Timeline

Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Abbey of Notre-Dame de Valsery was founded in 1124 by regular canons of the order of Premontré, near the forest of Retz. Permanently installed on its current site in 1153 thanks to the donations of Jean Leroux, seigneur of Saint-Pierre-Aigle, it became one of the first pre-demonstrated foundations of France. Consecrated around 1226 by the bishop of Soissons Jacques de Bazoches in the presence of Louis IX and Blanche de Castille, it housed prestigious burials, such as those of Marguerite d'Anjou (wife of Charles de Valois) and their daughter Catherine, who died in 1299-1300. The abbey, richly endowed in its early days, suffered the ravages of the Hundred Years' War (fires by the English in 1359 and the Bourguignons in 1414) and the wars of Religion (sacring in 1567 by the Huguenots).

In the 18th century, the abbey underwent partial reconstruction, with a 12th century capitular hall integrated into a modern house body. Deleted from the Revolution (1790), it was sold as national property, and its church and cloister were destroyed in 1793. The ruins were acquired in 1804 by Baron Charles Estave, who had a castle built there, himself destroyed during the bombings of 1918. The current remains include the walls of the canon dormitories, the capitular room (with its illuminations and polychromies), as well as a cooler and a wall of enclosure classified Historic Monuments since 1986.

Since 1996, an association has been working on the restoration of the site, organizing volunteer projects and visits. Archaeological excavations have helped to locate the locations of the abbey church and cloister, buried under two metres of debris. In 2021, a publication synthesized historical and archaeological research, highlighting the abbey's rural heritage. Restoration campaigns continue, as evidenced by a new phase planned for the summer of 2025.

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