The Prytanée national militaire is one of the six French Defense schools. This school is located in La Flèche in the Sarthe department in the Pays de la Loire region, in Maine angevin. An educational institution was founded in 1604 by King Henry IV and entrusted to the Jesuits for the purpose of “educating young people and making them love the sciences, honour and virtue, in order to be able to serve the public.” It ceased to exist when the Jesuits were banished from France (1763). The buildings are used for the Prytanée (wanted by Napoleon I in 1800 but installed in La Flèche in 1808), and then the Prytanée national militaire.