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Origin and history

The Abbey of the Bouchet, originally named Notre-Dame-du-Bosquet, was founded between 1181 and 1184 by Tiburge II of Orange as the Cistercian monastery for nuns. From the 13th century, it flourished thanks to the support of local lords, especially the princes of Orange, accumulating wealth and land estates up to Mornas. The first prioress, Willelma, was certified in 1184 alongside Tiburge II during a donation.

In the 14th century, the Hundred Years' War and the plague impoverished the abbey, forcing the last three nuns to leave it in 1413. The abbey was then attached to that of Aiguebelle, then transformed into a secular priory in 1476 by Julien de la Rovere to found the Collège du Roure in Avignon. Bertrand de Garrigue's body, a companion of Saint Dominique who died in Bouchet in 1230, was venerated there until his transfer in 1414.

The abbatial church, from plan to Latin cross with a single nave and a transept to absidioles, was partially destroyed during the Wars of Religion (1562). In the 17th century, a new facade was built, and an external corridor connected the dormitory to the church. After the Revolution, the abbey became a textile factory (1835-1972), then a wine cellar and a reception room.

Today, the abbey retains its 13th century church, 13 meters long, and its 46-metre monastic building with vaulted pantry and converse dormitory. The latter, divided into cells, bears witness to the Cistercian organization. The abbey square, the heart of the village, is now a parking lot, but the traces of a suspended passage between the buildings remain.

The monastic community, composed of 17 to 28 nuns (XIII-14th centuries), recruited from among the local noble families (Baux-Orange, Grignan), declined until its suppression. The converses, lay brothers and domestics, coexisted there under the authority of the abbess, manager of land and land exchanges. The abbey thus illustrates the Cistercian influence and the social changes of the region.

Partially classified at the Historical Monuments in 1932 (lower room and dormitory), the Bouchet Abbey blends religious heritage, industrial transformations and winemaking memory. Its history reflects the political upheavals (annexation of Comtat Venaissin), economics (Lyonnaise soyerie) and culturals (cult of Bertrand de Garrigue) of the Provençal Drôme.

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