![[Flag of Élancourt]](../images/f/fr-78-el.gif)
by Arnaud LeroyLast modified: 2010-12-03 by ivan sache
Keywords: yvelines | elancourt | fleurs-de-lis: 2 (yellow) | discs: 3 (white) | chevron (yellow) | cross (red) | order of the temple |
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by Arnaud Leroy
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The town of Élancourt (22,635 inhabitants) is a part of the ville nouvelle of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, located near Versailles, south-west of Paris.
The oldest known form of the name Élancourt is Aglini Curtis (9th century), which probably means Aglin's enclosed farm. The name of the place evolved as Ainlecurtis (1003), Herencurtem (1144), Erancourt (1206), Elsencourt (1249), Elencuria (1250), Ellencourt (1472), and Élancourt (fixed in 1757).
The most important event in the history of Élancourt was the foundation of the commanderie de la Villedieu by Gui II de Chevreuse in 1180. A commanderie was a benefice allocated to certain military knight orders, and by extension the place corresponding to the benefice, led by a commandeur. Gui donated the commanderie de la Villedieu to the Knights Templars. La Villedieu was indeed a fortified estate located on the St. James' pilgrimage road, where pilgrims could spend the night in safety. La Villedieu increased in size and wealth due to several donations by local lords in the 12th-15th centuries. After the eradication of the Templars by Philippe le Bel, the commanderie was ceded to the Hospitalers of Louviers-Vaumion. The estate was trashed during the Hundred Years' War and progressively abandoned. In 1474, it was ceded to the St. John of Latran's Hospital in Paris and transformed into a farm. In the 19th century, the farm became a distillery. The remaining buildings of la Villedieu were restored in 1971-1978 and are used today as a cultural center for art exhibitions, concerts, workshops etc..
Sources:
The park France Miniature is of more recent creation in Élancourt. The France Miniature shows more than 150 of the most famous French monuments reduced on a 1/30 scale. The models are realized with great care and reproduce the monuments in great details. They are placed on a giant "map" of France, which is decorated with miniturized trees and crossed by miniaturized trains. Access to the park goes through the Alps (9 m high) and the center of the map is materialized by a 10 m high Eiffel tower. The models have acquired a patina with age, which makes them strikingly true to the real ones.
Ivan Sache, 10 April 2004
The municipal flag of Élancourt is horizontally divided blue-green with the municipal arms placed near the flag hoist.
Arnaud Leroy, 10 April 2004
Since Élancourt has no known historical coat of arms, the municipality
launched a contest in 1973. There were five proposals.
The awarded proposal can be blazoned as "Vert a chevron or an escutcheon party argent and sable a cross coupee
gules chief azure three bezants 2+1 flanked by two fleurs-de-lis or".>
Green stands for the countryside; the yellow chevron stands for the roads; the escutcheon stands for the Templars; the three bezants on blue was the coat of arms of Saint-Germain-des-Prés abbey in Paris, the bezants representing the Byzantine currency used during the Crusades; the two fleurs-de-lis represent the kingdom and the Royal abbey of Saint-Denis.
Ivan Sache, 10 April 2004