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L'Épau Abbey (french: Abbaye de l'Épau) 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 ...
abbey founded by the English queen
Berengaria of Navarre Berengaria of Navarre ( eu, Berengela, es, Berenguela, french: Bérengère; 1165–1170 â€“ 23 December 1230) was Queen of England as the wife of Richard I of England. She was the eldest daughter of Sancho VI of Navarre and Sancha of Ca ...
in 1229. It is located on the outskirts of the city of
Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
, on the left bank of the
Huisne The Huisne () is a long river in France. It is a left tributary of the river Sarthe, which it meets in Le Mans. Its source is near the town of Pervenchères, in the Orne department. The Huisne flows through the following departments and towns: ...
, adjoining the town of Yvré-l'Évêque. The abbey was suppressed 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 ...
. The surviving buildings came close to destruction on several occasions, but their preservation was finally assured in 1958 by the General Council of the
Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the ''Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It had ...
department.


History


Origins

Perseigne Abbey Perseigne Abbey (french: Abbaye de Perseigne) is a former Cistercian abbey, formally established in 1145 on land given by William III, Count of Ponthieu, and suppressed in 1791 during the French Revolution. It is located in the north of the Sarthe ...
, built within the confines of Norman Maine by the powerful William III of Bellême, can be considered the oldest Cistercian abbey in
Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
. It was built in 1145, and is today situated in the commune of Neufchâtel-en-Saosnois. All that remains of it today is a section of wall. During the second millennium, Le Mans saw the construction of several abbeys. Religious faith was booming in the town: The renowned La Couture abbey was built, as were the Saint-Pierre, Saint-Paul and Saint-Vincent abbeys. Mostly, the abbeys were built in privileged areas in the heart of the forest. In 1199, the English queen
Berengaria of Navarre Berengaria of Navarre ( eu, Berengela, es, Berenguela, french: Bérengère; 1165–1170 â€“ 23 December 1230) was Queen of England as the wife of Richard I of England. She was the eldest daughter of Sancho VI of Navarre and Sancha of Ca ...
was beside herself with grief. Her husband,
King Richard the Lionheart Richard I (8 September 1157 â€“ 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...
, had succumbed to his wounds in a crossbow battle at Châlus in Haute-Vienne. The Queen was removed from power in Maine but settled among the Plantagenet dynasty in 1204. She became a
dowager A dowager is a widow or widower who holds a title or property—a "dower"—derived from her or his deceased spouse. As an adjective, ''dowager'' usually appears in association with monarchy, monarchical and aristocracy, aristocratic Title#Aristocr ...
. In addition, she began to spend all of her time at the Palace of the Count of Maine. Legend has it that the Queen found asylum, but not happiness, in the town. Certain local government figures, in cohorts with her mother-in-law,
Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor ( – 1 April 1204; french: Aliénor d'Aquitaine, ) was Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II, and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right from ...
, or brother-in-law,
John Lackland John (24 December 1166 â€“ 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empi ...
, constantly waged battle with the Queen, trying to steal the land granted to her by the French king
Philip Augustus Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), byname Philip Augustus (french: Philippe Auguste), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French m ...
. Only after 26 years in exile did the Queen, aged 59, decide to found an abbey.


Construction of the abbey

Saint-Benoit rules maintained that an abbey built outwith the city limits should respect the obligations of spiritual sanctuary. However, the Queen elected to have the abbey built between town and forest, at the city limits of Le Mans. The Queen built it for her own salvation. Both history and legend suggest that this abbey may also have been built to redeem the fortunes of Plantagenet Kings. On 25 March 1229, the Queen ordered the Citeaux monks to begin construction of Notre-Dame-de-l'Epau. Furthermore, the Queen was a benefactor of this order. The decision to choose monks residing locally was not left to chance. The Queen was also a great friend of confidant Adam de Perseigne, priest at the monastery of the same name and long time confidant of Richard the Lionheart. Father of the Queen, Sanche VI, himself founded the abbey at Oliva in 1140. This tranquil site was chosen as the river Huisne was teeming with fish. Although Louis IX ceded the Espal grounds to the Queen, it would be the monks of Coëffort who would be troublesome to Queen Berengaria. This brotherhood asked the Queen for financial compensation, claiming that the land had been left to them by Arthur of Brittany, Queen Berengaria's nephew. Plans for the abbey were classic with construction respecting the style of other Cistercian buildings. Construction took from 1230 to 1365. The early phases of construction went smoothly. Four years after construction began, the Bishop of Le Mans Geoffroy de Laval placed the monastery under the patronage of both Notre-Dame and Saint John the Baptiste. The main buildings were not finished until 1280.


The Hundred Years' War

In March 1365, in the middle of 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, ...
, the people of
Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
burned the building of their own accord. As the monks had left the abbey, the inhabitants feared that enemy troops would seize the building and use it as a base from which to attack the town. In fact, it was the noblemen who forced the people to take action. The church was the part of the abbey to suffer the most damage. However, the following year the bourgeois of Le Mans decided to completely rebuild the damaged parts of the church. But they were not the ones who financed the renovation. Money was difficult to come by in the region and donations to religious orders were rare.


14th–17th centuries

All the damaged buildings were renovated between 1400 and 1444. Charles VI raised finance by taxing the local population. One of the main artisans of the church restoration was Guillaume de Bonneville.


18th–19th centuries

At the beginning 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 ...
the abbey was transformed into a gigantic agricultural outbuilding. Yet the abbey was already listed as a "historic monument." Its cultural value was already recognised by the old regime, in particular the ancient church, its sacristy and most of all its 18th-century staircase. In July 1940, the German Wehrmacht turned the abbey into a "Frontlager" to house French officer POW's who were taken after the armistice in the region of the Sarthe. Eventually this camp was closed and the prisoners were moved to Oflag XIIIA. After the war, the elected politicians of the Sarthe and Mayenne regions voted unanimously to buy back and restore the abbey which had been a monastic retreat for half a millennium. In 1958, the building was acquired by the regional council of the Sarthe for 11 million old francs. The abbey underwent a long restoration, strictly observing the 13th-century architectural style. Both the National School of Fine Arts of Le Mans and Paris actively participated. The church, the sacristy, the
chapter house A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...
, the staircase and the cellar had already been listed since 1925 and the façades and roof were first listed in 1961 before these were reclassified in 1973 and again in 2005. At this point the abbey became both a place to visit and host events. Between 1965 and 1990, the abbey became popular for cultural functions, in particular for classical music events, conferences and exhibitions. The location is also used as the chair for the departmental assembly, in particular the 18th-century wing, which was restored in 1990. By 1991, a total of 60 million new francs had been spent overall on renovations.


The Queen's tomb

As she neared death, Berengaria of Navarra made clear her wish to be buried within the Abbey. Doubt remains over the exact location of her burial. Although the recumbent statue and tomb are there today, the exact whereabouts of her burial is unknown. In 1960, Pierre Térouanne found a wholly intact female skeleton in the basement of the chapter house. A small oak box has always followed the recumbent figure of the Queen despite its many pilgrimages since the Revolution. The marking Ossa Berangeria / 1230-1672-1821-1861 appears on the box. In reality, the Queen died before the Abbey could be finished. The only possibility for her burial site would have been in the abbey grounds. Her remains should therefore be situated underneath the tomb, a medieval work of art from the 13th century. On the tomb, the recumbent statue is similar to that of Aliénor d'Aquitaine at Fontevrault Abbey. The Queen is resting on her back, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist by a belt. The royal crown is placed on her head, which rests up on a cushion. At her feet, a lion is depicted slaying a greyhound. The lion and crown are symbols of royalty while the money-bag by her belt represents generosity. Her hands, folded over her chest, hold a book, the cover of which represents her own burial. In 1365, the building was devastated by fire and the tomb would certainly have been moved to the chapter house. It was definitely brought into the abbey in 1672, where it remained until 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 ...
when the building was sold as a clergy asset. The building became a gigantic agricultural grange and the tomb was lost carelessly under straw. Charles Albert Shotard, specially brought over from England, had to intervene and enforce that the tomb be respected. Pierre Thoré, owner of the grange at the abbey, resolved himself to be separated from the tomb shortly afterwards. In December 1821, it was transferred to the northern transept of the cathedral. In 1861, the tomb was moved to the southern transept to make room for another tomb; that of Monseigneur Bouvier. The Queen's tomb was again displaced in 1920, when it was moved back to the northern transept in order to make room for a monument for the priests of the diocese who died for France. It would be 1970 before the Queen's tomb would finally be brought back to the chapter house at the Abbaye de l'Epau. It was placed above the mysterious remains found by Pierre Terouanne. This skeleton belonged to a woman who died in her sixties, or the age of the Queen at the time of her death. What is inside the box attached to the Queen's tomb is still a mystery to this day.


External links

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Photos of the abbey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Epau Abbey 1229 establishments in Europe 1220s establishments in France Buildings and structures in Sarthe Christian monasteries established in the 13th century Cistercian monasteries in France 13th-century churches in France