Charlieu Abbey

Charlieu Abbey or St. Fortunatus' Abbey, Charlieu (French: Abbaye de Charlieu) was a Benedictine abbey located at Charlieu, Loire, Burgundy, France. It was later a Cluniac priory.

The monastery, dedicated to Saint Fortunatus, was founded in 872, in this region of southern Burgundy known as the Forez. Its patrons were Ratbertus, bishop of Valence, and his brother Edward, in a place they called Carus Locus ("dear place"), and dedicated to Saint Stephen and Saint Fortunatus, patron of Valence, with his co-martyrs Felix and Achilles. The abbey was placed under the direct control of the Holy See.

The tradition that the abbey church and other structures at the site were erected by Gausmar, the first abbot, and his monks with their own hands is belied by the fine and professional character of the masonry uncovered when remains of the foundations of the Carolingian abbey were uncovered at the site in 1927. Its roof was wooden, for no foundations for interior supporting piers were found. Pencil towers no more than two meters in diameter encircled the corners of its façade and its apsidal east end, which had a semi-subterranean ambulatory; semi-circular buttresses strengthened the walls at intervals.

An early benefactor was Boso, Duke of Burgundy, who placed a priory in Charlieu's gift when he was crowned King of Provence (879); the abbey long claimed that Boso was buried at Charlieu. By 926 the abbey was important enough to be the seat of a synod, at which it was decided that certain alienated church properties were to be returned to the church by their lay proprietors.

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