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Origin and history

Priory Saint Peter and Saint Paul de Domène is a former Benedictine priory founded in the early 11th century, around 1027, by Aynard de Domène and his wife Facema. This local lord offered the church of Saint-Georges de Domène to the abbey of Cluny, marking the creation of the priory. The act of donation, dated the 25th year of the reign of Rodolphe III of Burgundy, includes land, a vineyard, a garden and fishing rights, illustrating the economic and symbolic importance of this foundation.

The Priorial Church was consecrated in 1058 by Léger, archbishop of Vienna, in the presence of other religious dignitaries such as Ebbon de Tarentaise and Artaud de Grenoble. This event, considered a charter of foundation, marks the spiritual anchoring of the priory in the region. The cartular of Domène, beginning with this act, emphasizes its central role in local history and the affirmation of seigneurial families in the 11th century.

In the 12th century, the priory prospered thanks to successive donations, including that of a manse in Monteymont by Aynard and his sons around 1030. However, faced with the rise in power of the Dauphins in the 13th century, the lords of Domène, like Pierre and Guigues Ainard, exchanged in 1247 their lands for the seigneury of Savel in Matheysine. Despite this departure, they maintained ties with the priory, being buried there until the 15th and 16th centuries and financing sumptuous funeral ceremonies.

After a decline in the 17th and 18th centuries, the priory was abandoned and then sold as a national good during the Revolution. In 1839, the ruins were bought by the family of Monteynard, descendant of the founders. Ranked a historic monument in 1943, the site is now preserved by the association of Safeguarding the Doménois Heritage, which organizes visits to enhance this medieval vestige.

Excavations and archives, such as the Cartulaire de Domène (1859) by Albert du Boys, reveal the importance of the priory in structuring local power. Its strategic location, near the seigneurial castle and a major communication axis, made it a place of both religious and political power, reflecting the feudal dynamics of the time.

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