Collège of La Flèche

Prytanée National Militaire
The entrance gate of the Prytanée National Militaire.
Location
La Flèche, Sarthe (72) France
Information
Type	Military education
Established	1604
Website	[1]

Coordinates: 47°42′2″N 0°4′33″W / 47.70056°N 0.07583°W / 47.70056; -0.07583

The Prytanée National Militaire, originally Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand or Collège Henri-IV de La Flèche, is a French school managed by the military, offering regular secondary education as well as special preparatory classes, equivalent in level to the first years of university, for students who wish to enter French military academies. The school is located in western France in the city of La Flèche. At first founded in 1604 by the King Henri IV the school was given to the Jesuits in the aim to "instruct the young people and make it fall in love of sciences, honor and virtue, in order to be able to serve". It then became the "Prytanée" wanted by Napoléon in 1800.

Françoise d'Alençon, who had become a widow in 1537, decided to retire in her land of La Flèche, which she had received as a gift from her husband Charles de Bourbon. The old feodal castle, actually Château des Carmes, was too old and with no comfort, Françoise d'Alençon ordered the construction of a new building. The "Château-Neuf" (New Castle) was erected between 1539 and 1541 outside of the city, in the place of the Prytanée Militaire and following the plans of the architect Jean Delespine. Some recent new elements give a better idea of the original castle and garden.