A little history of Trinité abbey in Vendôme
And also
The tops
In 1032, count of Anjou Foulques Nerra’s son, Geoffroy Martel, seized the county of Vendôme: counts of Vendôme were born! Geoffroy immediately rebuilt the old stronghold and moved here with his wife Agnès of Burgundy.
It was probably from one of the castle's window that one night, he saw 3 strange fireballs fell in a fountain. One, two, three?! Oh, a sign from Heaven, from God! Three, as the Holy Trinity!
Geoffroy decided to found an abbey here! The church was completed in 1040 and they started after that the construction of abbey’s buildings...
When the monastery was finished, Geoffroy gave it two relics from Constantinople: saint Georges' arm and Jesus Christ's tear... People came in pilgrimage from the Middle Ages to the Revolution.
The Tear was the tear Jesus shed when Lazarus died. That’s why they often invoked this relic to cure eyes diseases!
These relics were so important that even counts of Vendôme adopted this device: "Holy tear, Vendôme!" or "Saint Georges, Vendôme"!
The current high Gothic church kept its nice bell-tower (12th century, 80 metres high!): it was used as a model for cathedral of Chartres' bell-tower!