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The history of the Mesnil-Saint-Denis
begins mainly into 768 when Pépin le Bref made gift with
the abbey of Saint-Denis of most of the forest of
Yveline, even if it is true that the Romans had already
marked of their presence the place. At the Moyen Age, the
representatives of the monks of the abbey came to
perceive the incomes there. |
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It's for this reason and by safety
measure that a known house strengthened under the name of
"Ferté-Beaurain"
was built. The village took then the name of Mesnil
(group of houses) Saint-Denis (name of the parish
fondatrice). It received the visite of the abbe
Suger, Minister of King Louis VII, in 1144. |
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It's in 1543, under François 1st that
Philippe Habert, clerk of the clerk's office criminal at
the Parliament, acquired in the parish, of a house and
grounds. It is his son Louis Habert
de Montmor, treasurer of the Wars, adviser of
State which, since 1589, undertook the construction of
current the castel. Il will be livable since 1592. Habert
de Montmor and their castle "regulated" the
life of the Mesnil-Saint-Denis during nearly two
centuries of 1543 to 1720. Louis XIV to thank this family
sets up in 1650 Mesnil in County. The village then took
the name of "Mênil-Habert". Their arms
"of azure to the gold rafter accompanied by three
irons of money mills" became in 1972 the blazon of
the Mesnil-Saint-Denis. |
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Personalities
of prestige attended the castle: Mrs. de
Sévigné, the scientist Gassendi, Cyrano of Bergerac and
Henry
Le Bret, but also François-Hannibal Maréchal
d'Estrées, brother of beautiful Gabrielle favorite of
the king Henri IV, who marry in the church in 1634. |
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Significant events will punctuate the
life of this commune: destruction of the bell-tower of the
church by the lightning (1709), sale of the
furniture of the castle (1718), baptism of bells by
Jean-Louis du Rieu du
Fargis in the presence Minister Maurepas (1729). The new lords of the manor,
the family de
Selle (1737-1805) will stick especially to the
interior repair of the church and the paving of the
streets. They will know the disorders of the Revolution
(books of the complaints, Garde-Nationale, civic
oath...). During this period, a former corsair living the
castle of Ambésis,
Jean-Baptiste Ernest Buchère de l'Epinois,
ordering Garde-Nationale of Mesnil, will be guillotined
(1794) to have plotted to deliver the Queen
Marie-Antoinette of the Temple and to try to replace on
the throne Louis XVII. It is also in this Ambésis small
castle of the family that lived Rousseau dynasty masters of
arms, who taught fencing to our kings of France, Louis
XIV to Louis XVI, and François
Jacques Antoine Mathieu de Reichshofen, lawyer and diplomat from
Alsace. |
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Under the First Empire, two famous
characters left their names attached to our church:
Antoine-Marie Chamans count de Lavallette, lord of the manor
of La
Verrière, Postal Minister, there buried her
father (1808) and Martin-Guillaume Biennais,
goldsmith appointed of the Emperor, was the godfather of
one of the new bells (1829). The Chateau du Mesnil is then the property
since 1805, Etienne Dominique
Pierre Cureau de Roullée. |
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In 1846, Ernest Picard, Minister for
Finance of Napoleon III, will settle with the castle of Grands-Ambésis
where it accepted there great names of the policy of this
time, Jules Favre, Jules Ferry, Emile Ollivier. |
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On this same date, was made the decision
to transfer the old cemetery which was located around the
church. |
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During the war of 1870, the castle
pertaining to the Husson family was occupied by the
Prussians. This family made build the chapel of the
castle (1884) like for their daughter, the monastery of
Mousseau, inaugurated in 1895. It was the
occasion for the village of great festivities. |
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The XXe century modifies the everyday
life of French and his urban landscape: 1906 -
installation of gas burners, 1925 - Electricity due to
the generosity of Leon Bobin, notable of Mesnil, 1926 -
Creation of the subdivision Henriville, 1947 - Establishment
of the factory of ball point pens Reynolds in the castle
which it buys the same year, 1965 - Construction of the Residences
of the castle by the Company Levitt and Sons
(it will be the first operation of construction in great
series of individual residences carried out in France
since the Second World War) - 1971 - Construction of the
post office, of a college and a sporting complex - 1973 -
Realization of Champmesnil. |
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During the two world wars, one will note
that the monastery been used as auxiliary hospital and
that the hamlet of Rodon was bombarded (1944). |
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Character determining for the future of
the village: Me Raymond Berrurier, notary and
former mayor of the commune of 1938 to 1967, made in the
name of this one the acquisition of the castle (1952) to
transform it into town hall-school (1955). We owe him
what is Mesnil of today: "a city in the
countryside". |
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Since 1984, this city is integrated in
the Regional Natural reserve of the High
Valley of Chevreuse, enabling him to defend
its historical inheritance, the charm of its rural life
and its island of greenery. |
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Since 1985, the Mesnil-Saint-Denis is
twinned with the German city of Hankensbüttel in
Low-Saxony. |
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With the last census, the
Mesnil-Saint-Denis counts 6.634 inhabitants, with the
hamlets of Rodon
and Le Mousseau and Small and Large Ambésis. |
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Copyright © Olivier FAUVEAU - 2001 |
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