Editing Vendée (section)

==History==
The area today called the Vendée was originally known as the ''Bas-Poitou'' and is part of the former province of [[Poitou]].

In the southeast corner, the village of [[Nieul-sur-l'Autise]] is believed to be the birthplace of [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]] (1122–1204). Eleanor's son, [[Richard I of England|Richard the Lionheart]] often had his base in [[Talmont-Saint-Hilaire|Talmont]]. The [[Hundred Years' War]]  (1337–1453) turned much of the Vendée into a battleground.

Since the Vendée held a considerable number of influential [[Protestantism|Protestants]], including control by [[Jeanne d'Albret]] mother of Henry IV of France, the region was greatly affected by the [[French Wars of Religion]] which broke out in 1562 and continued until 1598. In April of that year [[Henry IV of France|King Henri IV]] issued the [[Edict of Nantes]] and the Wars came to an end. The revocation of the [[Edict of Nantes]] in 1685 caused many [[Huguenots]] to flee from the Vendée. In the void, the region became rigorously Catholic due to the influence of a preacher and Marian missionary [[Louis de Montfort]] who radically changed the spirituality of the region. Many attribute the effect of his preaching to prepare the Vendeans for their revolt against the French Revolution.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Michael |title=For Altar and Throne |date=1997 |publisher=Remnant Press |location=St. Paul, MN |isbn=1890740004 |page=98}}</ref>

The [[War in the Vendée|Vendeans revolted]] against the [[French Revolution|Revolutionary]] government in 1793. They resented the harsh oppression imposed on the [[Catholic Church]] by the provisions of the [[Civil Constitution of the Clergy]] act (1790) and broke into open revolt after the Revolutionary government's imposition of military [[conscription]]. A massacre of Republicans at [[First Massacre of Machecoul|Machecoul]] in March was followed by [[guerrilla warfare]], led at the outset by peasants who were chosen in each locale, and cost more than 240,000 lives before it ended in 1796 (190,000 Vendeans who were republicans or royalists and 50,000 non-Vendean republican soldiers; according to the Jacques Hussenet and Centre Vendéen de Recherche Historique's book ''Détruisez la Vendée''). 

The Revolt in the Vendée must not be confused with the revolt of the [[Chouannerie|Chouans]], which took place at the same time in Maine and [[Brittany]]. The revolt was led by able officers, mostly aristocrats with some commoners. England provided funds and weapons but various plans for military support were thwarted or cancelled, such as the ill-fated 1795 [[Invasion of France (1795)|Quiberon Expedition]]. In 1804, [[Napoleon I]] chose [[La Roche-sur-Yon]] to be the capital of the [[Departments of France|department]]. At the time, most of La Roche had been eradicated in the [[War in the Vendée|Vendée Revolt]] (1793–96); the renamed Napoléonville was laid out and a fresh population of soldiers and civil servants was brought in. Napoléonville had a square-grid street network and was designed to accommodate 15,000 people.<ref>Graham Robb, ''The Discovery of France'', Picador, London (2007), pp257-8</ref>

In 1815, when Napoleon escaped exile on [[Elba]] for his [[Hundred Days]], the Vendée refused to recognise him and stayed loyal to King [[Louis XVIII]]. General [[Jean Maximilien Lamarque|Lamarque]] led 10,000 men into the Vendée to pacify the region.<ref name=EB1911WC>[[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition]] Waterloo Campaign</ref> A [[:fr:Guerre de Vendée et Chouannerie de 1832|failed rebellion in the Vendée in 1832]] in support of [[Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile, duchess de Berry]], the former [[Charles X of France|King Charles X]]'s widowed daughter-in-law, was an unsuccessful attempt to restore the [[Legitimist]] Bourbon dynasty during the reign of the [[Orléanist]] monarch, King [[Louis Philippe I of France|Louis Philippe]] of the French (1830–1848).

In 1850, [[England|English]] author [[Anthony Trollope]] published his book ''La Vendée'', detailing the history of the region and the war. In the preface he pays tribute to [[Victoire de Donnissan de La Rochejaquelein|Madame de la Rochejaquelein]], on whose memoirs of the war he based his story.