Marcigny, le premier monastère clunisien de femmes

Marcigny

Hugh of Semur, sixth abbot of Cluny, had not intended to govern women; he nevertheless made of it one of his most singular foundations. Between 1054 and 1056, on land given by his brother Geoffroy, he installed at Marcigny a monastery of Benedictine nuns, the first of the Cluniac obedience. He placed his sister there as prioress; their mother Aremburge took the veil there. The number was fixed at ninety-nine religious: the hundredth place remained empty, reserved for the Virgin, "Our Lady Abbess", whose meal was distributed to the poor in the refectory. Profession was made only on the death of a professed nun, and it was the abbot of Cluny in person who came to hand over the habit. The house attracted the whole nobility: Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror, withdrew there between 1120 and 1122 and died there in 1137. Within the same precinct lived fifteen to thirty monks charged with the mass, confession and the temporal affairs, the prioress keeping authority over both communities — whence conflicts so sharp that in 1343 Clement VI had to excommunicate fifty nuns. Of all this there survive the church of Saint-Nicolas, a few buildings caught up in the town, the hôtel de la Prieure, and the carved stones of the priory gathered in the museum of the Tour du Moulin.

Wikipédia — Prieuré de la Sainte-Trinité de Marcigny-lès-Nonnains ↗

Getting there : By the D 982 along the Loire, or the D 989 from Charolles. The church of Saint-Nicolas, now parochial, is in the centre of the market town; the Tour du Moulin, a fortified tower of the beginning of the 15th century, houses the municipal museum where capitals and columns from the priory are kept; seasonal times, enquire at the tourist office.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound