Maintenon is a French commune located in the department of Eure-et-Loir in the Center-Val de Loire region. Located in a fertile valley at the confluence of the Eure and the Voise, Maintenon is located in the natural region of the Paris basin at the extreme northern limit of the Beauce, bordering the Thymerais.
Old regime
Located in the Orleans region, the
history of the castle dates back to the Middle Ages. It was the
first fortress of the vassals and counts of Monfort. Many lords
succeeded each other from the tenth to the twelfth century:
Avesguaud (978), Germond I (1010), Mainier and his wife Élisabeth
(1107), Guillaume de Maintenon (1160), Amaury and his wife Émeline
(1160-1210), Hughes de Maintenon followed by several lords Amaury.
The castle itself was built in a Renaissance style from 1509
under the leadership of the owner of the premises, Jean Cottereau,
the treasurer superintendent of finances of Louis XII, then under
François Ier. When he died in 1530, he left it and the surrounding
land to Jacques d'Angennes, Lord of Rambouillet, his son-in-law. His
son Louis d'Angennes inherited it in 1562 and became baron de
Maintenon.
His heirs sell the property to the Marquis de
Villeray-d'Angennes. On December 27, 1674, Françoise d'Angennes wife
of Odet de Riantz, marquis de Villeroy, heiress of Charles François
d'Angennes, sells her castle and the title of Maintenon for 150,000
pounds to the widow of the poet Scarron, lady Françoise d 'Aubigné
who thus becomes Marquise de Maintenon.
From then on, the
castle grew and was embellished by major works financed by the king
and became a quasi-royal castle. The park was designed by Le Nôtre.
Racine often came to meditate there, while Vauban was responsible
for the aqueduct. This was never finished due to wars and malaria
and the work was abandoned in 1688. The building which was to
include three rows of superimposed arches was intended to bring the
waters of the Eure from its source to Versailles.
The
Maintenon estate then passed into the Noailles family following the
marriage of Françoise-Amable d'Aubigné to the Duke of Ayen, Adrien
Maurice, son of Marshal de Noailles. King Charles X on the way to
exile slept in the castle in 1830.
With an area of one
hectare, Maintenon corresponded to two parishes and a collection,
the basic fiscal district of the collection of size. Depending on
the city of Orleans for the government and the stewardship, it was
attached and depended on Chartres at the level of the election
(grouping of collections), the subdelegation, for the salt loft,
custom, bailiwick as well than for the diocese.
Attached to
the deanery of Epernon, Maintenon had for parishes: Saint-Nicolas
(the lord of the place, Louis, Duke of Noailles, peer and marshal of
France) and Saint-Pierre (for the great archdeacon).
French
Revolution and Empire
Chaired by Louis Henry Houy (lawyer in
Parliament), the preparation of the Estates General took place on
March 1. The deputies were Louis Richer, tax attorney, Louis Henry
Houy, Pierre Morice, merchant and Mathurin Lavigne, winegrower.
Unfortunately, the book of grievances is lost.
The canton of
Maintenon is part of the district of Chartres. In year IX, in
accordance with the transformation by the Constituent Assembly of
the former divisions of monarchical France into departments, the
canton of Maintenon was part of the arrondissement of Chartres, in
the department of Eure-et-Loir. There, as elsewhere, civil status
passes from the responsibility of the clergy to the administration.
On February 26, 1792, we also witness the sale of national
property that had belonged to the clergy, as part of the Church's
spoliation of its property.
Another deed of sale dated 22
Floréal, Year III concerning the Noailles succession highlights the
situation of a whole nobility forced to emigrate at the time. The
very precise description of the farm which is given on this occasion
gives a very good idea of its importance. Moreover, it was noted
in extracts from the deliberations of the municipal council in 1792
that the succession of Noailles fell to the benefit of the Republic
on 26 Frimaire Year II, as well as the decision to cast the bells.
We are also witnessing the deposit at the common house of the
registers of baptism, marriages and burials held until then by the
"two" parish priests and the appointment of a public officer
assigned to their keeping.
The demonstrations of the Republic
are multiplying: bonfire to celebrate the success of the French
army, song of the Marseillaise, decision to destroy the old coat of
arms and purchase of a liberty cap.
Reading a few official
acts, such as the one relating to secularization, allows us to
better understand this period of great upheaval.
Contemporary period
nineteenth century
Maintenon was
occupied by Prussian troops from 1870 to 1871.
Twentieth
century
On June 16, 1940, during the second phase of the Battle
of France, German soldiers, probably belonging to the 1st German
cavalry division, massacred around Maintenon some fifty Senegalese
infantrymen, many of them wounded, belonging to the 26th regiment.
Senegalese skirmishers.
The city is shaken by the explosion,
in the station, of a munitions train on February 18, 1944.
A
bombardment, by the Royal Air Force, of the station and the
ammunition depot of the city, during the night of April 30 to May 1,
1944, caused the death of 16 civilians and 7 Germans. This event is
recalled by an odonym: rue du Premier-Mai-1944.