Fontfroide Abbey (french: Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Fontfroide; la, Fons frigidus) is a former

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

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 ...

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 ...

, situated 15 kilometers south-west of

Narbonne Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in France, commune in Southern France in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. It lies from Paris in the Aude Departments of Franc ...

near to the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

border. It was founded in 1093 by Aimery I, Viscount of Narbonne, but remained poor and obscure, and needed to be refounded by Ermengarde, Viscountess of Narbonne. In 1144 it affiliated itself to the

reform movement. Shortly afterwards the

Count of Barcelona The Count of Barcelona ( ca, Comte de Barcelona, es, Conde de Barcelona, french: Comte de Barcelone, ) was the ruler of the County of Barcelona and also, by extension and according with the Usages of Barcelona, usages and Catalan constitutions, of ...

gave it the land in Spain that was to form the great

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

monastery of

Poblet Poblet Abbey, otherwise the Royal Abbey of Santa Maria de Poblet ( ca, Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Poblet), is a Cistercian monastery, founded in 1151, located at the foot of the Prades Mountains, in the comarca of Conca de Barberà, in C ...

, of which Fontfroide counts as the mother house, and in 1157 the Viscountess Ermengard of Narbonne granted it a great quantity of land locally, thus securing its wealth and status. The abbey fought together with

Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 J ...

against the heretical doctrine of the

Cathar Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follow ...

s who lived in the region. The

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

, which reached Narbonne in 1348, decimated almost the entire community. It was dissolved in 1791 in the course of 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 ...

. It was re-founded in 1858 by monks from

Sénanque Abbey Sénanque Abbey (Occitan: ''abadiá de Senhanca'', French: ''Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque'') is a Cistercian abbey near the village of Gordes in the ''département'' of the Vaucluse in Provence, France. First foundation It was founded in 114 ...

. In 1901, because of the French legal changes, the community was driven out of France and went into exile in Spain: the abbey was abandoned. The premises, which are of very great architectural interest, passed into private hands in 1908, when the artists Gustave and Madeleine Fayet d'Andoque bought it to protect the fabric of the buildings from an American collector of sculpture. They restored it over a number of years and used it as a centre for artistic projects.

Mario d'Angelo Mario d’Angelo is a French academic, management consultant and author, born in 1954 with Italian and German ancestry. His work in the field of culture and the creative industries is in the line with the system analysis and interdisciplinarity ap ...

(ed) ''La musique à la Belle Époque. Autour du foyer artistique de Gustave Fayet. Paris, Fontfroide, Béziers''. Paris: Éditions de Manuscrit, 2013. It still remains in private hands. Today

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

is produced here of the ''

AOC Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of ...

Corbières'' quality under the French

appellations An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

system. It also has a small working farm, bookstore and restaurant and takes paying guests.

Notes

References

External links

Abbaye de Fontfroide official website

Photos of Fontfroide

Fontfroide winery
{{Coord, 43.127373, N, 2.898335, E, source:frwiki_region:FR_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title Cistercian monasteries in France 1093 establishments in Europe 1090s establishments in France Christian monasteries established in the 11th century Christian monasteries in Aude Romanesque architecture in France Tourist attractions in Aude 11th-century establishments in France Religious organizations established in the 1090s Monuments historiques of Aude