Another memorable post needed to tell you of my former home department 78 Yvelines in the île de France region of my belle France! I am glad to have found me pictures in my cd rom vault that should be in my blog for you and me,This one was a surprise as came for other things to see here, see post, Therefore, here is my take on the commanderie de La Villedieu of Elancourt !!! Hope you enjoy it as I.
The Commandery of La Villedieu is a Hospitaller commandery, formerly a Templar commandery, located in the town of Élancourt, in the department no 78 of Yvelines,in the Île de France region of my belle France, It is 16 km from my dear Versailles. From Paris, it marks the first stop on the road to Chartres for pilgrims traveling to Santiago de Compostela.
The Villedieu chapel, the last medieval vestige in the region, is a building measuring 28 meters by 8 meters. Its original interior height was 11.80 meters at the intersection of the ribbed vaults. The facades are pierced by 14 pointed arched windows, 6 meters high and 1.40 meters wide, separated by buttresses rising to the slate roof. It is rare for a chapel to be illuminated by such large openings. These windows were bricked up by farmers who, according to their needs, opened doors and built lean-to structures. Above the single opening on the west facade, there is a porch surmounted by an archivolt carved with a diamond-point motif, a signature of the 12C. To its right, on the gable, an octagonal turret, accessed from inside the chapel, is topped with a conical roof. Its spiral staircase, lit by loopholes, leads to the top, ending in a lantern. On the south facade of the bay closest to the choir, there was formerly a secondary door which, considering the usual plans of the commanderies, must have given access to the commander’s residence. Inside, the apse has five sides. The six carefully molded vaulting arches rest on slender columns whose astragals support capitals adorned with leaves or crockets. Remains of stained glass windows were also discovered. Of great simplicity, as befitted the setting of the chapel, medallions from Saint-Denis have been incorporated into the choir. A stone engraved on both sides with a Templar cross, inscribed within a circle, was discovered. These crosses most certainly served as territorial markers. This marker can still be seen today, embedded in the facade of a building opposite the chapel, with both sides visible. The uncertain origin of this monumental cross could therefore be the Villedieu-Maurepas commandery, the only Templar commandery attached to that of Louviers-Vaumion in 1312. From the Templar period, it retains its chapel, which was restored in the 20-21C, and a building known as the guards’ building, possibly originally a barn.
The village of La Villedieu Lez Maurepas was a commandery founded between 1150 and 1180 by the warrior monks of the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon aka the Templar Order, in the parish of Élancourt, the archdeaconry of Pincerais, and the deanery of Poissy. In the 13C, the Templar Order owned approximately 3,000 commanderies in Europe, including nearly 700 in France. The Commandery of La Villedieu followed the same organizational pattern as the other sites. In northern France, these typically consisted of buildings for various uses arranged around a central courtyard with a water feature. These multi-purpose sites housed military, agricultural, financial, and religious activities. The area of land acquired by the Knights Templar in Villedieu is estimated at approximately 100 hectares of farmland and a little less than 40 hectares of woodland. This makes it a medium-sized commandery.
Following the royal decree of 1307 ordering the arrest of the Templars in France, Jean de l’Oratoire appears to have been arrested in Villedieu, then imprisoned with seven other Templars in Crépy-en-Valois, in the diocese of Senlis, where he perished. Upon the dissolution of the order in 1312, all the possessions of Villedieu-Maurepas were placed under the authority of the Hospitaller commandery of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem in Louviers-Vaumion, located in Omerville (Val d’Oise dept 95). The commandery, if not the chapel itself, suffered greatly, like the entire surrounding area, from bands of looters, brigands, and marauders, as well as from the English occupation during the Hundred Years’ War. The estate was in such a state of poverty at the end of the hostilities that, no longer able to support itself, it was directly attached to the Hospitaller priory of Saint John Lateran in Paris, dependent on the Grand Priory of France, in 1474. During the Wars of Religion, the estate was ransacked by Huguenot troops in 1567 and 1568. It was probably around this time that, until the French revolution, it was managed solely by a land steward (a kind of tenant farmer), and that the chapel, while continuing to be carefully maintained, was only served occasionally by a monk of the Order or by the parish priest of Élancourt, every Thursday, as attested by a document from 1750. Subsequently, the direct commanders of Louviers-Vaumion took over and succeeded one another until the laws of November 2 and 4, 1789, concerning the property of religious communities. In 1792, the French revolution confiscated the French assets of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem and sold the entire property as national property. The commandery became a farm and, in 1900, was one of the largest in the region with a dozen resident farmworkers. From the late 1930s, following an expropriation, the site remained abandoned until 1970, the year the new town of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines was created. The entire property belongs to the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines urban community.
The official Commanderie de Saint Quentin en Yvelines as commanderie de La Villedieu :https://lacommanderie.sqy.fr/la-commanderie/#histoire
The city of Elancourt on its history/heritage : https://elancourt.fr/ma-ville/decouvrir-ma-ville/histoire-et-patrimoine
There you go folks, the other side of life in France, not visiting but living the real thing. Maybe just maybe you may feel to want to come to these areas just to take a look at how we live normal life away from the tourist throngs , just maybe ,you will be surprise Again, hope you have enjoy this post on the commanderie de La Villedieu of Elancourt !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 