Beaugerais Abbey information

Beaugerais Abbey
General view of the remains of the abbey church (north-west façade).
Religion
District	Loché-sur-Indrois
Province	Centre-Val de Loire
Region	Touraine
Deity	Mary, mother of Jesus
Location
Country	France
Architecture
Completed	1184

Beaugerais Abbey (or Baugerais Abbey) is a former Cistercian abbey, located in what is now the commune of Loché-sur-Indrois, in the Indre-et-Loire^[1] département of France.

Founded in the mid-11th century by a hermit supported by the Augustinians of Sainte-Barbe-en-Auge Abbey (Mézidon-Canon, Calvados), it soon came under the control of the Cistercians of Louroux Abbey; Two centuries of wealth followed, thanks to numerous donations from lords and wealthy landowners, but Beaugerais was located in an area where abbeys and priories were already numerous, leading to a number of "neighborhood conflicts". From the first half of the 14th century onwards, the situation changed dramatically: donations stopped, the abbey had to contribute financially to the Hundred Years' War, the buildings were looted and possibly partially destroyed by the English in the 1360s, or at least the buildings were extensively refurbished and a new abbey church built. A century later, Beaugerais Abbey came under the commende regime, one of its most famous abbots being Michel de Marolles in the 17th century. The abbey recovered temporarily, and its buildings were rebuilt, but the number of monks declined inexorably. By the time of the French Revolution, only two monks remained. The abbey was sold as bien national in 1792 and most of the buildings destroyed less than ten years later.

In the 21st century, all that remains of the Beaugerais buildings is the nave of the first abbey church, with one of its bays removed - the choir and transept have disappeared -, a few sections of wall attributable to a second abbey church and a very small part of the cloister. These remains are listed as monument historique.