History History

It is in the Bois de la Chaize, in Noirmoutier, that the oldest tools (8000 BC) of the Paleolithic were discovered. And it is at the Groin-du-Cou point that we find the oldest traces of the Neolithic (5300 BC) on the Atlantic side of the country.
There are more than forty dolmens and menhirs in the Vendée. The Avrillé and Bernard region has a fine collection of specimens, including the King of Menhirs or menhir of Caesar's Camp.
The Vendée islands are not to be outdone, and the island of Yeu has five megaliths.
The end of the fourth millennium was marked by the displacement of agricultural populations around the marine gulf. This was the Celtic period in the Vendée with the religion of the Druids. Two peoples share the territory: the Pictons, south of the Lay, and the Ambilatres, an Armorican people in the north.

The oldest metallurgist furnace in the west of the country (2500 BC) was found at La République (Talmont-Saint-Hilaire). It is also known that commercial activity was intense in the region.

Celtic populations of the Iron Age occupied the plain by exploiting the salt between Luçon and Le Gué-de-Velluire.

The Vendée was invaded by Roman troops. The coastline is lined with luxurious villas. Durinum (Saint-Georges-de-Montaigu) becomes an important crossroads where trade and crafts prosper. The Celtic religion disappears, while the Christian influence asserts itself.

Poitou became a possession of the Visigoths after being devastated by the Alans, Suevi and Vandals in 406.

The Visigoths, who were in turn defeated by Clovis near Poitiers.

For two centuries after 799, the deadly Norman raids began. The monks fled, and the peasants took refuge in the underground. Donjons and ramparts are built to put an end to this insecurity. The north, the west and part of the south are dominated by the Viscounts of Thouars; Talmond and its surroundings are the territory of the count's power. It was also the time when abbeys flourished, such as the abbey of Maillezais which welcomed Rabelais.

Romanesque art develops. It can be found in the churches of Vouvant, Foussais and Benet.
In 1137, Eleanor, heiress of the Dukes of Aquitaine, married Louis VII. But it was during her second marriage in 1152 to Henry II Plantagenet, future king of England, that Poitou came under English rule. Many battles ensued, including with her own son, Richard the Lionheart, who opposed his father. When Eleanor died in 1204, Philip Augustus reconquered Poitou.

In 1217 the abbeys of Maillezais, Nieul, Saint-Michel-en-l'Herm, Saint-Maixent and l'Absie joined forces to dig the Canal des Cinq Abbés, which would lead to the draining of the Marais Poitevin.
Les Sables-d'Olonne was founded in 1218 by Savary de Mauléon. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the exploitation of the salt marshes of Bouin and Beauvoir developed and trade with the Nordic countries intensified. In 1337 the Hundred Years' War began; the Lower Poitou was at the heart of bloody battles.
After being taken over by the English, the region regained its place with the kings of France thanks to the Breton knight Du Guesclin and Olivier de Clisson.

Joan of Arc launched the reconquest of the kingdom from Poitiers. Gilles de Rais, her companion, Sire of Tiffauges and Pouzauges in particular, who had become a child murderer, was executed in 1440. Fontenay was made a commune by Louis XI in 1471.

The early 16th century was the golden age of the Vendée. Fontenay-le-Comte became a European cultural centre thanks to illustrious names such as Viète, Rapin, Brissot, Tiraqueau and Rabelais. François I nicknamed it "Fountain of the Beautiful Minds". It was during this period that the port towns developed: Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, Les Sables-d'Olonne, Noirmoutier and the Ile d'Yeu.
Protestantism grew in importance. Calvin, a figure of the Protestant reform, preached in Poitiers. Violent clashes between Catholics and Reformed took place from 1562 onwards. This first civil war in the Vendée lasted 35 years. 200,000 people, mainly Protestants, left the region for the countries of northern Europe. In 1598, Henry of Navarre (the future Henry IV) promulgated the Edict of Nantes imposing religious coexistence. Peace then returned. After four centuries of interruption, the work of draining the Marais Poitevin resumed.

The future cardinal of Richelieu and prime minister of Louis XIII arrives in Luçon in 1608. In 1612, Richelieu founded one of the first seminaries in France.
Beginning of the Vendée insurrection with, in 1698, the first clandestine protestant assemblies.

The department was created in 1790. The idea of calling it Les Deux-Lay (the Lay being the main coastal river of the Vendée) was discarded to preserve the susceptibility of the two deputies of the time, who were ungainly looking.
The Vendée War
During this civil war, the supporters (blue) and opponents (white) of the revolutionary movement in the West of France were opposed to each other during the French Revolution. The increase in taxes, the requisition of grain and the civil constitution of the clergy stirred up the first tensions in 1791. The priests refused to take the oath as provided for in the civil constitution. Forbidden to worship, the refractory priests continued to give clandestine masses at night. In 1792, some were expelled to Spain. The execution of King Louis XVI on 21 January 1793 brought the Vendeans together. The requisition of 300 000 single men between 18 and 40 years old (except the bourgeoisie and the civil servants) to defend France is at the origin of the uprising of March 1793. Young Vendeans stormed the small towns where the republican forces were located, displaying the white flag and the fleur de lys, the rosary and the Sacred Heart. This was the birth of the Catholic and royal Vendée. Four nobles were at the head of the three armies, which were acclaimed by the peasants: the Marquis de Bonchamps, Cathelineau, Maurice d'Elbée and François de Charette. Following their defeat at Luçon and Cholet, 80,000 men, women and children fled. The destruction of houses and crops is ordered on August^1st 1793 by the Convention. English help never came and one of the darkest pages of the Republic was written under General Turreau.
Peace was signed in Nantes on the 17th February 1795 with the treaty of La Jaunaie. De Charette, who had taken up arms in May, was pursued by Travot's columns, captured and executed on the 25th. A sad event which marks the end of the wars of Vendée, but a heavy tribute: the department lost the fifth of its population.

From 1830 to 1905, it was the time of the reconstruction of presbyteries and churches. The Vendée gradually opened up with the construction of strategic roads and the arrival of the railway. The industrial boom went hand in hand with the development of tourism and the introduction of paid holidays.
The Vendée suffered many casualties during the 1914 war: 5% compared to 3.5% for the rest of France.