![FeuillantConvent](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/FeuillantConvent.jpg)
The royal monastery of Saint-Bernard, better known as the Couvent des Feuillants or Les Feuillants Convent, was a
Feuillant nunnery or convent in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, behind what is now numbers 229—235
rue Saint-Honoré
The rue Saint-Honoré is a street in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.
It is named after the collegial situated in ancient times within the cloisters of Saint-Honoré.
The street, on which are located a number of museums and upscale bou ...
, near its corner with rue de Castiglione. It was founded in 1587 by
Henry III of France
Henry III (french: Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard; pl, Henryk Walezy; lt, Henrikas Valua; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of ...
. Its church was completed in 1608 and dedicated to
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. ( la, Bernardus Claraevallensis; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templars, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order through ...
.
The nunnery was secularised and nationalised in the decrees of 13 and 16 May 1790 and became notable as the meeting place of the
Feuillant Club.
Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...
used the nave of the convent's church as a studio for his painting ''
The Tennis Court Oath''. Most of the complex was then demolished under the
French Consulate
The Consulate (french: Le Consulat) was the top-level Government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 10 November 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term ''The Con ...
, leaving only the guesthouses at 229—235 rue Saint-Honoré (built in 1776 by
Jacques Denis Antoine and classed as a historic monument in 1987) and the outline of its church's
apse
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
, which can be discerned in the courtyard of one of the guesthouses.
History
Foundation
Between the end of the 16th and the start of the 17th centuries, several
Catholic Reformation
The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...
and
Counter Reformation
The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...
religious orders set up complexes in the district below the second
porte Saint-Honoré
Porte Saint-Honoré was a city gate in Paris. It was the main entry point into the city from the west, towards Saint-Germain-en-Laye (with porte Saint-Denis to the north towards Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, porte Saint-Antoine to ...
. They were most often set up on royal initiative, such as the
Capuchin house set up by
Catherine de Medici
Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King H ...
in 1576 in the
Tuileries Palace
The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...
, close to the district. Not ten years later, in 1585, Henry III acquired the hôtel des Carneaux,
[According to , 'Carneaux' derives from 'créneaux', meaning an old fortified house.] whose buildings and lands bordered those of the Capuchins, to set up a new convent. At first he intended it to be a
Hieronymite
The Hieronymites, also formally known as the Order of Saint Jerome ( la, Ordo Sancti Hieronymi; abbreviated OSH), is a Catholic cloistered religious order and a common name for several congregations of hermit monks living according to the Rule o ...
house, but he later switched this to sixty members of the Feuillant order from Toulouse. They arrived in the outskirts of Paris on 11 July 1587 and moved into the convent on 8 September the same year.
The convent buildings were designed by the king's architect
Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau Jean Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau (1544/47–1590) was a French architect who designed the Pont Neuf (1579), spanning the Seine, Paris, and became supervisor of the royal works under Henri III and Henri IV, including the Louvre. Several ''hôtel ...
,
and construction work was led by one of the monks.
Development
Abbot
Jean de La Barrière
Jean Baptiste de la Barrière (; 1544–1600) was a religious figure. He was the commendatory abbot of Les Feuillants Abbey at the age of 19, and founder of the reformed Cistercian order that arose there, the Feuillants. During his life he bec ...
remained loyal to Henry III, preaching his funeral oration at Bordeaux, but several of his disciples joined the
Catholic League.
At the end of 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 ...
the convent held only nine monks,
but still benefited from royal patronage after the war's end.
By letters patent of 20 June 1597,
Henry IV of France
Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...
put the convent under his protection and granted it all the privileges owing to a royal foundation. On 25 August the same year, he enlarged its lands by adding a house beside the couvent des Capucins which Henry III had acquired from the
duc de Retz Seigneurs and Dukes of Retz owned the district of Retz or Rais, is in South Brittany.
History
Rais belonged in early times to a house which bore its name, and of which the eldest branch became extinct in the 13th century in the .
From the Chabot ...
. Henry IV promised the convent the revenues from the rich
Val Abbey in
commend, though that promise was realised only by his successor
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
.
The convent church was also completed during Henry IV's reign, in 1608, thanks to the alms given in the
holy year
A jubilee is a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon. In ''Leviticus'', a Jubilee (biblical), jubilee year ( he, יובל ''yūḇāl'') is mentioned to occur every 50th year; during which slaves and prisoners would be freed, deb ...
of 1600. It was dedicated to
Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. ( la, Bernardus Claraevallensis; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templars, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order through ...
and in 1624 gained a monumental façade, paid for by Louis XIII.
In 1621
the Feuillants set up their novitiate in the
faubourg Saint-Jacques, at what is now 10
rue des Feuillantines. In 1633 that site was given over to a convent of nuns of the same order (known as
Feuillantines
The Feuillants were a Catholic congregation originating in the 1570s as a reform group within the Cistercians in its namesake Les Feuillants Abbey in France, which declared itself an independent order.
In 1630 it separated into a French branch ( ...
) to fulfil a vow by
Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria (french: Anne d'Autriche, italic=no, es, Ana María Mauricia, italic=no; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 unti ...
and the novitiate moved to rue d'Enfer (on the site of 91-105 of present-day
boulevard Saint-Michel
Boulevard Saint-Michel () is one of the two major streets in the Latin Quarter of Paris, the other being Boulevard Saint-Germain. It is a tree-lined boulevard which runs south from the Pont Saint-Michel on the Seine and Place Saint-Michel, cross ...
)
Besides the revenues from Val Abbey, the Feuillants also enjoyed those of several guesthouses which they bought or built on their lands.
One of them, built in 1676, later became the home of
Marguerite de la Sablière
Marguerite de la Sablière (; – 8 January 1693), was a French salonist and polymath, friend and patron of Jean de La Fontaine, was the wife of Antoine Rambouillet, sieur de la Sablière (1624–1679), a Protestant financier and poet entrusted w ...
, who hosted
Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine (, , ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''Fables'', which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Euro ...
there.
Under the Constitutional Monarchy
![Jacques Louis David - Le serment du Jeu de Paume - Google Art Project](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Jacques_Louis_David_-_Le_serment_du_Jeu_de_Paume_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
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 ...
marked a turning point in the convent's life. Decrees on 13 May and 16 July 1790 transferred all church lands, goods and buildings to the nation
and so the lands and buildings belonging to the Feuillants were nationalised. The buildings became more and more abandoned by the monks (some of whom housed themselves in the former couvent de la Mercy on
rue du Chaume), but were not sold, since they were close to the
salle du Manège
The indoor riding academy called the ''Salle du Manège'' () was the seat of deliberations during most of the French Revolution, from 1789 to 1798. It was demolished in 1804 to make way for the rue de Rivoli.
History
Before the Revolution
...
, where the
National Constituent Assembly met from 1791 onwards.
The buildings thus housed several offices and committee rooms and for a few months the convent library housed the
national archives. These political and administrative functions justified opening the complex to the public, including, merchants, artisans, lemonade sellers and coffee sellers. The place Vendôme section of the
National Guard
National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
Nat ...
was also based in the complex.
The church was also used for secular purposes. Its nave given to the painter
Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...
in autumn 1791 to paint his ''
The Tennis Court Oath'', not only since it could be adapted to fit the huge canvas but also due to its proximity to the Assembly, where several of its sitters were deputies.
He placed an announcement in ''
Le Moniteur'' asking deputies who had been present to the event to come to have their likeness engraved.
The complex's proximity to the Assembly also meant that a club was set up in the old convent buildings - this became known as the
Feuillants Club
The Society of the Friends of the ConstitutionIt was the original name of the Jacobin Club until his radicalization of French First Republic, Republic's birth. (french: Société des Amis de la Constitution), better known as Feuillants Club ( frenc ...
. Its members were dissidents from the "Society of Friends of the Constitution", more popularly known as the
Jacobin Club
, logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg
, logo_size = 180px
, logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794)
, motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir)
, successor = Pa ...
after its meeting place in the former
couvent des Jacobins on
rue Saint-Honoré
The rue Saint-Honoré is a street in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.
It is named after the collegial situated in ancient times within the cloisters of Saint-Honoré.
The street, on which are located a number of museums and upscale bou ...
. The split had led to the
Champ de Mars Massacre on 17 July 1791, marking the people's defiance to a king who had tried to flee. Opposed to supporters of Louis XVI's fall, the more moderate members of the Jacobin Club left it and set up a "Society of Friends of the Constitution Sitting at Les Feuillants", made up of supporters of the constitutional monarchy. The presence of this political club so close to the Assembly's meeting place led to a strong parliamentary polemic in December 1791.
The Feuillants Club disappeared with the constitutional monarchy it supported on
10 August, when
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
and his family were arrested - the royal family were housed at the convent before their transfer to the
prison du Temple on 13 August.
First Republic
In 1793, the
National Convention
The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...
moved from the Manège and les Feuillants to the Tuileries. In the autumn, the old convent buildings became factories and administration buildings for arms manufacture. The artillery museum was also set up there before being moved to the couvent des Jacobins in 1796.
Under the
French Consulate
The Consulate (french: Le Consulat) was the top-level Government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 10 November 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term ''The Con ...
, the decrees of 17-vendémiaire and 1-floréal in year X (9 October 1801 and 21 April 1802) put into effect part of the works planned in the "Plan des Artistes",
ordering the creation of what would become
rue de Rivoli
Rue de Rivoli (; English: "Rivoli Street") is a street in central Paris, France. It is a commercial street whose shops include leading fashionable brands. It bears the name of Napoleon's early victory against the Austrian army, at the Battle of R ...
and rue de Castiglione over the Feuillants convent site. The convent was thus totally demolished, except for the guesthouses on rue Saint-Honoré (numbers 229-235) and the apse of the church, whose outline can be seen in one of the guesthouses' courtyard.
Buildings
Rue Saint-Honoré
![Porte du couvent des Feuillants JB Lallemand](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Porte_du_couvent_des_Feuillants_JB_Lallemand.jpg)
The entrance gateway, probably built by
Jean Richer
Jean Richer (1630–1696) was a French astronomer and assistant (''élève astronome'') at the French Academy of Sciences, under the direction of Giovanni Domenico Cassini.
Between 1671 and 1673 he performed experiments and carried out celestial ...
to a design by
Libéral Bruand,
[.] was built between 1676 et 1677.
It was a large gateway surmounted by a
bas-relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
and surrounded by paired columns supporting a triangular pediment containing the arms of France and Navarre. The bas-relief was by
Anguier and showed Henry IV presenting the monks with plans of the church.
In the 18th century, this classical gateway formed the focal point of place Louis le Grand (now
place Vendôme
The Place Vendôme (), earlier known as Place Louis-le-Grand, and also as Place Internationale, is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madeleine. It is ...
), opposite the gateway of the new
couvent des Capucines on the opposite side. It gave access to a courtyard in front of the church and to a passage linking the convent to the stables of the Tuileries and the 'terrasse des Feuillants'. This passage was later enlarged to form
rue de Castiglione
''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bluis ...
, whose construction led to the destruction of the gateway.
To the left of the gateway and to the east of the corner of the present rue de Castiglione were convent buildings (on the site now numbered as 229-235 rue de Castiglione) built between 1776 and 1782 by
Jacques Denis Antoine. It was one of the main guesthouses belonging to the convent and still exists, its central body surmounted by a semi-circular pediment corresponding to number 231 and now inscribed on the historic monuments list.
File:229-235 rue Saint-Honoré.jpg, Present-day numbers 229-235, rue Saint-Honoré : Guesthouse designed by Antoine
Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin.
The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Guiana ...
for the Feuillants.
File:231 rue Saint-Honoré.jpg, Central building of the guesthouse (now number 231).
File:P1180983 Paris Ier rue St-Honoré n229 Feuillants rwk.jpg, Borne de la ville de Paris in front of number 229.
Church of Saint-Bernard
Exterior: Mansart façade
Convent buildings, cloister and gardens
Notes
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Feuillants Convent, Les
Former buildings and structures in Paris
Convents in Paris
1587 establishments in France