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Priory of St. Cosmas (La Riche)

Priory of St. Cosmas
Prieuré de Saint-Cosme 3.JPG
Basic information
Location La Riche, France
Geographic coordinates 47°23′20.96″N 0°39′4″E / 47.3891556°N 0.65111°E / 47.3891556; 0.65111Coordinates: 47°23′20.96″N 0°39′4″E / 47.3891556°N 0.65111°E / 47.3891556; 0.65111
Affiliation Roman Catholic
Rite Augustinians
Province Archdiocese of Tours
Region Centre-Val de Loire
Country France
Year consecrated 1092
Website http://www.prieure-ronsard.fr
Architectural description
Architectural type Monastery
Architectural style Romanesque and Gothic

The Priory of St. Cosmas (French: Prieuré de Saint-Cosme) or the Priory of Ronsard is a former priory built upon an island in the Loire River at La Riche near Tours in Touraine, founded in the 11th Century and dedicated to St. Cosmas. The site features a museum dedicated to the French poet Ronsard, who spent the last twenty years of his life among the Canons Regular there.

In 1092 the priory was founded on the site of a 7th Century oratory by a community of Augustinian Canons Regular to accommodate pilgrims on the way to the shrine of St. James of Campostela in Spain, a purpose it served up to the 18th Century.

In 1187, King Henry II of England (in whose dominions it was at the time) allowed the Priory to be used as a refuge for the exiled Archbishop of Trier, Folmar of Karden, at a time when the Priory was considered "a heaven on earth that eased the journey to the real heaven."

In the 15th Century, the Priory benefitted from the generosity of King Louis XI of France who dwelt at times at the neighboring Château de Plessis-lèz-Tours. He rebuilt the church and the Prior’s House in the Gothic style.


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