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Origin and history

The Priory of the Sainte-Trinité, located in Beaumont-le-Roger in the Eure, finds its origins at the end of the 11th century under the impulse of Roger de Beaumont, local lord and close to William the Conqueror. Originally conceived as a collegiate building in 1070, the building is entrusted to English canons of St.Frideswide of Oxford. Consecrated in 1087 in the presence of ecclesiastical and noble dignitaries (including Robert Courtehuse, son of William the Conqueror), he received generous donations, including churches, lands and houses. However, despite these endowments, the canonical community gradually declined before being replaced in 1142 by Benedictine monks dependent on the Abbey of Bec, marking its transformation into a priory.

The priory experienced a golden age in the 12th and 13th centuries, marked by royal and seigneurial gifts (such as those of Richard the Lion's Heart in 1190 or Saint Louis in 1258) and privileges granted by the Counts of Meulan. In 1175, a charter of Count Robert de Meulan granted the monks exclusive rights, such as the use of a press in Vaux. However, as early as the 16th century, the decline began: in 1580 only four monks occupied the site, and in 1789, on the eve of the Revolution, only two remained. The priory was then devastated, before being partially saved in the 19th century by Norman antique dealers and classified as a historical monument in 1916. Its remains, including a vaulted gallery and the remains of the 13th century prioral church, still dominate the Risle Valley.

After the Revolution, the site was transformed into a textile factory (filing, making sheets) in the 19th century, suffering destruction and fire (as in 1855). In 1862, the Société des Antiquaires de Normandie acquired the ruins to preserve them, but part of the walls were demolished to expand a road. Today, the priory is owned by the state. Its protected features include church remains (classified in 1916), old gardens, and wooded plots (registered in 2022). Access is via a vaulted gallery flanked by foothills, testifying to its hillside location.

Architecturally, the rectangular prioral church features a flat bedside pierced by a large bay and third-point windows. The north wall, decorated with blind archatures, served as seats for the monks. Nearby, the bases of the 14th century bell tower and the remains of the capitular hall remain. The entrance porch, redesigned in the 13th century, would also have served as a poterne to the nearby castle. These remains, though fragmentary, illustrate the historical and religious significance of the site in medieval Normandy.

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