Last modified: 2025-04-26 by olivier touzeau
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Saint-Leu-la-Forêt (15,979 inhabitants on 524 ha) is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the northwestern outer suburbs of Paris, France.
The town was initially just a woodcutter's clearing and nothing is known of its history in the Middle Ages, a period when there was a disease at the place called La Chaumette. The village was a seigneury of the Montmorency family from the 14th century. In 1527, Anne de Montmorency bought the lands of Saint-Leu from Philippe de Montmorency-Nivelle. After the Montmorency family, the town belonged to the House of Condé until the French Revolution. In 1470, the population was only 50 inhabitants.
In the 17th century, there were two castles in Saint-Leu: in 1645, the Higher castle was built on the site of the Montmorency seigneurial castle, then in 1693, the Lower castle was built on the fief of Ort. Both were acquired in 1804 by Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon I, who had the oldest demolished and settled with his wife Hortense de Beauharnais in the lower one. He was buried with two of his sons Napoléon-Charles and Napoléon-Louis in the town church. Their tombs can be seen in the apse, behind the choir. The second château was razed after the mysterious death of Louis VI Henri de Bourbon-Condé (1756-1830), the last Prince of Condé, probably by suicide, at the Château de Saint-Leu. Until 1951, the year they were transferred to Ajaccio, the remains of Charles Bonaparte, Louis' father, were also housed in the crypt, which now only preserves the sarcophagus of the father of the Bonaparte dynasty.
The arrival of the railway in 1876 changed the life of the village and accelerated its gradual integration into the Parisian agglomeration.
Olivier Touzeau , 2 February 2025
You can see the Ville Impériale network flag on the city hall of Saint-Leu-la-Forêt here: photo (2021), photo (2023).
Olivier Touzeau, 2 February 2025