A little history of Mortemer abbey
And also
The tops
Ruins of the abbot church |
Pline / CC-BY-SA
Ruins of this old Cistercian abbey are located in the middle of Lyons' forest, in Normandy.
Mortemer ("Dead sea")... brr, a name which sounds like a dark omen! Especially when you know all the abbey’s legends!
And yet, our story begins very peacefully: it was founded by monks from Beaumont abbey, in Normandy.
It was protected by the elite: Henri I, Etienne and Geoffroy Plantagenet, Henri II, Richard Lionheart... All these chaps gave money and treasures...
Etienne Plantagenet’s wife, queen Matilda (nicknamed "the Empress"), also gave money for the construction of the church.
The French Revolution ruined the abbey, and let vestiges like the cloister (18th century), the dormitory, the chapter room, the dovecote, the abbot church (12th century)...