Intérieur de l'Abbatiale de Cerisy-la-Forêt 014

Cerisy Abbey, otherwise the Abbey of Saint Vigor (french: Abbaye de Cerisy, Abbaye Saint-Vigor de Cerisy), located in

Cerisy-la-Forêt Cerisy-la-Forêt () is a commune in the Manche department of Normandy in north-western France. It has a population of 1,036 inhabitants (2019) and possesses an important environmental and architectural heritage. The area has been occupied since ...

(near

Saint-Lô Saint-Lô (, ; br, Sant Lo) is a commune in northwest France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy.Manche, France, was an important

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery of

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

History

The abbey was founded in 1032 by the

Duke of Normandy In the Middle Ages, the duke of Normandy was the ruler of the Duchy of Normandy in north-western Kingdom of France, France. The duchy arose out of a grant of land to the Viking leader Rollo by the French king Charles the Simple, Charles III in ...

Robert the Magnificent Robert the Magnificent (french: le Magnifique;He was also, although erroneously, said to have been called 'Robert the Devil' (french: le Diable). Robert I was never known by the nickname 'the devil' in his lifetime. 'Robert the Devil' was a fic ...

on the site of an older monastery destroyed by the Normans during their invasion. It was dedicated to

Saint Vigor Saint Vigor (french: Saint Vigor, Vigeur; la, Vigor, Vigorus) (died circa 537 AD) was a French bishop and Christian missionary. Life Born into the nobility in Artois, he studied at Arras under Saint Vedast. His father would not grant approval fo ...

. It benefited from considerable donations and favors. The abbey became an important economic and intellectual center, welcoming several kings of France several times and counting several intellectuals among its members. It also had a large number of outbuildings in the form of monastic

grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery Geography Australia * Grange, South Austral ...

s which contributed to ensure a colossal income. It bore the title of "royal abbey" (under the protection of the

King of France France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the first ...

). In the 12th century, Cerisy extended its powers over the former

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

abbeys of

Deux-Jumeaux Deux-Jumeaux () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. History World War II After the liberation of the area by Allied Forces in early June 1944, engineers of the Ninth Air Force IX Engineering Comma ...

and

Saint-Fromond Saint-Fromond () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Manche department The following is a list of the 446 communes of the Manche department of France. The communes c ...

and founded priories at Saint-Marcouf, Barnavast and Vauville. At that time, a common devotion to the cause of the Roman Church united the Normans of England, France, Southern Italy, and Greece. Everywhere, their military effectiveness was asserted, as well as their talent for construction. In 1178,

Pope Alexander III Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland ( it, Rolando), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181. A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a con ...

confirmed with a special bull the privileges of the abbey of Cerisy, which reached the height of its glory during the end of the 12th century. Formigny

Cerisy became an important market town at this time. The abbey eventually consisted of forty-eight parishes and eight priories, including two in England (at

Monk Sherborne Monk Sherborne is a village in north Hampshire, England. Sherborne Priory is the burial place of William of Drogheada. Governance Monk Sherborne is a civil parish and is part of the Sherborne St. John ward of Basingstoke and Deane borough counc ...

and Peterborough). Depending on the Holy See, Cerisy maintained close relations with the monasteries of

Mont-Saint-Michel Mont-Saint-Michel (; Norman: ''Mont Saint Miché''; ) is a tidal island and mainland commune in Normandy, France. The island lies approximately off the country's north-western coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is ...

, Saint-Ouen,

Jumièges Jumièges () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France. Geography A forestry and farming village situated in a meander of the river Seine, some west of Rouen, at the junction of the D 65 and the ...

, Bec-Hellouin, Fécamp and of course

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Hundred Years War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Plantagen ...

, which plunged the country into misery, aggravated by epidemics of plague. The abbey was fortified and a garrison settled there. In 1418, Richard de Silly,

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

and captain of the abbey, was obliged to cede the abbey to the

King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...

. However, after the victory of the constable de Richemont over the English at Formigny in 1450, Normandy returned definitively to the

kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...

. Following the

Concordat of Bologna The Concordat of Bologna (1516) was an agreement between King Francis I of France and Pope Leo X that Francis negotiated in the wake of his victory at Marignano in September 1515. The groundwork was laid in a series of personal meetings of king an ...

in 1516, the abbey was placed ''

in commendam In canon law, commendam (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastical ...

'', lall the abbeys in the kingdom; this meant that the abbot was no longer named by the community of monks, that he might be a layman, and obtained the profits of the abbey's income, while the spiritual power was entrusted to a

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

. Its administration was sometimes entrusted to a person appointed outside the community. This is the end of his independence. The abbey declined until the death of the last commendatory abbot,

Paul d'Albert de Luynes Paul d'Albert de Luynes (5 January 1703 – 21 January 1788) was a French prelate. He was elected the seventh occupant of Académie française seat 29 in 1743. Early life Paul d'Albert de Luynes was born on 5 January 1703 in the city of Versail ...

archbishop of Sens The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sens and Auxerre (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Senonensis et Antissiodorensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Sens et Auxerre'') is a Latin Rite Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The Archdiocese compr ...

, in 1788. After a period of decline at the end of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, the abbey underwent a period of artistic renaissance with the Congregation of Saint-Maur in 1716. In the 18th century, new agricultural buildings were built. The monks left it in the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, and the abbey became the unique

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

of the village of

in 1790. Following its sale as national property during the Revolution most monastic buildings were sold to a contractor who demolished them and then sold the stones for the construction of roads and houses. The land was also sold at this time. Thereafter, what remained of the conventual buildings (including the chapel of St. Gerbold) was sold to the abbey's farm, which enabled them to be saved.

Heritage Listing

The abbey church is classified as historic monuments by the list of 1840 while the rest of the abbey is classified in 1938. Abbaye de Cerisy-la-Forêt (Par Paul de Farcy)

Abbaye de Cerisy-la-Forêt (Par Paul de Farcy)

Abbots

* Durand 1030–1032, monk of Saint-Ouen * Almodus 1032–1033 * Garin 1033–1066 * Hugues I 1066–1117 * Hugues II 1117–1167 * Martin 1167–1190 * Robert 1190–1198 * Bertrand 1198–1210 * Jean I 1210–1220 * Thomas I 1220–1223 * Robert I 1223–1232 * Nicolas I 1233–1234 * Radulphe ~1239 * Pierre I ~1239 * Hugues III ~1240 * Nicolas II ~1243 * Osmond 1249–1251 * Laurent I 1252–1276 * Guillaume de Saint-Gabriel 1276–1284 * Thomas de Saonnet 1284–1286 * Benoist 1290–1292 * Thomas III 1292–1297 * Robert II 1297–1307 * Noël I 1339 * Robert III 1340–1346 * Jean II 1360–1385 * Estold d'Estouteville 1385–1388 * Simon du Bosc 1388–1391 * Robert IV 1392–1393 * Jean III 1397 * Thomas du Bourg 1399–1427 * Jean IV 1429–1432 * Noël Sabine 1436–1446 * Richard Sabine 1446–1472, built the cloister in 1470 * Laurent Le Clerc 1472–1499 * Claude de Husson 1502–1509,

Bishop of Poitiers The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Poitiers (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Pictaviensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Poitiers'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in France. The archepiscopal see is in the city of Poitiers. Th ...

* Jacques de Silly 1509–1539 * Georges d'Amboise 1539–1550,

Bishop of Rouen The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Rothomagensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Rouen'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. As one of the fifteen Archbishops of France, the Arc ...

* Charles de Bourbon 1550–1557 * Antoine d'Apchon 1557–1580,

Bishop of Tarbes The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tarbes et Lourdes (Latin: ''Dioecesis Tarbiensis et Lourdensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Tarbes et Lourdes'') is a Roman Catholic Latin Rite diocese in France. Until 2002 Tarbes was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of A ...

* Alexandre de la Guesle 1580 * Jean V 1581 *

François de la Guesle François () is a French language, French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis (given name), Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of ...

1584–1614, Archbishop of Tours * Pierre Habert 1614–1630 * Henri-Louis Habert de Montmort 1631–1637 *

Germain Habert Germain Habert de Cérisy (1610 – May 1654) was a French churchman and poet. He was abbot of Saint-Vigor. Germain Habert was born in Paris. He was the cousin of Henri Louis Habert de Montmor, brother of Philippe Habert and like Philippe a ...

1637–1654, member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

Jules Mazarin Cardinal Jules Mazarin (, also , , ; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino () or Mazarini, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Louis XIII and Louis XIV ...

1654–1661,

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Philippe de Vendôme Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince Philippe, Count o ...

1661–1727, Grand Prior for France *

1727–1788,

Bishop of Bayeux The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bayeux and Lisieux (Latin: ''Dioecesis Baiocensis et Lexoviensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Bayeux et Lisieux'') is a diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is coextensive with the Department of Calvados and is ...

, Bishop of Sens, and cardinal

References

{{Authority control Benedictine monasteries in France Buildings and structures in Manche