POISSY
. The origins of Poissy (Yvelines) lie in the Merovingian period, according to finds in the
cemetery, but precise dates are lacking. Helgaud’s biography of Robert II the Pious
names three churches at Poissy (Notre-Dame, Saint-Jean, and Saint-Martin) and describes
the lavish rebuilding of Notre-Dame begun by the king. The new building was dedicated
in 1061. The interior of the west tower dates from the later 11th century, and Viollet-le-
Duc found bases and fragments of capitals and abacus blocks below the present floor.
The present church was begun ca. 1140 by a builder who had worked with the first 12th-
century builder at Saint-Denis. The original plan called for an ambulatory with a single
axial chapel on a rectangular plan around a deep choir flanked by two chapels set beyond
the side aisles. The liturgical choir included three nearly square bays and the apse. The
straight bays were marked by heavy compound piers and a three-story elevation (arcades,
subdivided openings into the roof space, and low clerestory windows) that recall the west
bays at Saint-Denis.
Construction of the nave proceeded slowly toward the west tower. The two
westernmost bays were rebuilt in the French Renaissance style, although the
contemporary portal opening into them is one of the finer Flamboyant ensembles of the
region. Chapels were added to the nave in the 15th century.
Until the Revolution, Poissy also had a famous priory church dedicated to St. Louis,
constructed west of Notre-Dame. The choice of Poissy was intentional: Louis IX was
born there in 1215, and it was in the church of Notre-Dame that he was baptized. Philip
IV the Fair probably decided on Poissy even prior to the bull of canonization in August
1297, because work was already in progress by November 1297. It went quickly, because
the church was said to be finished when the monks took possession in 1304. The charters
suggest, however, that this was not the case and that construction of the church and the
monastic buildings was still ongoing after Philip’s death in 1314; the church was
solemnly dedicated only in 1331. Plans and drawings made prior to its destruction give a
general sense of the building as an intentional look back to buildings directly associated
with Louis IX, such as Royaumont and the nave of Saint-Denis. The south transept
contained statues of the six children of St. Louis, as well as figures of the king and his
queen placed on either side of the choir enclosure. The two remaining ones can be
identified by comparison with the Gaignières drawings as Isabelle and Pierre d’Alençon.
Two statues of angels, one in the Louvre and the other in the Musée National du Moyen
Âge, stood atop columns flanking one of the altars on the eastern side of the jubé.
William W.Clark
[See also: LOUIS IX]
Erlande-Brandenburg, Alain. “La priorale Saint-Louis de Poissy.” Bulletin monumental 129
(1971):85–112.
Prache, Anne. Île-de-France romane. La Pierre-qui-vire: Zodiaque, 1983.
Saint-Paul, Anthyme. “Poissy et Morienval.” Mémoires de la Société Historique et Archéologique
de l’Arrondissement de Pontoise et du Vexin 16 (1894):1–21.
Salet, Francis. “Notre-Dame de Poissy.” Congrès archéologique (Paris-Mantes) 104 (1946):221–
68.
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