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 in
France, situated 15 kilometers south-west of
Narbonne near to the
Spanish 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 Ermengarde (Occitan: Ermengarda, Ainermada, or Ainemarda) (b. 1127 or 1129 – d. Perpignan, 14 October 1197), was a viscountess of Narbonne from 1134 to 1192. She was the daughter of Aimery II of Narbonne and his first wife, also named Ermengarde. ...
. In 1144 it affiliated itself to the
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 ...
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 against the heretical doctrine of the
Cathars 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.
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 (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 is produced here of the ''
AOC Corbières'' quality under the French
appellations system. It also has a small working farm, bookstore and restaurant and takes paying guests.
Notes
References
*
External links
Abbaye de Fontfroide official websitePhotos of FontfroideFontfroide 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