The Abbey of Monthiers-en-Argonne (also spelled Montiers-en-Argonne, from Latin ''Monasterium in Argona'', "monastery in the Argonne") was a

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 located in Possesse in the

diocese of Châlons-sur-Marne In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

in the

County of Champagne The County of Champagne ( la, Comitatus Campaniensis; fro, Conté de Champaigne), or County of Champagne and Brie, was a historic territory and feudal principality in France descended from the early medieval kingdom of Austrasia. The county bec ...

. A daughter house of Trois-Fontaines and of the lineage of Clairvaux, it was dedicated to Saints

Nicholas Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglicanism, Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the n ...

and

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

(Notre-Dame). According to

Leopold Janauschek Leopold Janauschek (13 October 1827 – 23 July 1898) was an Austrian Cistercian historian. Life Janauschek was born at Brünn, Moravia. In 1846 he received the religious habit at the Cistercian Zwettl Abbey, Lower Austria, where he was profe ...

, its order number was 194. It was founded at the site called "Vieux Montiers" (Old Monastery) by its first abbot, Eustache, around 1135. Originally a house of

Augustinian canons Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by ...

, it adopted the Cistercian rule on 30 May 1144. The monastery was moved to its final location, where its ruins are still found, around 1155. Eustache was assisted by a co-abbot, Gervais, and together they greatly expanded the abbey's

temporalities Temporalities or temporal goods are the secular properties and possessions of the church. The term is most often used to describe those properties (a ''Stift'' in German or ''sticht'' in Dutch) that were used to support a bishop or other religious ...

. Towards the end of the century, the abbey was embroiled in controversy over land with the lords of Possesse and Dampierre-en-Astenois, especially Lord Renard II of Dampierre.Theodore Evergates (ed.), ''Feudal Society in Medieval France: Documents from the County of Champagne'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), pp. 120–22. Its abbot, Amadeus, was even deposed. It had lands and farms in Guidonval, La Basse-Cour, Rotonchamp, Valdivière, Le Saussy, Hurtebise, Bronne, Bouët and Outrivière in Noirlieu, Épensival in Épense, Lalieue in Remicourt, Notaval and Letemple. During 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 ...

, in 1790 the monasteries were suppressed. Only the 18th-century

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

and the pigeon house from 1650 still stand.

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