The abbey of Clairvaux (today at the commune of Ville-sous-La-Ferté, in the Aube Department, France), the third daughter of the Cistercian abbey of Cîteaux, was founded in the summer of 1115 (according to legend on 25 June 1115) by the Cistercian monk Bernard de Fontaine, the later Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153). Bernard had been sent, with twelve other monks, to the site by the abbot of Citeaux Abbey. That means that this year the Abbey celebrates its 910th birthday.
The Abbey was set on the fringes of the duchy of Burgundy, the county of Champagne and the bishopric of Langres, along the Roman road linking Milan to Boulogne-sur-Mer, 15 km from Bar-sur-Aube. A route also of major importance as it connected the important trade fairs of Champagne.
Hugues I, Count of Troyes donated this valley to the Cistercians. The monastery was dedicated to the Virgin Mary on October 13, 1115, which became the feast day of Our Lady of Clairvaux. Bernard was installed as first abbot by William of Champeaux, Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne. Under this first abbatiate, the monastery was to have an extraordinary influence in the whole of the medieval West, to such an extent that Clairvaux had 339 direct and indirect daughters in 1250. By the end of the middle ages, it had founded 530 abbeys across Europe. As the mother of so many, Clairvaux occupied a central place in the Cistercian world.
Clairvaux continued to attract promising monks. One of them became a pope (Eugene III, 1080-1153), twelve became cardinals, and over thirty were elevated to the episcopacy.
It is certain that 888 monks passed through the abbey in the first forty years of its existence. The abbey developed rapidly, eventually reaching its peak in numbers at 700 members belonging to Clairvaux alone, thus the largest Cistercian abbey in France. This influence was reflected in successive reconstructions of ever more imposing buildings. The development is described in this interesting video (in French).
Clairvaux Abbey went through three main architectural stages:
- a first stage corresponding to the construction of the Monasterium vetus, i.e. the first monastery (Clairvaux I) to be built in the Petit Clairvaux enclosure, which was in operation between 1115 and 1135, destroyed in 1812, and whose general state is known only from an 18th century engraving,
- a second stage of construction of a new monastery (Claivaux II), begun in 1135 to cope with the influx of monks, in the Grand Clairvaux enclosure but 400 m east of the first site. The new abbey church, perhaps initially with a flat chevet, was endowed with a large choir with an ambulatory after 1153,
- a third stage which corresponds to a total reconstruction of the monastery throughout the 18th century, with the exception of the abbey church. It is the buildings of this last phase (Clairvaux III) that remain today for the most part. At present only one of the buildings, the one for the lay brothers, is medieval in origin yet erected after Bernard had died.
All buildings were characterized by neither sculpture nor painting or stained glass. Only the architecture itself, with its ribbed vaults illuminates this pure Abbey of silence. A symbol that evokes the spiritual success of Clairvaux. This success was also economical. Like the Templars did later with their preceptories or "commanderies" (probably coppying the Cistercian example), the Cistercians relied on a network of barns located at up to 44 agricultural and industrial operation centers.
Despite the Black Death (about 1345-1353) and the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) this business prospered. In the fourteenth century, Clairvaux and his nine hundred monks managed 25,000 hectares of land, 15,000 hectares of forests, 230 ha of vineyards, 133 houses and 43 mills, not forgetting the forges and salt and iron mines.
The French Revolution dispersed the monks and the abbey was sold as national property on 10 February 1792. The State acquired it in 1808 in order to install the largest French prison of the 19th century (common law and political prisoners). In 1971, the 18th century the Grand Cloister was disused and the prisoners were transferred to the new prison, built within the walls, partly on the foundations of the 12th century abbey church (destroyed in 1812).
From 1808 to 2023 the Abbey was used as a high-security correctional facility. Starting in the 2000s, the prison was gradually dismantled. Comprehensive restorations began in 2013, and the prison was finally shut down in 2023. As of 2024, the site is being converted to a tourist destination.
Text translated and adapted from this source with additional information from Wikipedia. The illustration shows an early 18th-century view of the abbey, prior to the reconstruction that began in 1708, source Wikipedia, by G.Garitan - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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