ÉLANCOURT COMMUNAL MONOGRAPH

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In a happy situation, at the bottom of the valley formed by the ru of its name, Elancourt, between Trappes and Jouars, depends on the canton of Chevreuse and is distant from this town of 12 kilos.  

   According to de Dion, the Roman road from Paris to Dreux, after having crossed Trappes, passed to Elancourt, then to the farm of Ergal, etc. Near Elancourt, this route crossed the old road from Poissy to Orléans via the Perray.

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In the obituary of Joyenval, we find Mathieu Lord of Elancourt, knight domini Mathoei Eleencortis, died in 1264, donor, with his wife Isabelle, of two and a half acres of land to this abbey. 

In the 13th century, in place names ending in Cortis, this suffix was wrongly replaced by the suffix curia. We then had Elancuria.  

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The cure of Elancourt and the prior of Argenteuil

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The cure of Elancourt, before the Revolution was at the presentation of the prior of Argenteuil. His income in 1648 was 343 pounds. The prior of Argenteuil, dependent member of the abbey of Saint-Denis, had the right to justice in Elancourt, Adainville, Bourdonné and other places, and, to exercise justice in these localities, there were provosts, appeals for sentences of which provosts belonging to his bailiff of Argenteuil. (Cf. letters patent issued by Charles IX, February 19, 1563, at the request of François de Rabodanges, prior and his family of Argenteuil.)

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The church

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The church of Elancourt, from the 12th and 13th centuries, has an interesting choir, of primary ogival style. A massive bell tower rises above the choir. The nave is vaulted in wood. Its windows, which have been made ogival, are fitted with modern glass roofs. The apse, lit by three pointed windows and two oculi, has a ridge vault decorated with vigorous ribs falling on corner columns crowned with Roman capitals. Patron: Saint-Médard. Saint-Médard, born in Salency, near Noyon, around 457, was bishop of several dioceses, including Noyon. He was in great credit with the kings of Neustria Clotaire I and Chilpéric I, say the dictionaries. As far as Clotaire I is concerned, the Saint's credit was not such that this king soiled himself with crime, the first of which was the assassination of his nephews, among whom Saint-Cloud alone escaped. As for Chilperic, he had his wife strangled to please his concubine Frederic: apart from that, he was a theologian, poet and fine spirit. 

Saint-Médard died in 545. His relics were transported to the abbey of Soissons. It is believed that it was he who instituted the crowning of the rosebush at Salency. The church honors him on June 8. 

The cure of Elancourt was formerly at the collation of prior of Argenteuil.  

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Feudalism  

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Part of the parish of Elancourt formerly came under the old châtellenie of Chevreuse and Maurepas. Another part depending on the châtellenie of Trappes and the abbey of Saint-Denis, which had succeeded the rights of the priory of Argenteuil. Successive donations brought most of the parish into the domain of the House of the Temple.  

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1789

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The parish of Elancourt claims to be represented at the preliminary assembly of the third estate of the provost and viscount of Paris outside the walls, April 18, 1789, for the election of deputies to the States-General, by Charles Thomas Mailleul , winemaker, and Louis Bonaventure Giffard, winemaker. His book of grievances begins as follows: "We, trustee, collectors, inhabitants, taillables of the parish of Elancourt, all born French, aged twenty-five, being assembled to the sound of the bell at the place and in the usual manner, by in front of Mr. Pierre Yves Lebel fiscal attorney of the bailiwick and gruerie of the county of Pontchartrain substituting (sic) Bishop the bailiff for the said seat ... "The notebook consists of thirty two articles reproducing complaints common to many notebooks of the third estate , and ends: "The parish of Elancourt is one of the most unfortunate of those which adjoin the residence of the monarch (Elancourt is 16 kilometers from Versailles) as much by the lack of property as by the bad nature of the land, and by the great beast that is in the woods around this parish; it is impossible that they can pay any tax this year, not being able to provide them with goods to live; they need prompt help. " Eleven signatures follow, including that of Prudhomme syndic. 

In the order of the clergy, at the assembly of the provost and viscount of Paris outside the Walls, M. Boulon, parish priest of Elancourt, was represented by the parish priest of Trappes.  

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Railway

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The southern tip of the territory of Elancourt towards La Verrière is crossed by the Paris-Chartres railway. On August 20, 1845, the expropriation jury, meeting in Rambouillet, fixed the compensation to be paid to the owners of Elancourt expropriated for the route of this railway: the compensation amounted to an average of 5,410 francs per hectare. 

The closest stations are: Trappes, 4 kil.300, La Verrière, 4 kil.700.  

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Mills

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In 1865, Elancourt had two mills.  

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Hamlet of the Pond

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The hamlet of l'Etang is a former stronghold of which, in 1244, Milon, squire, was lord: in November of the said year, "Milo dominus de Stanno (Stannum, deformation of Stagnum = pond), armiger." gives the Church of Our Lady of the Rock six acres of vines in its censive near the Pond. In the 15th century, the Etang mill belonged to the abbey of Saint-Denis.  

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Orphanage

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In the hamlet of Etang, the orphanage of L'Assomption was founded in 1849 by Father Méquignon and was recognized as being of public utility by decree of April 7, 1866. Father Méquignon, born in Calais in 1825, was appointed in 1849 to the cure of Elancourt which had no minister since the Revolution. As there was no presbytery, he moved into a cottage, and, despite the modesty of his installation, began  collect orphans whose number is increasing little by little. Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul came to help him. Mme Gabillot, in religion Sister Gabrielle, devoted her fortune and her existence to the work undertaken. She died in 1874; Father Méquignon died in 1890 after being honored with a Montyon Prize. He is buried, along with Sister Gabrielle, in the chapel of the orphanage. 

Children are admitted to the house between the ages of 2 and 7 and stay there until the age of twelve. They were then sent to Notre-Dame de la Roche, some 9 kilometers away, in the town of Lévy-Saint-Nom, property donated to the work by the Lévis-Mirepoix family. The establishment, still served by the St Vincent de Paul sisters, had for a long time no other director than the parish priest of Elancourt. It now operates under the supervision of a board which elects a director. The number, previously 300 children, increased to 400 after the great war. The orphanage can only survive thanks to the help of benefactors and the proceeds of public collections. The chapel, built on the designs of Mr. Lebrun, was inaugurated on August 13, 1867.  

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Lilacs

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Aux Lillas, rabbit breeding establishment

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Launay-Frécambeau

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Downstream from the hamlet of the pond was, on rue d'Elancourt, the mill of Launay. On the left remains the hamlet of Launay. In the 12th century, Hugues Simon Alneto (l'Aunay) wife of Pétronille de Cressaio (Cressay). 

Downstream from Launay, before leaving the territory of Elancourt and entering that of Jouars, the Ru d'Elancourt operates or operated the Frécambeau mill.  

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The ru d'Elancourt

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The ru d'Elancourt is born at the south-eastern end of the territory of Elancourt, leaves the village of Elancourt on its left, and meets at La Mauldre in Chemevières, on the territory of Jouars, after a course of 6 kilometers . Despite its smallness, this stream, before the great minoterre has, in modern times, killed the small mills, operated five small mills, namely: on the territory of Elancourt, the mills of Etang, Launay and Fréquembeau ; on the territory of Jouars, the Moulin Neuf and the Moulin de Potançon.  

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The Ville-Dieu

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Another hamlet of Elancourt, Ville-Dieu-lez-Maurepas, located between Trappes and La Verrière, was the seat of a seigneury and a preceptory of the Templars, and, after removal of these, of the Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem. 

In the eleventh century, many people went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. French lords, in 1104, founded in Jerusalem, to receive these pilgrims, a hospitable house, called Saint-Jean, because it had been consecrated under the invocation of Saint John the Baptist. In 1096, the Crusades began which, cut off by interruptions, lasted until 1291. Several Crusaders, in recognition of the care they received in the house just mentioned, devoted themselves, after healing, to service. of the poor: this was the origin of the Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem. Soon, to their wish for assistance to the poor and the sick, was added the wish for the protection of pilgrims and the fight against infidels: they created a half religious half military organization, the statutes of which were approved by the Pope in 1113. Among the first founders and benefactors of the order figure Gui II de Chevreuse. On the other hand, in 1118, some French lords founded another military and religious order, the Templars, soldier monks whose mission was also to protect the pilgrims and to defend the holy places; its name came from the fact that the mother house was installed on the site of Solomon's temple in Jerusalem. Many princes and lords, to come to the aid of this order, gave him lands and houses. To administer these goods, and at the same time collect donations for the benefit of the order, commanderies were created throughout the territory. Among the number was the commandery of Villedieu-lès-Maurepas (Villa Dei of Malo Repastu), branch of the commandery of Louviers. In 1177, Dreux de Vilette; with the consent of his lord Ernaud de la Ferté, gives the Templars of Villedieu-lez-Maurepas an income from one muid of wheat on Bardelle. In 1190, Simon de Chevreuse, on the verge of leaving for the crusade, told them to donate goods. By letters of January 1212, Pierre de Richebourg ceded to the same Templars a tithe to Maurepas moving from the stronghold of Chevreuse. In 1250, Jean Daniel Lord of Donisy gave the Knights of the Temple established in Villedieu 89 arpents of land in Boullay-les-Trous and Montabé. In 1256, Milon, lord and lord of Maurepas granted the brothers of the Temple depreciation (Faculty given to the mainmortables to become owners) for all the goods they had in his movement. Under a charter of 1281, the lady of Chevreuse, Sédile, former wife of Monsignor Guillaume Maingot lord of Surgières, renounces the prevention she had long had of dispossessing the Templars of justice and the seigneury they enjoyed in their domain, their houses of Broce and Villedieu, which is called Monrepart, the town called Booloy and the wood called Bos des Leez, all belonging to them as having been given to them by the late Gui, knight, formerly Lord of Chevreuse, Geoffroy once canon of Paris, Guillaume and Amaury, knights, known as of Chevreuse, Symon son of said who, Mathieu de Montmorency and who nephew of said predecessor of said Sédile. The lady Sédile however reserves the hunting and the warren. Pae a charter of November 1284, the same lady recognizes the so-called Templars, high vigilantes of Maurepas, the right to raise sinister pitchforks there, asking them only to place them as far as possible from Chevreuse and the pitchforks of his castle. In 1299, the knights of the Temple of Villedieu owned the manor of Saint Aubin with its 150 arpents of land. 

The Templar order was made up of: 1 ° knights (militia fratres); 2 ° of chaplains (Capellani fratres); 3 ° sergeants and squires (fratres servientes armigeri); 4 ° of servants and craftsmen (servientes formuli et officü), brothers who were entrusted in the commanderies with work in the fields or to whom were incumbent the duties of domesticity. The commanderies were generally established so as to enclose a place of au, source or river. They were real farms and provided the necessary food for a large community. A long siege could have been sustained there without fear of famine. Grains of wheat, wheat, filled the barns to the brim while waiting to be reduced to flour under the millstone. Oats abounded for horses, hay for cattle, grass for sheep (John Charpentier). 

The end of the Crusades (1291) removed the original goal of establishing the Templar order. They no longer fulfilled a role similar to that of the current Red Cross. 

The Templars, in the surrounding countryside their houses gave themselves up to a real police of the main ways of the trade. The surveillance of these routes seems to have been the goal of the sorties which they frequently accomplished in groups of ten, twenty, thirty, spear in hand. They ensured the safety of travelers (John Charpentier). 

The order of the Templars became very rich, not only because of the gifts received, but especially as a result of the functions of banker that the order assumed, functions to which made it specific the immense network of houses depending on this order in almost all the country. 'Europe. This wealth aroused great lusts. The power that this wealth gave him, gave shade. This was the cause that, animated on the other hand by the colonnial reports made to him against the order of the Templars by Chancellor Guillaume de Nogaret, of the family who later took the title of Epernon, Philippe-le-Bel abolished this order. of France, 1310-1311. Following an iniquitous trial, the principal knights of the order perished at the stake. At the powerful urging of Philip the Fair, Pope Clement V, his creature generally suppressed the order. Contrary to the intentions of Philippe-le-Bel, he attributed their property to the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem, but the king had already confiscated most of them (1312).  

   Templars of France, "many who wandered or hid themselves idle and longed to be deprived of discipline, requested their admission into the order of Hospitallers. The highest placed in the hierarchy of the Temple, took the rank of knight, squire , in the service of the princes, counts and barons of Christendom. The servants took refuge in the corporations of craftsmen and even workers. Trained in various trades, blacksmiths, locksmiths, carpenters, joiners, masons ... found the use of their knowledge in the corporations. Communions (banquets at common expense) of companionship, the close solidarity of its members under a patron saint, its mysterious signs of recognition, its watchwords, its symbols finally recreated for those without doubts the atmosphere of the commanderies, their esprit de corps, their exclusivity ... "(John Charpentier).  

   The house of Villedieu les Maurepas passed to the Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem.

   The Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem were soon driven from Jerusalem by the Turks.  

   They then established their headquarters in Rhodes, but they were still driven out by the Turks at the beginning of the 16th century. In 1530, they established in the island of Malta that Charles V granted them, and since that time the Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem have become the Knights of Malta.  

   In 1474, twenty one years after the end of the Hundred Years War, the Commanderie de la Villedieu was reunited with the commandery of the Old Hospital or of Saint-Jean de Latran in Paris, by decision of the provincial chapter of the order thus consue: "Considering the poverty, ruin and desolation, together the small income of the commandery of Villedieu-les-Maurepas, considering its proximity to the Hospital of St Jean de Paris, the chapter orders that it will be attached to said hospital Saint Jean."

   In 1495, the seigneury of La Verrière depended on the house of Ville-Dieu.  

   In 1580, we see appearing in the assembly of the three orders of the provost and viscounty of Paris for the drafting of the custom of Parus, "the commander of St Jean de Catran lord of Ureine, of the Hotel-Jaune, de la Tombe-Issoire, de la Brosse and Villedieu-les-Maurepas. "

   In the 18th century, the commander had a quarter of the tithe of the parish of Jouars, half of a prebend in the chapter of the collegiate church of Poissy at the presentation of the said commander, etc.  

    He owned many censives in La Verrière, Launay, Tremblay, Montfort, Grignon, Poissy, Crespières, Feucherolles, Morainvilliers, Thivernal, Mareuil-sous-St Germain, Vaux-le-Temple , and other surrounding places. As these censives were complicated to collect, the Chapter of the Language of France considered it advantageous to cede them, in 1693, to M. de Pontchartrain, Controller General of Finance, against an annual annuity of one hundred pounds which he established on his account. goods for the benefit of order.  

   In 1757, the income attached to the house of Villedieu-lez-Maurepas was 2000 pounds.  

   The estate included a beautiful farm in the courtyard of which was a chapel dedicated to St Jean-Baptiste, where the priest of Elancourt came to say mass every Thursday. About 300 arpents of land and 110 arpents of wood depended on the farm.

   In 1789, the goods of the order were placed at the disposal of the nation, at the same time as the goods of the church. 

The Villedieu farm still exists with the chapel, a 12th century Gothic monument (or beginning of the 13th century), transformed into a barn.  

   The farm has added a beet distillery. This chapel has 28m. long by 8m30 wide. It has five spans and is terminated by a (...) with five sides. The pinion, pierced by a door and an ogival window, is accompanied at the SW angle by an octagon-shaped staircase turret.  

   It is currently operated by the real estate company of Villedieu, a limited company with a capital of 127,500 frs.

Water in Elancourt

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   The municipality of Elancourt could have a well already built when in 1935 it joined the intercommunal union for the supply of drinking water in the Yvelines region, which union has been responsible for the distribution, since 1938, of water. drinking water in the village, through its concessionaire, the Société l'Entreprise Industrielle.  

  Mr. Bouchené-Lefer

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Mr. Adèle Gabriel Denis Bouchené-Lefer, born in 1796, State Councilor, jurisconsult, author of treatises on administrative law and political economy, died in Elancourt in January 1872.  

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Population  

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In a litter  13th century diocesan: 80 parishioners 

Population of Elancourt in 1866 ... 382 hts

                        1891 ... 614

                        1910 ... 634

                        1926 ... 910

                        1931 ... 986

                        1936 ... 838

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There is a town of Elencourt in the Oise. In her novel La Maréchale d'Aubemer Madame de Boigne, mentioned in Jouars-Pontchartrain's notice, baptizes two of her characters Baron d'Elancourt and Demoiselle d'Elancourt.  

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   Monographic transcription of the municipal monograph of Elancourt written by Paul Aubert in 1949, departmental archives of Yvelines, call number: J 3211/6 [4]

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