The Robert-Badinter school complex, which includes the Robert-Badinter International High School and the Augustin-Thierry Middle School, is a located in Blois, within the . Bringing together a middle school, an international (general and technological) high school, a vocational section, and the Centre-Val de Loire departmental agency, the school complex welcomed 1,863 students and pupils (including 163 boarders) and 287 staff members (including 180 teachers) at the start of the 2024 school year.
As the heir to the founded by Henry III in 1587, the Robert-Badinter school complex was established on its current site, a vast , shortly after World War II. Today, it offers a broad range of educational programs (, binational, and , film and audiovisual studies, engineering sciences, creative technological innovation, etc.). It prepares students for the National Diploma (DNB), the general and technological baccalaureates (STI2D), the Spanish bachillerato, the vocational baccalaureate (, MEEC, TCI, and TU), and BTS qualifications (, , , and technical solutions consulting and sales).
Location The Robert-Badinter school complex is located at 13 Avenue de Châteaudun, in the northern part of the Bourg-Neuf district, in the Provinces sector, in Blois.
Covering , it is divided into two parcels of land, situated on either side of Honoré-de-Balzac Street. The larger parcel (accessible from both Avenue de Châteaudun and Honoré-de-Balzac Street) houses the majority of the school buildings, as well as administrative offices and student services (cafeteria and student common room). The second, smaller parcel, accessible only via Honoré-de-Balzac Street, contains the Vinci workshops, the new gymnasium, and sports fields. An underground passage beneath Honoré-de-Balzac Street allows users to move between the two areas without exiting the premises.
The school complex consists of around twenty buildings, distributed across both parcels in a layout designed for functional organization. Buildings used by all students occupy a central position. The older buildings are clearly distinct in architecture and materials from those built starting in the 1960s.
History
In 1560, a royal ordinance issued by Charles IX following the Estates General of Orléans required all chapters of canons in the kingdom to provide the income from a prebend to support a tutor tasked with educating the town’s young people free of charge. However, in Blois, the implementation of this ordinance was long delayed because the canons of Saint-Sauveur saw it merely as a substantial loss of revenue.
As the Orléans ordinance appeared poised for implementation, a conflict arose between the two candidates for the tutor position at the future Blois college. After the appointment of Jean Housset, a former regent (i.e., professor) at the University of Paris, his rival, Laurent Le Tellier, took the matter to the Parlement of Paris, which ultimately ruled in his favor. However, appointed as “master and professor of the great schools of Blois” in 1569, Le Tellier died shortly afterward, with no successor secured.
The begins with the creation of a Royal College in Blois by royal charter from Henry III in 1581. Opened on April 1, 1587, the first establishment was initially housed in a house in the Bourg-Neuf district, located outside the city walls.
The Blois college was ultimately established by letters patent from King Henry III dated December 10, 1581. Taking advantage of the presence of the king and the court, the people of Blois expressed their desire for a school capable of educating their youth. This is at least suggested by the content of the royal document:
To ensure the financial independence of the future college and enable it to acquire suitable premises, the king provided it with regular income. The college’s finances were thus based on an octroi levied on goods passing over and under the town bridge, as well as a tax of six sols per minot of salt sold at the Blois salt granary and the Mer chamber.
Opened on April 1, 1587, in a residence in Bourg-Neuf called the “Saint-Christophe house,” the royal college of Blois received a monopoly on secondary education in the town, with only small reading schools permitted alongside it. The institution was governed by a strict internal regulation largely modeled on the statutes of the colleges of the University of Paris. Students were required to speak only in Latin, and boarders could not leave the school without the principal’s permission. All students had to attend Mass daily, and boarders were obliged to confess at every major feast and to fast, if able, on vigil days. During dinner, the most advanced students took turns reading from the Old Testament and the New Testament. Indeed, the principal’s primary role was to steer students away from bad influences and educate them in the fear of God.
The institution consisted of five classes supervised by regents (four laymen and one priest) with unequal incomes: the regent of the first class received 200 livres in wages, the second 150 livres, the third 60 livres, the fourth 50 livres, and the last, who also officiated Mass, was paid 100 livres. In addition to their salaries, regents received half an écu per year from students, which they used to supply candles for classroom lighting. Poor students were exempt from this fee, but regents could forgo the allowance to the principal, who then handled classroom lighting.
Beyond his supervisory duties, the principal also taught Ancient Greek at the institution. For his work, he received 600 livres in wages, plus income from the prebends of the Saint-Laumer Abbey. He also received a sum ranging from 80 to 100 livres, depending on wheat prices, for each boarder’s food. However, the budget for maintaining the college buildings was deducted from his salary.
However, the royal college was born in a tumultuous context. Since 1562, France had been shaken by the Wars of Religion pitting Catholics against Protestants. The Loire Valley, periodically hosting the Court in its châteaux, was a theater of violence, with examples including the sack of Blois by Huguenots in 1568 and the assassination of Duke of Guise, leader of the Leaguers, on the orders of King Henry III in 1588.
Located in the Bourg-Neuf district, outside the city walls, the college was in an area harder to protect. Many parents feared that enrolling their children there would make them easy targets for militias of either side. Under these conditions, Blois residents preferred sending their children to study in Paris, and the college struggled to attract students. After a few years, the institution faltered and was closed multiple times, despite municipal efforts to sustain it.
The college was then relocated in 1601 to Bretonnerie Street, on the site of what is now the central post office. However, the college soon faced severe internal conflicts. Its first principal, Jean Housset, resigned in 1605 but immediately began diverting boarders to his home as private students. Moreover, the new college authorities, Jacques Vallet (1605–1609) and then Jean Dufour (1609–1622), were challenged by regents who openly undermined their authority despite increased wages. In this environment, students started playing cards, speaking French instead of Latin, swearing, and freely entering or leaving the institution.
Managed by secular clergy until 1622, the Royal College was then entrusted to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), who lost control when they were expelled from France in 1764.
In response to the dissatisfaction of Blois residents, King Louis XIII finally granted the municipal authorities’ request by entrusting the college to the Jesuits on November 16, 1622:
With the expansion of its premises (under the successive direction of Father Étienne Martellange and Brother Charles Turmel) and an increase in faculty, the college faced significant financial difficulties. King Louis XIII further reduced its income by exempting Blois residents from all salt duties. However, he compensated for this loss by granting the institution an annual rent of 1,000 livres (1634), then 1,200 livres (1641).
These economic challenges did not deter the Jesuits from erecting a Baroque-style chapel. To this end, they acquired a plot adjacent to the school in 1623 thanks to a donation from bailiff Henri Hurault de Cheverny (son of Chancellor Philippe Hurault de Cheverny). Named Saint-Louis-des-Jésuites Church, the chapel was completed in 1671 with financial support from various figures, including the king and his brother, Gaston d’Orléans. In gratitude, the Jesuits later housed a funerary monument containing the duke’s heart in their chapel.
Under the Jesuits, the college quickly gained a significant reputation, and several of its professors remain well-known today. Among them, Principal Jean de Brisacier (1603–1668), appointed in 1651, was a fierce opponent of Jansenism (represented in the Blois region by Abbot Jean Callaghan of Cour-Cheverny). He later became a visitor apostolic to the province of Portugal. Rhetoric professor Jean-Baptiste Gresset (1709–1777), author of the poem Vert-Vert in 1734, joined the French Academy in 1748.
Other figures associated with the college gained fame for their roles in the conquest, administration, and evangelization of New France. This includes René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle (1643–1687), the renowned discoverer of Louisiana, who taught at the Blois and Tours colleges from 1664 to 1666. Likewise, Father Jérôme Lalemant (1593–1673), a missionary among the Hurons, served as rector of the Blois college from 1632 to 1636. Similarly, Charles Raymbault (1602–1642) and (1689–1754) taught at Blois before joining the New France mission to convert Amerindians to Catholicism.
Several students also achieved prominence in various fields. Ange-François Fariau de Saint-Ange (1747–1810) became known as a poet, translator, and academician. Claude Dupin (1686–1769) left his mark as a financier and tax farmer. Finally, (1725–1807), who spent six months at the college before returning to study in Vendôme, gained fame leading the French squadron in the American Revolutionary War.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Catholic Church in France was divided between Ultramontane and Gallican factions. Loyal supporters of the Pope and opponents of Jansenism, the Jesuits incurred the wrath of those defending the autonomy of the French clergy. In 1762, the Parlement of Paris expelled the Society of Jesus from France, citing that it “harms civil order, violates natural law, destroys religion and morality, [and] corrupts youth.” King Louis XV attempted to delay the decision but ultimately yielded. In November 1764, a royal edict banned the Jesuits from the country, and the schools they managed were stripped from them.
After the Jesuits’ departure, municipal authorities attempted to entrust the college to the Benedictines of the Saint-Laumer Abbey, already renowned for their teaching at the Pontlevoy college. However, the monks declined, arguing that the Parlement of Paris’s decision to expel Ignatius of Loyola’s followers reflected a push to secularize their schools. The aldermen then turned to the Dominicans, with no greater success. After several failures, they resigned themselves to placing the royal college under secular control.
To ensure the college’s smooth operation, King Louis XV issued a new internal regulation, signed at the Versailles on December 8, 1763. It largely mirrored the 1587 text, though the principal’s salary was increased to 1,000 livres annually, and the regents’ wages were also adjusted (the lowest-paid, for 6th grade, received 600 livres per year). A new provision granted teachers a 300-livre pension after 20 years of service.