Villevaudé is located in the department of Seine-et-Marne in the Île-de-France region. This commune is part of the Community of Communes Plaines et Monts de France.
Origin of the name Villevaudé: from the Latin villa vota deo, the "house dedicated to God".
The town is divided into three hamlets, Villevaudé, Montjay and Bordeaux. In the Middle Ages, these are three important fiefdoms because of the fame of their lords.
The first known lords of Villevaudé are: Pierre de "Villevoudé" in 1194, Barthélemy de "Villavodé" in 1230, Robert de "Villavaudé" knight, in 1264.
A house of Le Duc, in 1420, is the owner of the land of Villevaudé which then passes to the Aguenin family whose descendants named Aguenin Le Duc keep the seigneury until the 18th century.
The inhabitants of Villevaudé are Villevaudéens.
Surrounded by its two cemeteries, the church dedicated to Saint-Marcel Pape, is located at the bottom of the Grande Rue de Villevaudé, at the bottom of the valley dominated by Montjay. Its construction dates back to the 12th century, but the reconstruction of the 16th century leaves few traces of the previous building.
The two-pitched roof covers the whole of the church, that of the choir being slightly raised. The spans are buttressed by buttresses.
The church has a side nave, a flat apse, two choir bays and four nave bays preceded by a bay covered with a tribune in the central part of the building.
The vaults of the nave are supported by rectangular pillars, those of the choir are supported by four cylindrical pillars and by engaged columns.
The first bay of the south aisle of the choir was surmounted until the middle of the 19th century by a bell tower. It was demolished around 1866, due to its dilapidated condition. According to an estimate of 1864, the masonry of the bell tower was 7.50 m above the roof over 13.80 m around. The part located above it was 4 meters high by 13.20 m in circumference and had 8 bays. The steeple was covered with slate. If we compare with an old drawing of the church dating from 1848, we see that the bell tower rebuilt in 1888, with a frame on a stone masonry base, not in the same place, but in front of the western facade, a disagreeable contrast with the volumes of the church due to its insufficient height.
Throughout the 20th century the church underwent numerous restorations. During the last repair of the walls of the nave in 2001, we discovered above the vaults, under the plaster two funeral liters * on each side.
* The liters are black bands stretched at the funeral of a great person, either inside or outside the church. The right of liter was a right that the lords high justice had to have their coat of arms painted inside or outside churches or chapels. (Littré).
The traces of the coat of arms that can be seen on these liters are very difficult to decipher because they are very faded. There are several different ones, which can be found on both sides.
The Saint-Marcel church is not protected as a Historic Monument. However, some parts of the furniture were still listed in the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments, such as the funeral slab of Denise Favereau, who died on September 24, 1664; the Adoration of the Magi, painted canvas, from the 17th century; the stone baptismal font, the 18th century vat, the 17th century barrel.
Two funerary slabs, too damaged to be classified, formerly found at the foot of the altar and raised on the walls are those of lords of Villevaudé:
A 16th century slab with two figures whose design is greatly canceled, the inscription indicates: "Cy gist noble man Guillaume Haguenin dictates the duke… Marie le Berruyer widower of the said Sr Aguenin escuyer who died on the XXVI October…"
A stone from 1623 with a single character and this inscription which surrounds the plaque: "Cy gist noble Guillaume-Aguenin living adviser to the Roy and ordinary corrector in his chamber of accounts in Paris, who died in his House of Montjay on the 12th day of September one thousand six hundred and twenty three Aage of seventy years ".
