Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Notre-Dame-de-la-Charité Abbey, located in Neuvelle-lès-la-Charité in Haute-Saône, is a Cistercian abbey founded in 1133 by monks of Bellevaux Abbey, herself daughter of Morimond. She established herself in Franche-Comté under the impulse of Adelaide de Traves and the Archbishop of Besançon Anséric, succeeding a priory of canons (1128-1133). His first abbot, Pierre de Vadans (1134-1162), oversees his growth, marked by donations and the foundation of the Abbey of Grace-Dieu in 1139. The abbey is also distinguished by early industrial activity, exploiting iron mines and forges from the twelfth century, although this prosperity is intermittent because of regional conflicts.

Over the centuries, the abbey suffered serious destruction: ravaged in 1477 by the troops of Louis XI during the war against the Duke of Burgundy, then in 1569 during the wars of Religion, and again in 1638 during the war of Ten Years. Despite these trials, it rose in the 18th century, during which time it rebuilt its church (circa 1735), its abbey (circa 1750) and its commons (circa 1775), adopting a classical garden. This renaissance was notably carried by influential abbots, such as Jean de Watteville, abbot from 1607 to 1649 and Prince Bishop of Lausanne.

The French Revolution marked a dramatic turning point: the abbey was looted in 1791, sold as a national good, and largely demolished. Only hydraulic remains (bassin, mill, dovecote), the chapel, and some outbuildings remain. The Abbatial house, transformed into a castle around 1840, then changed hands, serving notably as a holiday settlement in the 1960s and 1970s before becoming a private property. The site, partially classified as a Historic Monument (1995-1999), also preserves an 18th-century Cistercian cooler and barn, which bear witness to its industrial and religious past.

The Abbey illustrates the vagaries of franc-comtoise history, between economic prosperity, devastating conflicts and architectural renaissances. Its hydraulic network, dependencies and dovecote, protected, recall its medieval and modern monastic organization. Today, although mostly disappeared, its footprint persists in the landscape and local memory, between preserved heritage and archaeological traces.

The protected elements include the ancient abbatial outbuildings, the dovecote, the remains of the chapel, as well as the hydraulic network (channels, aqueducts, bridges). The associated farm and inn, registered in 1998, complete this set, while the barn of Fontaine-Robert, transformed into housing, testifies to the adaptation of Cistercian buildings to contemporary uses.

External links