Monasteries in France
Hambye Abbey Ruins
Located in the Normandy countryside, near from the Mont Saint-Michel, the Abbey of Notre Dame of Hambye was founded around 1145 by William Painel, Lord of Hambye, and Algare, bishop of Coutances. The monastery was established by a group of Benedictine monks from Tiron (Perche region in south-east of Basse-Normandie). Fueled by an ideal of rigor and austerity close to that of Cistercians, Benedictine monks built a sober an ...
Founded: c. 1145 |
Location:
Hambye, France
Mondaye Abbey
In the mid-12th century, a priest named Turstin withdrew to a wooded Norman hill to live as a hermit, where he was quickly joined by a circle of followers. When Turstin died in 1200, the bishop of Bayeux established the community under the Rule of St. Augustine. Turstin's brother-in-law Raoul de Percy donated land for the abbey. Over the following years, the abbey continued to receive donation from nobility and farmers. A ...
Founded: 1200 |
Location:
Juaye-Mondaye, France
Lonlay Abbey
Founded in c. 1020 by Guillaume de Bellême known as 'Talvas', Lonlay Abbey was originally occupied by the monks of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Interpolated between the Gothic choir and porch, there are no more remains of the Romanesque edifice than the transept whose lower and middle sections show some signs of fishbone bonding, and date back to the end of the 11th century or beginning of the 12th centur ...
Founded: c. 1020 |
Location:
Lonlay-l'Abbaye, France
Landévennec Abbey Ruins
Landévennec Abbey (Abbaye de Landévennec) was a monastery now in Finistère. It existed from its foundation at Landévennec, traditionally by Winwaloe in the late fifth century, to 1793, when the monastery was abandoned and sold. In 1950 it was bought and rebuilt by the Benedictines of Kerbénéat. It became a Benedictine foundation in the eighth century. It was attacked and burned by ...
Founded: 482 AD |
Location:
Finistère, France
Ronceray Abbey
Situated on the northern side of the city, across the River Maine from the main old town area of the city, this delightful abbey is one of the most historic ecclesiastical buildings in the area and a fine example of Anjou architecture. The building has for many centuries served as a place of worship and religious observance. The structure has benefited from a series of overhauls in the last few hundred years, making it a ...
Founded: 1060-1119 |
Location:
Angers, France
Mortemer Abbey Ruins
Mortemer Abbey was originally built in 1134 on land gifted to the Cistercians by Henry I of England. The stagnant water of the drainage lake, dug out by the monks to dry up the marshy land around the quick running Fouillebroc stream, was called 'dead mere', 'dead pond' - in modern French 'morte mare' - and gave the monastery its name. The monks constructed what was then one of the largest Ci ...
Founded: 1134 |
Location:
Lisors, France
Grestain Abbey
Grestain Abbey (Abbaye Notre-Dame de Grestain) was an 11th century Benedictine monastery. Closely associated with the family of William, Duke of Normandy, the abbey was instrumental in the Normans taking control over the Catholic Church in England in the centuries following the Norman Conquest of England, establishing new churches and priories in England, and Abbots of Grestain ordained many English priests. Many churches ...
Founded: 1050 |
Location:
Fatouville-Grestain, France
St. Vigor Abbey Church
The St. Vigor abbey (Saint-Vigor de Cerisy-la-Forêt) was founded in 1032 by Duke Robert the Magnificent. It inherited the remote site of a small religious establishment founded at the beginning of the 6th century by St Vigor, Bishop of Bayeux, and destroyed by the Scandinavian invasions; the Benedictines thus restored, as at Saint-Marcouf or Orval, a religious continuity after this interruption. Nothing now survives ...
Founded: 1032 |
Location:
Cerisy-la-Forêt, France
Mont Saint-Eloi Abbey Ruins
On a hill overlooking Arras stand the remains of two towers which bear testament not only to the once-powerful Mont-Saint-Eloi Abbey. According to legend the abbey was established in the 7th century by Saint Vindicianus, a disciple of Saint Eligius, and by the Middle Ages it had become a powerful religious centre; however the turbulent times of the Revolution saw its walls pillaged for their stone. All that survived were ...
Founded: 600-700 AD |
Location:
Mont-Saint-Éloi, France
Serrabone Priory
Serrabone Priory is a former monastery of Canons Regular in the commune of Boule-d"Amont. The priory is located in a wild and beautiful area in the valley of the Boulès in the heart of an oak forest, at the centre of the Aspres mountain range. It is famous for its splendid marble rostrum from the 12th century, regarded as a masterpiece of Romanesque art. The name of the monastery derives from the Catalan serr ...
Founded: 10th century |
Location:
Boule-d'Amont, France
Saint-Michel de Grandmont Priory
Saint-Michel de Grandmont Priory was built in the 12th century and is one of the best-preserved of the 160 Grandmontine monasteries. It is a religious order, founded by Étienne of Thiers, son of Viscount of Thiers from the Auvergne. It was known to be one of the strictest, and austere orders of the Middle Ages. There was no hierarchy, with no archives, and no heating. The monks walked with bare feet, in perpetual silenc ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Saint-Privat, France
Cassan Abbey
The Augustinian priory here was founded in 1080, on land donated by the Alquier noble family of Béziers. A new church was consecrated in 1115. Numerous relics were collected by the abbey and it served as cemetery to the nobility of the region. The lands owned by the priory extended to 75 villages. Pope Innocent III in the context of the crusade against the Cathars exempted the priory from control by the bishops of Béz ...
Founded: 18th century |
Location:
Roujan, France
Saint-Evroul Abbey Ruins
The Abbey of Saint-Evroul is a former Benedictine abbey, today in ruins. Its name refers to its founder, Ebrulf (Evroul), who founded a hermitage in the forest of Ouche around 560. The abbey was rebuilt around 1000. Robert de Grantmesnil served as abbot of Saint-Evroul, which he helped restore in 1050. He had become a monk at Saint-Evroul before becoming its abbot. Orderic Vitalis entered the abbey as a young boy and late ...
Founded: c. 1000 |
Location:
Saint-Evroult-Notre-Dame-du-Bois, France
Saint-Gabriel Priory
The Priory of Saint-Gabriel (Prieuré de Saint-Gabriel) was founded in 1058 to serve the ambitions of the Count of Creully and to stretch the prestige of Fécamp Abbey. The monastery was closed down in 1674 sold to State after Revolution. The priory comprises an entrance porch, a former refectory, a tower and a court room. Today it houses the horticulture and landscaped gardening school and boasts a rose garde ...
Founded: 1058 |
Location:
Saint-Gabriel-Brécy, France
Relec Abbey Ruins
The Abbaye du Relec was founded in 1132. It had an innovative hydraulic mechanism for irrigating the gardens and pumping water through the buildings. It also made a significant contribution to the local economy by developing the lands called La Quévaise. Today There is a large Romanesque church, vestiges of cloisters, two lakes, a pathway lined with trees, a monumental fountain and ancient gardens surrounded by dee ...
Founded: 1132 |
Location:
Plounéour-Ménez, France
Sainte-Gauburge Priory
The Sainte-Gaubuge priory was originally a hamlet, which is very well preserved. All the houses are located around the priory. The church building dates from the 13th, 15th and 18th century. The canons of St. Denis are at the origin of the most beautiful architecture sites. Rich carved decorations (13th and 15th century), the house of the prior has magnificent chimneys listed (15th century), and the vaults (13th century) ...
Founded: 11th century |
Location:
Saint-Cyr-la-Rosière, France
Cornilly Abbey Ruins
Hervé de Donzy, the Lord of Saint Aignan established Cornilly Abbey in the 11th century. It was authorized by Pope Urbanus II in 1091. The abbey grew rapidly, but in the 1357 it was destroyed by English Black Prince troops during the Hundred Years" War. Monks rebuilt the abbey, but it was again destroyed by religious fanatics in 1562. It was not rebuilt again and in the Revolution (1789) it was moved as a nati ...
Founded: 1091 |
Location:
Contres, France
St. Taurin's Abbey Church
Founded in the 10th century by Richard sans Peur (Richard the Fearless), duke of Normandy, the St. Taurin"s abbey church was built on the suspicious spot of St. Taurin grave, the first bishop and evangelizer of Evreux. During the Hundred Years" War the abbey was burnt down. It was left to decay and the last monks were banished during the Revolution. The former Benedictine abbey church became a parish church. The ...
Founded: 10th century |
Location:
Évreux, France
Bonnefont Abbey
Bonnefont Abbey was founded in 1136 or 1137 and was a daughter monastery of Morimond Abbey. The land for monastery was donated by the Countess of Montpezat. During the French Revolution the abbey was dissolved. Today only the tower from the 15th century, the gatehouse and parts of the wing from the 13th century are preserved. The church has been completely abandoned since 1856.
Founded: 1136 |
Location:
Proupiary, France
Boulbonne Abbey
Boulbonne Abbey was first founded in 1129 about 14km from its current location. It was burned down and demolished during the Wars of Religion in 1567 by Huguenots. The reconstruction of the abbey on its current site started in 1632. The church was consecrated in 1742. After the French Revolution most of the buildings have disappeared, but there are still some facades, the entrance brick portal, the chapter house, ...
Founded: 1632 |
Location:
Cintegabelle, France