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Origin and history

The Chartreuse de Bourgfontaine, also called priory of the Fountain Notre-Dame in Valois, is a monastery founded in 1323 by Charles de Valois, brother of Philippe le Bel, on a clearing of the forest of Retz in Villers-Cotterêts. Originally conceived as a spiritual retreat and a defence point for the Valois, it was endowed by Philip VI, who deposited his heart there at his death in 1350. The monastery, richly provided, had four monks at its beginning, then twenty-six in 1540, before being looted and burned in 1567 by the Huguenots, destroying the reliquary of the royal heart.

In the 17th century, the Chartreuse became a place of theological debates, especially during the meeting of 1621 with Jansenius and Saint-Cyran, although this episode was sometimes described as a legend. In the 18th century, she was involved in the Jansenist crisis, with monks exiled to Holland. In 1790, the abolition of monastic vows forced the religious to leave in 1792. Sold as national property, it is partially demolished, its stones reused, before becoming a farm, then a stud in the 20th century. Major restorations were undertaken from 1963 by François Mathet.

Architecturally, the Chartreuse consisted of two sets: the convent and a royal home. Its buildings, among the largest in France, included a basilical chapel, a nave without transept, and a polygonal apse. The portal, adorned with denticles and angelos, bore the motto: "Hic praeteritos dies meditate and eternos meditare" ("Here, remember your past days and think of eternity"). The current remains, protected since 1928 and 2000, bear witness to the construction campaigns of the 15th, 17th and 18th centuries, despite the revolutionary destructions.

The land heritage of the Chartreuse was immense: 2,000 hectares of land and wood in the valleys of Ourcq and Savières in the seventeenth century, including farms, ponds, and rights of use in the forest of Retz. Based on ancient Templar possessions, it benefited from royal gifts, such as the estates of Sennevières or Mortefontaine. Its decline began with the Revolution, but its rescue in the 20th century made it possible to appreciate its restored ruins.

Notable visitors include Nicolas de Clamanges in 1407, secretary of the antipap Benedict XIII, and Pierre Acarie, a leaguer confined by Henry IV in 1594. In 1621, a secret meeting brought together figures of emerging Jansenism, such as Cornelius Jansen and Saint-Cyran, although this episode was disputed. The iconography of the place is marked by a series of paintings by Louis Licherie (1670s), illustrating the life of Saint Bruno to decorate the Chartreuse.

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