L'Aumône Abbey
L’Aumône Abbey (French: Abbaye Notre-Dame de l’Aumône, Latin: Eleemosynae; also known as French: Petit-Cîteaux, Latin: Cistercium minus) is a former Cistercian monastery in the commune of La Colombe, Loir-et-Cher, France, 34 kilometres north of Blois in the Forêt de Cîteaux, part of the Forêt de Marchenoir.
History[]
The abbey was founded in 1121, thanks to a gift from Count Theobald IV of Blois, as the seventh daughter house of Cîteaux Abbey.[1] It became the mother house of 29 abbeys, including Waverley Abbey in England (the first Cistercian foundation in the British Isles), , Tintern Abbey, and .
The abbey suffered greatly during the Hundred Years' War and by 1396 lay mostly in ruins. The subsequent reconstruction and the introduction of commendatory abbots proved a serious burden.
The abbey was suppressed in 1791 during the French Revolution. The land was sold in 1818 and the debris from the ruins was used as building material.[1]
Buildings[]
Of the mediaeval structures there survive a 13th-century dovecote, two 15th-century buildings and a piece of the church wall. Some fragments of the cloister are in the museum in Blois.
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Santoro, Nicholas J. (2011). Mary In Our Life: Atlas of the Names and Titles of Mary, The Mother of Jesus, and Their Place in Marian Devotion. Bloomington: iUniverse. p. 195.
Sources[]
- Bernard Peugniez, 2001: Routier cistercien. Abbayes et sites. France, Belgique, Luxembourg, Suisse (new enlarged edition), p. 108 . Moisenay: Éditions Gaud. ISBN 2-84080-044-6
External links[]
- Cistercian monasteries in France
- Buildings and structures in Loir-et-Cher
- 1121 establishments in Europe
- 1120s establishments in France
- Christian monasteries established in the 12th century