Last modified: 2025-11-01 by olivier touzeau
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Flag of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 29 October 2025
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Saint-Maur-des-Fossés (76,010 inhabitants, 1,125 ha) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department, in the southeastern suburbs of Paris.
Under Clovis II, an abbey was built in 639 on the territory of what would become the town of Saint-Maur. It was named "Saint-Pierre du Fossé" (Saint Peter of the Ditch), a reference to the area's steep slopes leading down to the Marne River. In 868, the abbey acquired the relics of Saint Maur. A first miracle occurred in the 12th century, prompting the monks to change the abbey's name to"Saint-Maur-des-Fossés" (Saint-Maur of the Ditches). Further miracles followed, and the abbey became a pilgrimage site comparable to Lourdes today. People came from all over Europe to pray for cures for gout and epilepsy.
In the 13th century, a parish church dedicated to Saint Nicholas of
Myra was built in the Gothic style.
In the 15th century, John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, met with
Queen Isabeau of Bavaria to negotiate a peace treaty between the
Armagnacs and the Burgundians. This treaty, dated September 16, 1418,
is known as the Treaty of Saint-Maur. However, this treaty was
ineffective because the Dauphin of France, representing the Armagnac
party, who had taken refuge in Bourges to organize resistance against
the Burgundians, refused to ratify it.
In the 16th century, Cardinal Jean du Bellay had a castle built
overlooking the abbey, where François Rabelais took refuge in 1536.
The castle then belonged, in 1598, to Charlotte-Catherine de la Trémoille, who brought it as a dowry to the Prince of Condé, whom she
had married twelve years earlier. It later passed to Catherine de
Medici, who had died in 1589, but was abandoned by the mid-18th
century. The castle was destroyed in 1796.
In September 1590, during the Siege of Paris, the Duke of Parma and
Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Alessandro Farnese, captured the
town, thus supplying the capital, which was besieged by Henry IV
(Eighth War of Religion).
Clement VII, in 1533, to punish the monks for scandals committed in
the Church of Saint John, replaced them with eight canons. The poorly
maintained buildings fell into ruin and were sold to the Prince of
Condé in the 18th century.
Now destroyed, the abbey no longer exists and has given way to a
square in which some ruins remain, such as the Rabelais Tower, the
Bourrières villa, and some old fortifications. As for the castle, it
has been replaced by numerous houses and an EDF (French Electricity
Board) substation.
In 1790, the two parishes on the peninsula gave rise to three
communes: Saint-Maur and La Branche-du-Pont-de-Saint-Maur originated
from the parish of Saint-Nicolas, the latter representing a dissident
group whose independence was contested by the authorities of
Saint-Maur. The parish of Saint-Hilaire gave rise to the commune of La
Varenne. The two municipalities of Saint-Maur and La Varenne merged
into a single commune on December 5, 1791. However, La
Branche-du-Pont-de-Saint-Maur remained independent and later became
Joinville-le-Pont.
During the French Revolution, the commune was temporarily renamed
Vivant-sur-Marne.
In December 1831, a public auction of the former Condé estate, owned
by the Duke of Aumale, allowed three individuals known as the "great
developers" to purchase half the town: J.C. de Moynat, who became
mayor; Henri Caffin à la Varenne; and François Adam, who founded
Adamville.
The land was used to build weekend homes for wealthy Parisians. Many
laborers from nearby Seine-et-Marne came to live on the peninsula as
masons. The population, which had remained stagnant at 800 for a
century, doubled to reach 1,500 by 1851.
In 1859, the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l'Est (Eastern Railway
Company) purchased extensive land and built a railway line connecting
Saint-Maur to Paris: the Bastille line.
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 forced the municipal services into
exile. The hill of Vieux Saint-Maur was equipped with artillery
batteries to fire on the Prussians who, arriving from the east of the
country, were attempting to reach the capital.
The town became a strategic location, and the population hastily fled.
The town hall was transferred to Paris and did not return to
Saint-Maur until the end of hostilities on June 18, 1871.
After the Franco-Prussian War, the town was only slightly affected by
industrialization.
At the beginning of the 20th century, two floods struck the town: the
flood of 1910 (the most devastating, with over 2 meters of water in
the streets) and that of 1924.
Olivier Touzeau, 29 October 2025
The flag of Saint-Maur is vertically divided blue and yellow, in the
colours of the coat of arms:
Azure an eel of the field on a bend Or between in chief three fleurs
de lis Or a bendlet couped gules and in base the capital letters PAX
within a crown of thorns between a fleur de lis and three passion
nails Argent.
Pictures of the flag: photo (2025), photo (2022), photo (2019), photo (2014).
Olivier Touzeau, 29 October 2025