Grestain Abbey
| Abbaye Notre-Dame de Grestain | |
|---|---|
| Basic information | |
| Location | Fatouville-Grestain |
| Geographic coordinates | 49°25′34″N 0°19′55″E / 49.426202°N 0.331821°ECoordinates: 49°25′34″N 0°19′55″E / 49.426202°N 0.331821°E |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| District | Eure |
| Province | Upper Normandy |
| Country | France |
| Year consecrated | 1050 |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | demolished |
| Website | www.abbaye-de-grestain.fr |
| Architectural style | Norman |
Grestain Abbey (or Grestein Abbey, French: Abbaye Notre-Dame de Grestain) was an 11th-Century Benedictine monastery near the town of Fatouville-Grestain, which is located in the modern-day Eure département of Upper Normandy, France. The abbey was in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lisieux. Closely associated with the family of William, Duke of Normandy, the abbey was instrumental in the Normans taking control over the Catholic Church in England in the centuries following the Norman Conquest of England, establishing new churches and priories in England, and Abbots of Grestain ordained many English priests. Many churches mentioned in the Domesday Book cite Grestain as the founding establishment.
The Abbey was founded in 1050 by Herluin de Conteville and his wife Arlette, mother of William the Conqueror.
Herluin, a victim of leprosy, was said to have seen a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary who told him to take a spa treatment at the source of the Carbec stream in Grestain (Carbec meaning "the Stream of Kari").
Cured, he decided to build an abbey in the nearby Valley of Vilaine dedicated to the Virgin and a chapel at Carbec, a site also dedicated to the healing spring of Saint-Méen.
Herluin's son, Robert de Mortain, half-brother of William, was the principal benefactor, endowing it with his revenues from England.
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