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Origin and history

The hotel of the bishops of Maillezais, located at 9 rue Pont-aux-Chèvres in Fontenay-le-Comte (Vendée, Pays de la Loire), is a building built in stone, covered with tiled and slate roofs. Its architecture includes a stair tower made of cut stone, pierced windows in the middle of a hanger and surmounted by a tower of ford. The basement, served by two straight staircases, preserves remains of an earlier construction of the 15th and 16th centuries, including a partially visible staircase.

The building is traditionally associated with the bishops of Maillezais, although this attribution is contested by local historians. According to the sources, it would have been built under Henry II (mid-sixteenth century), and then rebuilt at the beginning of the seventeenth century under Henry IV. The bishops would have occupied it until around 1650. However, research suggests that it was rather built in the second quarter of the 17th century, possibly for Claude Porchier or Jean Garipault, owners in 1635. Fireplaces were redone in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The hotel was acquired by the city of Fontenay-le-Comte in 1980 for a symbolic franc. Only the roof was restored in 1981, before an inscription to the historical monuments in 1988 for its facades, roofs, and the staircase pavilion. A more complete restoration took place around 1991. Under the Old Regime, the building depended on the Perate's fief. Today, it belongs to the commune, but its current use (visit, rental) is not specified in the sources.

The oldest remains, dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries, include traces of openings in the stairwell and preserved basements. The building thus illustrates several architectural phases, mixing medieval, Renaissance and classical elements. Its history also reflects the urban transformations of Fontenay-le-Comte, marked by its role as episcopal city before the Revolution.

The confusion with the actual residence of the bishops, the nearby Château-Gaillard Hotel, highlights the documentary gaps on its exact use. Henri de Béthune, bishop of Maillezais from 1630 to 1648, probably resided there elsewhere, questioning the traditional denomination of the building. The local archival sources (Aillery, Boutin, Fillon) nevertheless perpetuate this name, rooted in collective memory.

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