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Origin and history

The abbey of Alet-les-Bains, founded in the tenth century as a Benedictine monastery, was erected as an abbey by Berà, Count of Razès, and his wife Romella according to a charter of 813 (now considered a forgery of the eleventh century). The first certified abbot, Benedict, appeared in 970. The abbey, richly endowed, aroused lusts and was fortified in the 12th century by Abbé Pons Amiel to protect himself from local conflicts, especially between the Archbishop of Narbonne and the Viscount of Carcassonne.

During the crusade against the cathars, the monks of Alet supported the Viscounts Trencavel, which led to their excommunication. After Simon de Monfort's victory, they placed under the protection of the Count of Foix. In 1268, Abbé Raimon II, excommunicated for destroying the castle of Fa, illustrated the persistent tensions. These events prompted Pope John XXII to create the bishopric of Alet in 1318, dividing the archbishopric of Narbonne. The Abbey of Notre Dame then became cathedral, the seat of a diocese covering the ancient pagus Redensis.

The wars of Religion marked a tragic turning point: in 1577 the Huguenots looted the cathedral, destroying altars, stained glass windows and part of the roof. Bishop Antoine II of Dax, besieged and imprisoned, saw his episcopal palace shaved. Notre Dame Cathedral, abandoned around 1600, served as a stone quarry to strengthen the ramparts. The episcopal seat was transferred to the former capitular hall, renamed St Benedict's Cathedral, until the abolition of the diocese in 1790.

In the 19th century, the ruins were partially preserved: the cathedral was classified as historical monuments as early as 1862, followed by the entrance door (1922) and the capitular hall. The restorations, begun in 1903, saved the Romanesque choir, the only major vestige of the original building. The construction of the CD 118 road in the 20th century however destroyed four of the five Gothic apses, accelerating the degradation of the remaining walls.

The abbey illustrates the religious and political upheavals of the medieval and modern Languedoc: monastic prosperity, cathar conflicts, religious wars, and post-revolutionary decline. Today, its ruins, consolidated in 1947, bear witness to this turbulent past, while the title of titular bishop of Alet has persisted since 2009.

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