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Origin and history

The abbey of La Tenaille, founded around 1125 by Géraud de Salles and officially established in 1137 by Guillaume de Conchamp, was a Cistercian abbey located in Saintonge, on Via Turonensis, one of the four main paths leading to Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle. It was home to prestigious relics, including a nail of the Cross of Christ and the plucked-out tenaille, attracting pilgrims and solemn oaths. Its establishment gave rise to tensions with local farmers, compensated by donations of land. In the Middle Ages, she enjoyed the support of regional lords such as Guillaume de Maingot or the families of Pons and d'Archiac.

In the 16th century, the abbey declined due to the dissolution of monastic customs: in 1542, the Parliament of Bordeaux denounced monks "vagabonds and dissolus", armed and plundering the countryside. In 1582 the Calvinist Jacques de Pons chased the last eight monks, ran the buildings and appropriated his income. Father James II of Catrix, who was only 12 years old when he was appointed, fled and died shortly afterwards. The property of the abbey was then confiscated by the Duke of Épernon in 1615, then transferred to the Jesuit College of Saintes, becoming their main source of income until the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1762.

The abbey was sold as a national property in 1794 to Armand de La Barre, who built a house and outbuildings there. In the 19th century, the estate passed to Alexis Martin de Bonsonge, then to his granddaughter, wife of Count Étienne Lunet de Lajonquière. Today, there remains only a classified Romanesque chapel (partly collapsed nave with domes, Romano-Byzantin portal), 18th-century warehouses decorated with agricultural symbols, and a master house with Greek facade. The archives, destroyed in 1793, leave little trace of its history.

The abbey had extensive land and income, including salt marshes, vineyards, and parish cures (Saint-Sigismund, Plassac). His possessions extended to Pons, Nieul-le-Virouil, and Mosnac, along the way to Compostela. By 1701 his land was consolidated for £700. The local legend tells that the monks brought forth the wine of a fountain, deceitful later revealed.

Classified as a historical monument in 1958 for its Romanesque remains and its 18th century castle, the abbey illustrates the evolution of religious establishments in Saintonge, between medieval radiation, decline in the Renaissance, and transformation into an agricultural domain. Its name evokes both its spiritual (relical) role and its anchoring in popular narratives, between history and legend.

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