Eglise Sainte Macre à Fère-en-Tardenois

A charter given in 1262 by Marie de Bourbon, widow of Jean de Dreux (who died in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1248 at the side of King Saint Louis), Dame de Fère, mentions a collegiate church with a chapter composed of several canons. Nothing is known of this church, which suffered greatly during the Hundred Years' War (1336-1453). However, two very primitive Gothic arches in the nave suggest that these are the remains of the collegiate church from which Louise de Savoie (1476-1531), widow of Jean d'Angoulême and mother of François 1er, had the present church built, in a style that still smacks of the Gothic, but heralds the Renaissance. The church was badly damaged in the bombardment of August 6, 1918, and restored in the 1920s with the help of Etienne Moreau-Nélaton.

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