Detail of Profil de l'Abbaye de Perseigne au Maine, Ordre de Cisteaux
Louis Boudan, 1695
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The Abbey of Notre-Dame de Perseigne was founded by Guillaume III Talvas (1119–1171), lord of Alençon. Cistercian chronicles place its establishment in the year 1145. In that year, Guillaume, bishop of Le Mans, consecrated the monastery, suggesting that the foundation process had begun earlier. The founder initiated an extensive series of donations in favour of the new house, which fostered its development and enabled it to attain a prosperous position.
Photo by Pucesurvitaminee, on Wikimedia
The arrival of Abbot Adam of Perseigne, a theologian and man of letters who governed the monastery between 1188 and 1221, contributed to its religious, intellectual, and material development. The abbey subsequently entered a period of stagnation, further aggravated by the Hundred Years' War. From 1553 onward, the monastery was placed under the administration of commendatory abbots. During the period of monastic reforms, Perseigne remained aligned with the reformist movement.
Affiliation of Perseigne
According to Originum Cisterciensium (L. Janauschek, 1877)
Armand Jean Le Bouthillier de Rancé (1626–1700) entered this monastery in 1633 to receive his monastic formation before moving to the Abbey of La Trappe (Orne), accompanied by several monks from Perseigne. From there, he promoted the emergence of the Trappist branch of the Cistercian Order. In 1695, major reconstruction works were undertaken at the monastery. After the French Revolution, and once monastic life had ceased, the complex was almost entirely dismantled; today, only a wall of the southern façade of the church's transept survives.
Founder's tomb
Illustration from L'abbaye cistercienne de Perseigne (1878)
Old postcard, private collection
- BESSE, Jean-Martial (1920). Abbayes et prieurés de l'ancienne France, vol. 8, Tours. París : Picard
- DOUX, Bertrand (2013). L’abbaye de Perseigne : évolution et gestion d’un patrimoine cistercien dans le Haut Maine. Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l’Ouest, núm. 120/3
- FLEURY, Gabriel (1878). L'abbaye cistercienne de Perseigne. Revue historique et archéologique du Maine, vol. 4
- FLEURY, Gabriel (1880). Cartulaire de l'abbaye cistercienne de Perseigne. Mamers: Fleury
- JANAUSCHEK, Leopoldus (1877). Originum Cisterciensium. Vol. 1. Viena
- SAINT-MAUR, Congregació de (1856). Gallia Christiana in provincias ecclesiasticas distributa. Vol. 14. París: Typographia Regia
The monastery of Perseigne was situated north of Le Mans, near Alençon