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Origin and history

The Sainte-Chapelle de Champigny-sur-Veude, built in 1499 and completed in the 16th century, is one of the seven Saintes-Chapelles de France. Commanded by Louis de Bourbon, Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon, she served as a funeral chapel for the Bourbon-Montpensier family. Its architecture combines late Gothic (Irene vaults) and Renaissance, with a three-span nave and a five-sided apse. The side galleries, added by Louis III de Montpensier, allow access to the seigneurial chapels without disturbing the offices.

The stained glass windows, offered in 1543 by Cardinal Claude de Longwy (uncle of Jacqueline de Longwy, wife of Louis III), tell about three levels of the Passion of Christ, the life of Saint Louis, and the genealogy of the Bourbons-Montpensier. Inspired by the Faiz de Monseigneur Saint Louis (circa 1480), they symbolize the dynastic claims of the Bourbons after the betrayal of the connétable Charles III. Damaged in 1711, unsealed during the Revolution, then restored several times (1864, 1974-1975), these stained glass windows were classified as Historic Monuments in 1840.

The adjacent castle, destroyed in 1635 by Richelieu for political reasons, was saved in extremis thanks to the intervention of the bishop of Poitiers and Pope Urban VIII, who had officialized it. The chapel, classified in 1911, is the only major vestige of the estate. Its communes, dated 1545, have cylindrical towers and a central pavilion. The porch, marked 1549 and 1558, bears witness to the final construction phases.

The attribution of stained glass cartons to Jean Cousin (proposed in 1899 by Abbé Bossebeuf) remains controversial, for lack of tangible evidence. The glass windows of the seigneurial chapels, which disappeared in the 19th century, initially completed this exceptional ensemble, reflecting the art of Renaissance stained glass and the political ambitions of the Bourbons.

The chapel also illustrates the tensions between nobility and royal power: confiscated by Francis I after the betrayal of the connetable of Bourbon, it embodies the resilience of a line that will finally reach the throne with Henry IV. His rescue in 1635, despite the destruction of the castle, underlined his symbolic and religious importance.

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