Mondaye Abbey
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| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Order | Premonstratensian |
| Established | 1200 |
| Dedicated to | Martin of Tours |
| Diocese | Bayeux |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Turstin |
| Site | |
| Coordinates | 49°12′23″N 0°41′16″W / 49.2065°N 0.6878°WCoordinates: 49°12′23″N 0°41′16″W / 49.2065°N 0.6878°W |
Saint-Martin de Mondaye is a French Premonstratensian abbey in the Bessin countryside at Juaye-Mondaye, Calvados, nine miles to the south of Bayeux. Founded in 1200, it is the only canonial abbey still active in Normandy.
In the mid-12th century, a priest named Turstin withdrew to a wooded Norman hill to live as a hermit, where he was quickly joined by a circle of followers. When Turstin died in 1200, the bishop of Bayeux established the community under the Rule of St. Augustine. Turstin's brother-in-law Raoul de Percy donated land for the abbey. In 1210, under the protection of La Lucerne Abbey, the order was incorporated into the order of Saint Norbert. Over the following years, the abbey continued to receive donation from the de Percy and de Vassy families, as well as from lesser nobility and well-to-do farmers. At the end of the 13th century, a church and monastic buildings were built to replace the hermitage. In 1343 the abbey's gifts were interrupted by the Hundred Years' War and rivalries between pro-French and pro-English lords in the area. In 1347 the Black Death killed a third of the population, the abbey's lands were uncultivated and the Bessin was ravaged by armed bands. The abbey itself was ravaged by Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel, in 1389.
Mondaye flourished again under the abbacy of Jean Feray (1512-1557). Its monks attended the university of Caen and included many doctors of theology among them. However, this high period was interrupted by the French Wars of Religion, with the abbey burned, its treasures dispersed and its abbot Julien Guichard killed by Huguenots on 5 September 1564. After the Council of Trent, calm returned and the monastery church was restored thanks to support from Anne de Médavy.
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