Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The chapel of Saint James, located in the cemetery of Maule (Yvelines), finds its origins in the thirteenth century, when Baron Henri de Maule (died around 1304) ordered its construction. The present building, probably rebuilt in the 15th century, was used by the plague victims in 1280. In 1766 it officially became the chapel of the cemetery. Its architecture combines medieval elements (ogival vaults, sculpted blazers) and posterior additions, such as the porch housing the tomb of Mademoiselle Landouiette de Logivière (d. 1770), the penultimate lord of Maule.

In the 19th century, the chapel underwent slight reshuffles, while its more recent entrance was used as a shed for the communal hearse pulled by a horse. Inside, a restored fresco and seven exterior foothills (including an integral part of the tomb of Abbé Jean-Baptiste Réal) highlight its hybrid character, between place of worship and memorial. The building, listed in the 1988 inventory of historic monuments, also retains traces of its funerary function, such as vaults resting on floral motifs and antelots.

The chapel illustrates the evolution of religious and funeral practices in Île-de-France, from a seigneurial oratory to a communal space. Its history also reflects the medieval epidemics (1280 plague) and the adaptation of religious buildings to local needs, as evidenced by its late use to house the hearse. Today owned by the commune, it remains an architectural testimony of the thirteenth, fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, marked by local figures such as Henri de Maule or Abbé Réal.

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