Vendôme (/vɒ̃ˈdoʊm/, French: [vɑ̃dom] ) is a subprefecture of the department of Loir-et-Cher, France. It is also the department's third-biggest commune with 15,856 inhabitants (2019).
It is one of the main towns along the river Loir. The river divides itself at the entrance of Vendôme, intersecting it into numerous different arms. The town has a rich medieval history and many historical monuments.
Count of Vendôme and, later, Duke of Vendôme were titles of French nobility. The first-known holder of the comital title was Bouchard Ratepilate. The county passed by marriage to various houses, coming in 1372 to a junior branch of the House of Bourbon. In 1514, Vendôme was made a duchy-peerage.
In 1589, the then Duke of Vendôme came to the throne as Henry IV of France, and the title passed into the royal domain. It was re-granted to his illegitimate son César in 1598, and held by his descendants until the extinction of the legitimate male line in 1727.
Flamboyant (from French flamboyant 'flaming') is a lavishly decorated style of Gothic architecture that appeared in France and Spain in the 15th century, and lasted until the mid-sixteenth century and the beginning of the Renaissance. Elaborate stone tracery covered both the exterior and the interior. Windows were decorated with a characteristic s-shaped curve. Masonry wall space was reduced further as windows grew even larger. Major examples included the northern spire of Chartres Cathedral, Trinity Abbey, Vendôme, and Burgos Cathedral and Segovia Cathedral in Spain. It was gradually replaced by Renaissance architecture in the 16th century.
Trinity Abbey, Vendôme, was a Benedictine monastery founded in 1035 in Vendôme by Geoffrey Martel and his first wife, Agnes of Burgundy. It was consecrated on 31 May 1040, one month before Geoffrey became Count of Anjou.
The abbey was under the direct authority of the Pope and nobody else. This fact was accepted by Thierry of Chartres and by King Henry I of France in 1056. In 1063, its abbot was given the rights of being a cardinal. It was often in conflict with the counts of Vendôme and some, like Geoffrey Jordan, were excommunicated.
In France under the Ancien Régime, the lit de justice (French pronunciation: [li də ʒystis], "bed of justice") was a particular formal session of the Parlement of Paris, under the presidency of the King of France, for the compulsory registration of the royal edicts and to impose his sovereignty. It was named thus because the king would sit on a throne, under a baldachin. In the Middle Ages, not every appearance of the King of France in parlement occasioned a formal lit de justice.