Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne (, literally ''Beaulieu on

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named af ...

''; oc, Belluec) is a commune in the

Corrèze Corrèze (; oc, Corresa) is a department in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by t ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

, central

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Beaulieu is a medieval city, originally dominated by its great

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

of St Pierre, of which only the abbey church remains. On 1 January 2019, the former commune

Geography

Toponymy

Beaulieu comes from the Latin "bellus locus", "lieu beau", a nice place to live. The inhabitants of Beaulieu are called by varies names: Beaulieusard, Beaulieurois, Bellilocien, Bellieurain, Bellilocois, Belliloquois, Belliloqueteux, Belliquière, Berlugan, Beloudonien.

Location

Beaulieu is in the south of the

. It is located on the D940 road on the banks of the

Dordogne river The Dordogne (; oc, Dordonha) is a river in south-central and southwest France. It is long. The Dordogne and its watershed were designated Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO on July 11 2012. Geography The river rises on the flanks of the Puy de S ...

, south of the Limousin. Tulle is 37 km north.

Brive-la-Gaillarde Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of oc, Briva la Galharda) is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was 7 ...

is 38 km away and Collonges-la-Rouge is 20 km to the northwest.

Aurillac Aurillac (; oc, Orlhac ) is the prefecture of the Cantal department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Aurillacois'' or ''Aurillacoises''. Geography Aurillac is at above sea leve ...

( Cantal) is 60 km to the east.

Hydrography and relief

The commune is limited on its entire eastern border by the Dordogne, and watered to the north by its tributary the Ménoire.

History

Middle ages

In the midst of the War of succession at the head of Aquitaine, around 855, Rodolphe de Turenne, Archbishop of

Bourges Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry. History The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, t ...

, rallied to the ''legitimate'' cause embodied by

Charles the Bald Charles the Bald (french: Charles le Chauve; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as Charles II, was a 9th-century king of West Francia (843–877), king of Italy (875–877) and emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–877). After a ser ...

, was committed to establishing a monastic foundation on his family lands. After a vain attempt at Végennes, he turned to Vellinus. The

cartulary A cartulary or chartulary (; Latin: ''cartularium'' or ''chartularium''), also called ''pancarta'' or ''codex diplomaticus'', is a medieval manuscript volume or roll (''rotulus'') containing transcriptions of original documents relating to the fo ...

of the

reported that at the sight of the place's splendour, he could not help but baptise it "bellus locus". From the great

Solignac Abbey Solignac Abbey, or the Abbey of Saint-Peter and Saint Paul of Solignac, is an abbey in Solignac, near Limoges, in Haute-Vienne. It was founded around 631 AD by Saint Eligius (Éloi). The present buildings date to the 12th century, but have b ...

, he invited a team of monks to set up a new monastery and participated with his wide kin in the building of the abbey's heritage. The

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

was consecrated in 860. Like those at nearby Uzerche and

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

, the abbey of Saint Pierre at Beaulieu was a

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 ...

foundation and flourished largely because of its proximity to the

Way of St. James The Camino de Santiago ( la, Peregrinatio Compostellana, "Pilgrimage of Compostela"; gl, O Camiño de Santiago), known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the Twelve Apostle ...

. The first monks came from the abbey of Solignac, near Limoges. Thanks to the pious donations of the Counts of Quercy, the Viscounts of

Turenne Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne (11 September 161127 July 1675), commonly known as Turenne , was a French general and one of only six Marshals to have been promoted Marshal General of France. The most illustrious member of the ...

, their multiple vassals, the area of the abbey consists of a third of the Bas-Limousin. Endowed with a treasure trove of relics (Saint-Prime and Félicien), and although it suffered from secular lusts, it had a spectacular rise that allowed the development of pilgrimages. Beaulieu became an essential stage on the roads uniting Limoges to Aurillac and Figeac, leading to Conques, Moissac, Toulouse and Compostela. As its wealth grew, the independence of the abbey was threatened by neighbouring

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

lords and it was defended against their depredations by the bishops of Limoges. Annexed to the

Cluny Abbey Cluny Abbey (; , formerly also ''Cluni'' or ''Clugny''; ) is a former Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was dedicated to Saint Peter. The abbey was constructed in the Romanesque architectural style, with three churches ...

around 1095, it was reformed and experienced a favourable period and the construction of the great abbey church was begun and it continued for nearly half a century. In the fourteenth century, a separate western steeple was erected: this also acted as the town's belfry. The powerful abbey, under the protection of popular saints, was located around fertile lands, an indispensable condition for the village inhabitants to develop. From the end of the 12th century, a village was built around the conventual buildings protected by a wall, punctuated by towers and bordered by a ditch. From the monastic enclosure, districts developed outside the walls: the ''Faubourg de la Grave'', towards the Dordogne, where the former hospital was located; the main district at the site of the old village of Vellinus; the ''Barri du Trou'' in which the deceased were buried and the Mirabel district near the ancient orchards of the abbey. Beaulieu became an important commercial place from which emerged a true bourgeois community that aroused the desires of the Lords of Castelnau and Turenne. From 1213, saw the end of the Cluny stranglehold, with the abbey losing power little by little. Beaulieu became the seat of the conflicts for power between the Lord Abbot, the middle-class and the Viscount of Turenne. With the beginning of the fifteenth century, the abbey gradually crumbled.

Modern era

The abbey declined during the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...

, which devastated the region. The

French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion is the term which is used in reference to a period of civil war between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants, commonly called Huguenots, which lasted from 1562 to 1598. According to estim ...

completed the process. The abbey suffered the attacks by the Protestants during that war. As the sixteenth century approached, the ideas of the reform had spread under the influence of the merchants and ''gabariers'' (barge-men) of the Dordogne. Twice (1569–1574), the Protestants troops of the Admiral Gaspard de Coligny plundered the city and the abbey. The abbey church was then transformed into a Protestant temple. Given to the Catholic cult, in 1622, thanks to the Catholic League, the abbey was rebuilt in the seventeenth century by the Benedictine Congregation of Saint-Maur. They reinstate the monastic discipline and it was not until 1663 that the abbey began to function again. The city, again prosperous, erected its opulent mansions. The former Leaguer's created, with the help of the bishops, many brotherhoods.

French Revolution and Empire

The abbey still sheltered six monks when the

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

destroyed the conventual buildings and the

Maurist The Congregation of St. Maur, often known as the Maurists, were a congregation of French Benedictines, established in 1621, and known for their high level of scholarship. The congregation and its members were named after Saint Maurus (died 565), a ...

constructions. The abbey was spared and became a parish church.

Contemporary period

On January 1, 2019, the municipality extended its perimeter to that of

Brivezac Brivezac (; Limousin: ''Brivasac'') is a former commune in the Corrèze department in central France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the commune Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne.Odo of France stopped the Normans in 889). The Chateau consists of buildings from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, and one can still see a bretèche protruding over the entrance gate. The Chateau approached the twentieth century in the state of ruin, but it was restored. It is included in the inventory of historical monuments.

Religious buildings

Abbey Church of St Pierre

Founded in the 9th century by Rodolphe of the family of the Counts of Turenne, Lords of Beaulieu, the abbey was attached to Cluny in the 11th century. Under the impetus of the

Gregorian reforms The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, c. 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy. The reforms are considered to be nam ...

, the pilgrimages flourished, necessitating the construction of new, better-adapted churches. In 1150, the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

and

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

of the new Church of Beaulieu were already completed. The construction would continue until the 13th century. The plan was similar to the others Romanesque churches of the pilgrimages, with a

Latin Cross A Latin cross or ''crux immissa'' is a type of cross in which the vertical beam sticks above the crossbeam, with the three upper arms either equally long or with the vertical topmost arm shorter than the two horizontal arms, and always with a mu ...

, having a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

with

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

s and an ambulatory allowing pilgrims, to pray to the saints of their choice in the apsidal chapel without disturbing high

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

. The architect Anatole de Baudot carried out restoration work. The church has a nave of four spans. The choir, the southern arm of the transept and much of the nave date back to the original Romanesque phase of the building. The belfry and the central tower are of later,

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

construction. The total length of the building is 71 metres, and the width at the transept is 38 metres. The nave rises to 17 metres, while the central tower exceeds it by 6 metres. The most notable feature of the church is the elaborately sculpted south portal, particularly the tympanum. Instead of the usual Last Judgement, this depicts the

Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messi ...

, the triumphant return of Christ, and the

General Resurrection General resurrection or universal resurrection is the belief in a resurrection of the dead, or resurrection from the dead ( Koine: , ''anastasis onnekron''; literally: "standing up again of the dead") by which most or all people who have died ...

. A 2.1 metre Christ, his arms spread in the form of a cross, is flanked by the 12

Apostles An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

, while angels above him carry the crown and nails. Meanwhile, other angels sound the trumpet to summon up the dead. Another notable feature is a fine

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

retable A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate structur ...

in gilded wood, dating from 1678, shortly after the refounding of the abbey. It depicts the

Assumption of the Virgin The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic_Mariology#Dogmatic_teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and d ...

. The

treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

contains a number of important high medieval items, including a

Virgin and Child In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent in ...

and two arm

reliquaries A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including '' phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it is housed a ''fer ...

, all made of wood and covered in silver or gold leaf.

Cultural heritage

In its 2017 charts, ''le Conseil national des villes et villages fleuris de France'' (National Council of the Flower Towns and Villages of France) awarded a flower to the commune in the ''Concours des villes et villages fleuris'' (Contest of the Flowers towns and villages). Beaulieusurdordogne20

Personalities

Notable personalities linked to the commune include: *

Eustorg de Beaulieu Eustorg de Beaulieu or Hector de Beaulieu (around 1495 – 8 January 1552) is a French poet, composer and pastor. He was one of the first French authors to convert to protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the t ...

(1495–1552), French poet, composer and pastor *

Jean-Antoine Marbot Jean-Antoine Marbot ( , ; 7 December 1754 – 19 April 1800), also known to contemporaries as Antoine Marbot, was a French general and politician. He belongs to a family that has distinguished itself particularly in the career of arms, giving t ...

(1754–1800), French general and politician, father of generals Adolphe and Marcellin Marbot *

Adolphe Marbot Antoine Adolphe Marcelin Marbot ( , ; 22 March 1781 – 2 June 1844), known as Adolphe Marbot, was a French general. He belongs to a family that has distinguished itself particularly in the career of arms, giving three generals to France in les ...

(1781–1844), French general *

Marcellin Marbot Jean-Baptiste Antoine Marcelin Marbot ( , ; 18 August 1782 – 16 November 1854), known as Marcellin Marbot, was a French general, famous for his memoirs depicting the Napoleonic age of warfare. He belongs to a family that has distinguished it ...

(1782–1854), French general, author of the famous ''Memoirs of General Marbot'' *

Frits Thaulow Frits Thaulow (20 October 1847 – 5 November 1906) was a Norwegian Impressionist painter, best known for his naturalistic depictions of landscape. Biography Johan Frederik Thaulow was born in Christiania, the son of a wealthy chemist, Haral ...

(1847–1906), Norwegian Impressionist painter * Asher Peres (1934–2005), Israeli physicist

Gallery

Image:Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne belfry.JPG, The belfry of the abbey church in Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne. Image:Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne church entrance.JPG, Southern portal of the abbey church. Image:Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne maison Clare.JPG, Maison Clare entrance. Image:Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne institution Sévigné fenêtre.JPG, Sévigné institution building window detail. Image:BeaulieuSuenderkapelle.jpg, Chapelle des pénitents on the bank of the Dordogne river. Image:Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne (19) Place de la Bridolle - Maison du XVe siècle.jpg, 15th century house, Place de la Bridolle. Image:Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne porte Ste-Catherine (2).JPG, Interior view of the Ste Catherine gate. Image:Ménoire Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne Moulin Abadiol D12 aval.JPG, Abadiol mill. Abbatiale Saint-Pierre de Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne-2232.jpg, Nave of the St Pierre abbey church. Image:Retable de la Vierge, Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne-2208.jpg, Assumption of the Virgin Mary

in the St Pierre abbey church. Image:Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne (19) Abbatiale Portail Méridional Tympan 08.jpg, The return and triumph of Christ, depicted on the southern portal tympanum of the St Pierre abbey church. Image:Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne maison Calary tour.JPG, Maison Calary tower. Image:Beaulieu - Vue Bridolle.jpg, View of a house on Place de la Bridolle. Image:Gabare op de Dordogne, Frankrijk 2010.jpg, Dordogne riverbank.

References

External links

Official Web Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beaulieusurdordogne Communes of Corrèze Corrèze communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia