Villedieu-les-Poêles, la ville de l'ordre

Villedieu-les-Poêles-Rouffigny

In 1130 Henry I Beauclerc, king of England and duke of Normandy, gave the Hospitallers of Saint John fourteen acres at the place called Siennêtre, in the valley of the Sienne, so that they might establish a commandery there. The brothers founded there a Villa Dei — the town of God — which was to become Villedieu. The case is a rare one: it is not a farm or a chapel, it is a whole town, administered directly by the order, whose inhabitants were long exempt from tax. This franchise made the fortune of the place: it drew metalworkers there, and Villedieu has been beating copper since the Middle Ages — the pan-makers gave it its name, the dinandiers its workshop courtyards, the founders its bells. The church of Notre-Dame, of the 13th to 17th centuries, rebuilt in the 15th century in flamboyant Gothic and whose nave was remade in 1638, keeps a Pietà of the 16th century and a Saint Barbara of the 17th, the patron of founders. Of the commandery itself hardly a stone remains; what remains is a town that remembers having belonged to an order, and that shows it every four years by carrying the Blessed Sacrament through its decked streets.

Wikipédia — Villedieu-les-Poêles ↗

Getting there : On the A 84 between Caen and Avranches, exit Villedieu-les-Poêles. The town is covered on foot: the church of Notre-Dame is open, the workshop courtyards of the dinandiers can be seen from the street, the bell foundry and the copper museums open on a ticket. The procession of the Grand Sacre, in which knights of Malta take part, comes round every four years, on the day of the Fête-Dieu, the feast of Corpus Christi.

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

Ambient sound