Abbey Saint-Pierre de Larreule dans les Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The abbey Saint-Pierre de Larreule, founded between 993 and 996 by the Duke of Gascogne Guillaume Sanche, is part of a monastic renewal movement in Gascogne at the end of the 10th century. It was established as Sanctus Petrus de Regula on via Lemovicensis, a road to Santiago de Compostela, with the support of the Viscounts of Béarn and the Bishop of Lescar. His first abbot, Centulle, supervised a two-decade building, while the first traces of monks date back to 1115. The abbey initially benefited from territorial gifts, such as those of Momas or Mazerolles, and became a major spiritual and economic centre.

Between the 11th and 14th centuries, the abbey reached its peak, controlling a vast estate including the bastides of Larreule, Uzan and Mazerolles, as well as tithes on several villages (Bouillon, Geus, Arget). His abbots played a political role alongside the Viscounts of Béarn and sat in the States of Béarn. However, at the end of the 14th century, financial difficulties arose: in 1391, the abbot even engaged the tithe of Cescau to finance repairs, marking the beginning of a sharp decline in the 15th century.

The Wars of Religion brought a fatal blow to the abbey. In 1569, the Protestant troops of Gabriel de Montgomery, sent by Jeanne d'Albret, ransacked the monastery, destroying the nave, southern absidiole and the Roman cloister. Although reopened in 1620 after the restoration of the Catholic cult, the abbey never regained its former glory. His archives, transferred to Lescar, were destroyed during the Revolution. Conventual buildings then disappeared, leaving only remains of the 12th century Romanesque abbey, adapted to the 16th century after the destruction. The current bell tower, added in the 19th century, now dominates the parish church of the village.

Among the 24 abbots recorded, some marked its history, such as Sanche (beneficiary of the domain of Momas), Jacques de Foix (bishop of Lescar and godfather of Henry IV), or Apollo d'Albret, appointed in the seventeenth century. The abbey was definitively abolished in 1773, its property transferred to the seminary of Pau. Today, only Romanesque elements remain, including three capitals and a 12th century portal, as well as a fountain dedicated to Saint Wolf below the church.

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