Signy Abbey (; ) was a

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

located in Signy-l'Abbaye,

Ardennes The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It is located about northeast of

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

and about west of

Charleville-Mézières Charleville-Mézières () is a commune of northern France and the prefecture of the Ardennes department, in the Grand Est region. Charleville-Mézières is located on the banks of the river Meuse. History Charleville and Mézières were ori ...

on the edge of the Froidmont forest. It was founded on 25 March 1135, the feast day of the Annunciation. It was sold as national property in 1793 and completely demolished. Its library was burned.

History

The form of the Latin name Signiacum suggests that the site may have been that of a

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...

villa. The abbey was founded in 1131 and was settled in 1135 by twelve monks under the leadership of

Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard of Clairvaux, Cistercians, O.Cist. (; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, Mysticism, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercia ...

himself from Igny Abbey, its mother house; it was thus of the filiation of Clairvaux (Saint Bernard's biographer, William of Saint-Thierry (d. 1148), entered it as a simple monk.) The founding company arrived on 20 March 1135; the foundation took place on 25 March 1135, the feast of the Annunciation. As there was no nearby religious community the monks lived in the village of Draize during the first stage of construction. The monastery quickly acquired estates, and established granges, for crops, vineyards and livestock, in numerous places, including Maimby, Draize, Bray, Rousselois, Chaudion, Chappes, Mésancelle, Lavergny and Écaillère. It was also active in

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

and the extraction of

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

. It owned town-houses in, among other places, Mézières, Reims and

Huy Huy ( ; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. Huy lies along the river Meuse, at the mouth of the small river Hoyoux. It is in the '' sillon industriel'', the former industrial backbone of Wall ...

near

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, not far from its second daughter house, Val-Saint-Lambert Abbey, founded in 1187; the first, Bonnefontaine Abbey, was founded in 1152. The construction of the abbey church took from 1226 to 1514. In 1550 the abbey passed into the control of commendatory abbots. It was besieged and plundered by the

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

s in 1568 and several times during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, but was eventually rebuilt. It was dissolved during the French Revolution in 1790/91 and sold off in 1793, after which the premises were mostly demolished for building materials.

Remains

The cross of the

lay brother Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choi ...

s survives, a monolith 7 metres high, as do the 18th-century buildings of the abbey farm and the guest wing. Various agricultural buildings also survive in the vicinity. Of the almost 4,000 volumes once in the library, most were burned on the spot in the Revolution, but about 300 survive in Charleville and the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a p ...

References

;External links
Amis de l'Abbaye de Signy

Certosa di Firenze website: map and modern site photos
;Bibliography *de Barthélemy, E., 1879: ''Cartulaires de l’abbaye royale de Notre-Dame de Signy et du prieuré de Saint-Oricle de Senuc.'' Reims *Mathy, abbé J., 1970: ''Histoire de l’abbaye de Signy.'' Reims: Imprimerie Coulon *Pacaut, M., 1993: ''Les Moines blancs. Histoire de l’ordre de Cîteaux.'' Paris: Fayard * Peugniez, Bernard, 2001: ''Routier cistercien. Abbayes et sites. France, Belgique, Luxembourg, Suisse'' (new expanded edition), pp. 117–118. Moisenay: Éditions Gaud. * Pressouyre, Léon, 1990: ''Le Rêve cistercien'', collection ''

Découvertes Gallimard (, ; in United Kingdom: ''New Horizons'', in United States: ''Abrams Discoveries'') is an Collection (publishing), editorial collection of Book illustration, illustrated monographic books published by the Éditions Gallimard in Pocket edition, ...

'' (n° 95), Gallimard et CNMHS, Paris {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Ardennes (department) Cistercian monasteries in France 1135 establishments in Europe 1130s establishments in France