Vendôme

A general view of the centre of Vendôme

Coat of arms

Vendôme

Location within Centre-Val de Loire region

Vendôme

Coordinates: 47°47′37″N 1°03′59″E / 47.7936°N 1.0664°ECoordinates: 47°47′37″N 1°03′59″E / 47.7936°N 1.0664°E

Country

Pays de Vendôme

Government

• Mayor

Catherine Lockhart

Area¹

23.89 km² (9.22 sq mi)

Population (1999)²

17,707

• Density

740/km² (1,900/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

INSEE/Postal code

41269 /41100

Elevation

76–141 m (249–463 ft)
(avg. 82 m or 269 ft)

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

²Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Vendôme (French pronunciation: [vɑ̃dom]) is a town in central France and is a subprefecture of the department of Loir-et-Cher. It is also the department's third biggest town.

It is one of the main towns along the river Loir. The river divides itself at the entrance of Vendôme, intersecting it into numerous different arms. The town has a rich medieval history and many historical monuments.

Vendôme (in Latin: Vindocinum) appears originally to have been a Gallic oppidum, replaced later by a feudal castle, around which the modern town arose. Christianity was introduced by Saint Bienheuré in the 5th century, and the important abbey of the Trinity (which claimed to possess a tear shed by Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus) was founded about 1030. When the reign of the House of Capet began, Vendôme formed the chief town of a county belonging to Bouchard, called "the Venerable", who died in the monastery of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés in 1007.

The succession passed by various marriages to the houses of Nevers, Preuilly and Montoire. Bouchard VII, count of Vendôme and Castres (died circa 1374), left as his heiress his sister Catherine, the wife of John of Bourbon, count of La Marche. The county of Vendôme was raised to the rank of a duchy and a peerage of France for Charles of Bourbon (1515); his son Antoine de Bourbon, king of Navarre, was the father of Henry IV, who gave the duchy of Vendôme in 1598 to his illegitimate son César de Bourbon (1594–1665). César, duke of Vendôme, took part in the disturbances which went on in France under the government of Cardinal Richelieu and of Cardinal Mazarin; he was the father of Louis, Duke of Vendôme, who married a niece of Mazarin, and François de Vendôme, Duke of Beaufort. The last of his family in the male line was Louis XIV's famous general, Louis Joseph, duc de Vendôme (1645–1712).

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Wikipedia