Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The abbey Saint-Martin-et-Saint-Vulgain was founded around 1037-1045 by Hugues de Gournay as Benedictine abbey. He laid down the relics of Saint Vulgain (died 590) and gave the abbey land and churches, including those of La Ferté, confirmed by his son. Hugues de La Ferté added patronage before withdrawing as a monk, placing Sigy under the dependency of the abbey Saint-Ouen de Rouen around 1043, thus reducing his status to that of priory.

In 1152, the original Romanesque church and the seigneurial castle were probably destroyed. A new church, of primitive Gothic style, was built between the end of the 12th and 13th centuries, serving both abbey and parish church. Henri II, Duke of Normandy, protected the priory from the abuses ofHugues de Gournay. In 1282 Nicolas de Beauvais, abbot of Saint-Ouen, was buried there after being removed. A stop in the departmental archives later confirmed the rights of prior Pierre the Prevost.

The priory remained active until 1563, when he was looted and burned by the Calvinists, without ever being rebuilt. In the 18th century, the death of the last prior, Nicostrat Bara (circa 1720), triggered a conflict of succession between Charles Marin Goujet (Religious of Bec) and Urbain Robinet (Vicarian of Rouen). The church, spared by the Revolution, today retains its apse and transept, characteristic of the first Gothic, as well as a bell tower added in the 15th century.

Among the notable figures, Nicolas de Beauvais († 1282), abbot of Saint-Ouen, was buried there, while Simon du Bosc († 1418), after being Prior of Sigy, became Abbé of Cerisy and Jumièges. The departmental archives of Seine-Maritime retain documents relating to the priory (ref. 14H829 at 14H852), and the church was listed as historical monuments in 1926.

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