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Origin and history

The Abbey of Écurey, also known as the Abbey of Escurey, is a former Cistercian foundation established in 1144 by Geoffroy III of Joinville, with the support of his brother Guy II of Pierrepont, bishop of Châlons. The religious community comes from the Vaux Abbey in Ornois. The site, named Escuraium in medieval charters, suggests an earlier occupation, perhaps Gallo-Roman, and previously housed a Benedictine monastery destroyed during Hungarian invasions in the sixth century. The Cistercian monks developed metallurgical techniques in the 15th century, while suffering local feudal conflicts, such as the siege of the nearby fortress by Henry II de Bar.

In the Middle Ages, the abbey benefited from the support of the family of Joinville, notably Simon (1205-1220), who offered him land, and his son Jean, a biographer of Saint Louis, although he had also been in conflict with the monks. In the 14th century, the abbot of Écurey played a key role in the reorganization of the abbey of Saint-Benoît-en-Woëvre, in debt. The looting of the Hundred Years' War, notably by Henri V de Vaudémont in 1359, and the tensions with the mother abbey of the Vaux marked its history. From the 15th century, impoverished, it was placed under Morimond's guardianship.

Built in the 18th century in the style of the era, the abbey was sold as a national property during the Revolution. Only the Abbatial house, the hotel and the farm survived, while woodwork was transferred to the castle of Montaigu. In the 19th century, an ornamental foundry was installed there (1842-1901), before giving way, in 2011, to a rural pole dedicated to energy transition and ecoconstruction, called Écurey Pôles d'avenir. Today, the site combines historical heritage and environmental innovation.

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