Informations directionnelles

Prendre la rue qui monte vers le hameau de la Guillaumette, sur environ 180 mètres. Laisser sur votre gauche la rue Raymond Cost. Puis prendre le chemin suivant à gauche (chemin de la mare).

Renoncière Cross
A wayside cross as testimony to a family’s devotion

 

 

A devotional cross...

Located at the junction of several roads, this cross was commissioned by a wealthy family as a sign of its deep Christian faith. The two-stepped base is not from the same period as the tall shaft that ends in a cross. The date 1626 or 1676 can be distinguished on the shaft, and a (barely legible) inscription is engraved on the base: ‘Bequeathed by Henri Legrand and Margueritte de Laisement, his wife, tax collector at Lainville, in the year 1758. Un de Profondis’. The rear of the base is marked: ‘Alexandre Legrand. Made by Bailly, 1758’, a rare example of a stonemason’s signature.

 

 

... erected by a lieutenant of the bailiwick

Henri Legrand was the lieutenant of the bailiwick for Lainville-en-Vexin and Rueil. He was responsible for deputising for the bailiff in legal matters. The bailiff himself represented the authority of the king or a prince in a particular territory. It was the lieutenant of the bailiwick’s duty to enforce justice and supervise the administration as well as being accountable for the crown’s finances. He was an essential agent of the royal administration since he was an intermediary between the seigneurs and the subjects of the kingdom. The bailiwick of Lainville answered to the bailiwick of Meulan at the time.