced with a feudal fort around which the modern town has become established.  Christianity arrived with Saint Bienheuré in the fifth century.  But it was the House of Capet (who ruled France 987-1328) who really put Vendôme on the map.  The town became the principal city of a county belonging to Bouchard the Venerable.  The fort estate and town then passed through various noble houses by marriage until Bouchard 6, Count of Vendôme and Castres left the whole lot to his sister, Catherine, on his death in 1374.

The county was then raised to a duchy for Charles of Bourbon in 1515.  Charles was the grandfather of Henry 4, who gave the duchy to his illegitimate son, César de Bourbon, in 1598.  The last male of this line was Louis Joseph who died in 1712.  Louis Joseph, duc de Vendôme, was general for Louis 14’s army.  And if you’re wondering about connections with Paris … Yep there’s one very significant one.  In the first arrondissement (Louvre), which is right in the heart of the city of Paris, there is a square called place Vendôme.  It was here that a mansion once stood, owned by Henry 4 and passed onto his son César.  It was the house where Henry kept his mistress!

Weir on the river Le Loir, Vendôme

The ruins of the fort here in Vendôme are all that remain of the original château.  But looking out across the town and the surrounding countryside you can easily understand why the promontory above the town was chosen as the location for the original fort.

I’m taking my lunch back down the hill and to the memorial garden which sits a few meters behind the abbey.  There are some benches here and some beautiful planting to gaze at as I eat.  As I come back to street level, I see that the municipality has put out sets of barriers and parking prohibition signs, which, of course, I have to check out.  It appears there will be some sort of ceremony at the war memorial on Friday.  I decide to stay long enough to see what that is all about.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like to read my earlier posts Here and Here

There will be more from Vendome next month ...