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Origin and history

The collegiate Saint-Georges de Vendôme, founded in the 11th century in the courtyard of the castle, served as a necropolis for the Counts and Dukes of Vendôme, sheltering in particular the burials of Antoine de Bourbon and Jeanne of Albret, parents of Henry IV. Built perhaps on the site of an ancient aula comtal, it was enlarged between the 11th and 13th centuries with a transept, a choir with staggered chapels, and a bell tower. Its history is marked by aristocratic gifts, such as those of Mary of Luxembourg in the 16th century, which financed stalls, an organ and a chapel.

In 1562, the college was sacked by Huguenot troops, losing reliquaries and treasures. Despite repairs and its status as a parish church in the seventeenth century, it declined after 1724 due to lack of resources. The Revolution accelerated its fall: sold as national property in 1793, it was demolished by Parisian volunteers, its desecrated tombs and its scattered materials. Today there is no visible trace.

The college also housed a rich treasure of relics (arms of Saint George, fragments of the True Cross) and owned land in the Vendômois, Beauce and Val de Loir. Its canons, numbering 20 from 1430, managed these goods until they were dispersed. The site, linked to Bourbon history, symbolizes both medieval piety and revolutionary violence.

His illustrious burials included Bouchard VII of Vendôme, Charles de Bourbon (first duke), and Caesar de Vendôme, the legitimized son of Henry IV. The building, 25 meters long for the nave and 24 meters for the choir, dominated the courtyard of the castle until its destruction. The last relics and statues, like that of Saint John the Baptist, were transferred to the abbey of the Trinity after 1793.

The legend attributes its foundation to Agnes of Burgundy around 1037, although no contemporary text attests. Its decline is part of that of religious institutions under the Old Regime, before its brutal end during the Terror. The archives mention petitions to save the tombs, in vain: on 28 May 1793 marked its final destruction.

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