a town of France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Loir-et-Cher, on the slope of a vine-covered hill near the Loir, 20 miles N.N.W. of Blois. It is well built, and has on the heights above the picturesque ruins of an ancient castle, and in the town itself an old church, another now used as a corn market, a monastery now a barracks, a college, and a theatre. Woollen and linen cloth, gloves, leather, and paper are manufactured here. Vendôme was formerly the capital of a county, afterwards raised to a duchy of the same name; and the dukes resided in the castle here. Pop. (1856) 7930.