VENDÔME. – The Benedictine abbey of the Most Holy Trinity of V., in the département of Loir-et-Cher in France, was founded in 1034 by Goffredo, count of Angers.
V., today a subprefecture of Loir-et-Cher, was an ancient settlement of Gaul, which the Romans replaced with the city of Vindocinum, whence the present name. At the end of the 10th century it became an independent county, founded by Bucardo I, known as the Elder; in the second half of the 12th century it was long fought over, until the Treaty of V. in 1227. It was taken and sacked by the English in 1362. By inheritance the county passed in 1375 to the house of Bourbon; in 1515 it became a duchy through the agency of Carlo I di Borbone-V., the paternal grandfather of Enrico IV, who dismantled its castle in 1589; in 1598 he gave it to his natural son Cesare di V.; it was reunited with the Crown in 1712.
The church was dedicated on 31 May 1040 by Goffredo Martello, but the work had begun in 1035. In 1063 the abbots of V. becoming, upon their election, cardinals of the title of S. Prisca, with the obligation of ensuring that 12 monks provided its religious service. The monastery was placed under the direct authority of the Holy See, an exemption accepted by Teodorico, bishop of Chartres, and confirmed in 1056 by King Enrico I. It was visited by Ildebrando; in 1094 Abbot Goffredo went to Rome to Urban II, who went to V. from 19 February to 3 March 1098 and on 26 February consecrated the altar beneath the Crucifix, at the entrance to the choir. In 1621 the abbey adopted the Maurist reform. On 9 December 1790 everything was dispersed by the Revolution.