On this occasion the king presented Antoinette with the isles of Oleron, Marennes, and Arvert as a marriage portion, with a pension of 2,000 livres a year for life.
Brightlingsea was for many years twinned with French oyster fishery port Marennes, Charente-Maritime, but the relationship fell into disuse.
Mélanie de Salignac (Marennes, Charente-Maritime, 19 January 1744 –1766) was a young French woman whose achievements in the face of her disability - blindness - were mentioned in the accounts of Diderot.
This diocese before the French Revolution, aside from Maillezais, included the present arrondissements of Marennes, Rochefort, La Rochelle, and a part of Saint-Jean-d'Angély.