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Origin and history

The Petit Naze mansion is a historic estate located 2 km east of the town of Argentré, in the department of Mayenne. Crossed by the Petit-Nazé stream (fluent of the Jouanne), it is distinct from the nearby Grand-Nazé, with which it shares traces of neolithic occupation, such as flints of flint and axes. These discoveries suggest an ancient use of the site, well before the first written mentions.

The archives reveal a terminological evolution of the domain: Medietaria de Nazei in 1243 (Lib. Alb.), then Bordagium de Naze in the 13th century (Cartular of the Abbey of Couture). In the 15th century, one speaks of the domain of Grand Naze (1453), then of the fief of Naze in 1506. The name Petit-Nazay appeared in 1782 (Archives départementales de la Mayenne), reflecting successive seigneurial divisions. The manor was a fief of land justice, dependent on the seigneury of Marboué.

A chapel was attested on the site in 1721, marking its local religious importance. The Abbé Angot, however, highlights the possible confusion between the different domains of Naze (Great and Small), complicating the precise history of the place. Sources also refer to prehistoric artifacts, confirming a multisacular human occupation, but without details of their discovery context.

The mansion appears on old maps, such as that of Hubert Jaillot or the card of Cassini, under the name Naze. These cartographic representations testify to its anchoring in the landscape and its role in the seigneurial organization of the region, without specific lords being clearly identified in the available sources.

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