Maubuisson Abbey


Maubuisson Abbey is a Cistercian nunnery at Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, in the Val-d'Oise department of France. It was founded in A.D. 1236 by Blanche of Castile. who may have been buried there in 1252. The site is now within the north-western suburbs of Paris. The surviving buildings are listed as a monument historique.

History

The abbey was founded in 1236 by Blanche of Castile, the queen consort of Louis VIII. It thrived financially under royal patronage until the Hundred Years' War.
In the fifteenth century the nuns twice supported rival abbesses.
After a century of decline the abbey was disbanded in 1787 by order of Louis XVI.

From foundation to the Hundred Years War

As part of an effort to strengthen the ties between royalty and the abbeys, Blanche of Castile decided to finance and build her own abbey. In 1236 she annexed the lands of Pontoise and Saint-Ouen, which only became Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône much later. These lands had the advantage of being close to the castle at Pontoise, at the confluence of the River Oise and the Liesse stream.
She built Maubuisson Abbey between the villages of Saint-Ouen and Épluches, on the left bank of the Oise. According to local legend, the name "Maubuisson" was translated from Latin as Maudit buisson, because of the prevalence of bandits in the surrounding woodland. However, this story is not confirmed by local archaeologists researching Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône archives.
The abbey's enclosure of land covered.
To breathe life into the abbey, from 1237 until 1242 Blanche of Castile devoted herself to a chapter of the Cistercians, and in 1242 she installed, in barely-finished buildings, a group of nuns from Saint-Antoine near Paris. She named the abbey "Notre-Dame-la-Royale", in honour of the Virgin Mary, patron saint of the Kingdom of France, but the name "Maubuisson" has been used from the start.
After the groundbreaking in 1241, it became attached to the Order of Cistercians in 1244. Because of its royal connections it was well protected, and played an important role in the local economy.
Blanche of Castile gave the Abbey three well-defined roles:
  1. As a gathering-place for young noblewomen
  2. As a royal residence
  3. As a royal necropolis: Bonne of Luxembourg was interred there; his son Charles V had his own tomb built; and in 1599 Gabrielle d'Estrées was interred in the chapel choir.
In 1307, King Philip IV of France annihilated the Knights Templar, to whom he was deeply indebted. On 14 September 1307 - the day of celebration of the True Cross - he issued the order for the trials of the Knights Templar from the abbey.
From 5 to 8 September 1463, while touring the, King Louis XI stayed at Pontoise, and awarded Royal protection to Maubuisson Abbey by means of Letters Patent, doing so again in December 1474.
The abbey's robust budget let it survive the Hundred Years' War.

From 16th to 18th centuries

At the start of the 16th century, under the auspices of Abbess Antoinette de Dinteville, new wings were constructed and the abbey numbered 120 nuns. However, it was a trying time as the French Wars of Religion progressed: at least twice, in 1566 and 1588, the abbey and its associated land and buildings were ransacked by Protestant troops.
In 1597, Angélique d'Estrées, sister of Gabrielle d'Estrées, was appointed Mother Superior of the Royal Abbey by Henri IV. The abbey's doctrine diverged from that of the Rule of Saint Benedict and the spirit of Saint Bernard. The vicaire général of the Cistercians gave Angélique Arnauld orders to leave the Abbey of Port-Royal des Champs and go to reform that at Maubuisson. She found d'Estrées and her entourage troublesome. With the intervention of the Parliament of Paris, the prévôt of Île-de-France removed them, and installed Arnauld as abbess. François de Sales made several visits to the new abbess.
Later, Arnauld was replaced by Madame de Soissons, but, in Racine's words, she:
de Soissons died in 1627. Her successor Marie Suireau, known as Marie des Anges, was chosen as Maubuisson's leader, a position she held until 1648. From 1628, she fought against the influence of Molinism on some of the sisters, but with two nuns suspected of this heresy having been ejected, the orthodoxy and canons of the Cistercian Order were affirmed.
Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate, daughter of Frederick V of the Palatinate and aunt of Elizabeth Charlotte of Bavaria, second sister-in-law of Louis XIV, also served as Abbess of Maubuisson.
On 27 April 1769, Archbishop Christophe de Beaumont, the Duke of Saint-Cloud, visited the abbey to restore friendly relations between the abbess and her nuns.
In the 18th century, the abbey shrank in numbers, from 70 nuns in 1720 to only 18 in 1780. In 1786, Louis XVI decided to disband it.
Before the French Revolution, the Abbess earned around 5,000 livres in tithes.

Abbesses

Year
from		Year
to		Abbess
12421275Guillemette I
12751276Agnès de Laval
12761309Blanche de Brienne d'Eu
13091345Isabelle de Montmorency
13451362Marguerite I de Moncy
13621390Philippa Paynel of Hambye
13901391Catherine I of Flins
13911406Jeanne d'Ivry
14061456Catherine II of Estouteville
14561461Madeleine I
14611473Marguerite II Danes
14731482Guillemette II Martine
14821523Antoinette of Dinteville des Chenets
15231524Henriette de Villers la Faye
15241543Mary of Montmorency
15431546Mary II of Annebault
15461574Mary III of Pisseleu d'Heilly
15741594Madeleine II Tiercelin of Brosses
15941597Françoise Tiercelin de Brosses
15971618Angélique d'Estrées
16181621Interim of the Abbess of Port-Royal des Champs
16231626Charlotte I of Bourbon-Soissons
16261648Mary IV Suireau of Rocheren
16481652Suzanne of Hénin-Liétard de Roches
16521653Marguerite III of Béthune of Orval
16531664Catherine III Angélique of Valois-Orléans-Longueville
16641709Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate
17091719Charlotte II Joubert of the Bastide of Chateaumorand
17191765Charlotte III of Colbert-Croissy
17651766Mary V Margaret of Jarente of Senas d'Orgeval
17661780Venture-Gabrielle of Pontevès of Maubousquet
17801786Gabrielle-Césarine of Beynac

After the Revolution

In 1786, Louis XVI decreed that the abbey had lost its religious function, and the French Revolution only entrenched that view. In 1793 it became a military hospital, and then served as a stone quarry at the start of the 19th century. Such buildings as were still useful by the mid-19th century either became part of a textile mill or were closed.
In 1947 the abbey was classed as a monument historique, and became the property of the Departmental Council of Val-d'Oise in 1979. For two years, until 1981, there were some exploratory archaeological digs, followed by important restorative works, in particular to the tower of the tithe barn.

Centre of Contemporary Arts

As of 2018, the abbey houses a Centre of Contemporary Arts which stages exhibitions. Since 2001, it has specialised in plastic and visual art. Artists are invited based on their relevance and newsworthiness, but also for their capacity to explore a space of such unique heritage.
Large specialist exhibitions take place each year, lasting from two to eight months. They are dedicated to the production of original works and reflect the richness and diversity of contemporary installation art, video, photography, sculpture, painting, digital arts, sound, and so on. The abbey is a project incubator lab: all year, it develops research, production and direction programmes along the three axes which make up its identity: architectural heritage, contemporary works, and natural history.
The abbey takes part in, a federated network of contemporary art producers in Île-de-France, which facilitates dialogue between art practitioners.

Description

Notre-Dame-La-Royale

According to the writings of Noel Tallepied, dated 1584, the abbey church was an extremely tall building:
Grilles and woodwork separated the cloisters from the nunnery. The high altar was adorned with a white marble altarpiece, donated by Jeanne d'Évreux in 1340. It was demolished during the French Revolution. The centrepiece, a relief of the Last Supper, is preserved at the Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes church in Paris. Other features include a reliquary of the Madonna and Child, situated near the side altar. Dating from the 16th century, it is tall, carved from walnut, painted and gilded. The Virgin Mary is sitting, holding the infant Jesus on her knee. This forms the middle of a triptych composed of three hollow parts, each subdivided into boxes with wooden columns and statuettes representing Paradise, Hell, Purgatory and scenes from the Old and New Testaments.
In 1792, the nuns entrusted it to their groundkeeper, and in 1839, it was given to the church of Saint-Ouen in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône. It had lost its original statuettes, that of the Twelve Apostles at Calvary being replaced around 1840. It was classified on 13 May 1897 and stolen on 13 April 1973.

Burials

Until the end of the 15th century, the church served as a necropolis for royalty and nobility, as well as for the abbesses who are buried there. There are five burial grounds within the abbey:
; Abbey church
This was reserved for the Royal Family and others of high class.
In April 1599, the body of Gabrielle d'Estrées was interred in the choir by her sister Angelique, then abbess, together with her child.
The remains of Charles IV, husband of Blanche of Burgundy, and his second daughterJeanne d'Évreux, in recumbent works by Jean de Liège, are at the Louvre in Paris.
; Chapel, east and south wings
These are dedicated to the nobility and bourgeoisie. The tomb of the first abbess is also located here.
; Cloister and gallery adjoining the boarding-house
These are dedicated to the burial of active and retired nuns.
; Abbey cemetery
This was dedicated to nuns. It was razed in the 17th century to make room for the cloister gallery.
; Saint-Michel church and its cemetery
This small church is located to the south-west of the abbey church, and the graveyard is dedicated to the abbey's benefactors, be they laity, priests, religious or other servants.
The cloisters were enclosed by the abbey church, the chapel, the boilerhouse, the kitchen and the refectory, which were all enlarged.

Latrines

As with all mediaeval abbeys, Maubuisson was built with a complex system of plumbing. The presence of two nearby watercourses would have influenced Blanche of Castile's decision to site the abbey there. Drainage channels serviced the latrines and also let the water be reused to turn the mill.
The latrines, built over a drainage channel, consisted of 38 back-to-back seats. The whole was enclosed by a 20-arched roof, high.

''Chauffoir''

This and the refectory no longer exist. The chauffoir was the only place where hot food could be cooked.

Parlour

This was the only place where nuns could talk directly with the Mother Superior. They could speak only of spiritual and material matters related to their religious community.

Chapter

The chapter was a room in which, every day, the nuns would take confession from the abbess or her deputy, and listen to a sermon of Saint Benedict, to whom the room was dedicated. The Mother Superior would then discuss the sermon. The nuns could also discuss it, together with matters concerning the community: sales and purchases, contracts, and so on.