Today I take you to La Haye du Puits in Country Bauptois .. ..
Land of Wizards of the moor Cotentine, rich in legends of all kinds, the town also housed a famous case of which I'll talk another day because the topic of the day is the Abbey of the White ....
Located at a place called Neufmesnil, this abbey is one of the first marvels that I discovered on arriving in Cotentin ... with a real estate agent passionate about his city that made me do around the beautiful city when he learned my passion for old buildings ....
I did not buy the house that I had come to visit ... but I remember the Abbey ....
It was founded in the twelfth century ... and it is the culmination of a beautiful love story ... two of the very distant ancestors of Mom - eh yes, his family tree connects to almost all families of the old Norman nobility! - ...
Baron Richard de la Haye du Puits, a direct descendant of our illustrious William the Conqueror, had married his cousin Matilda Vernon, lady ... Varenguebec by his marriage he became rich and had obtained the title of constable of Normandy ...
But the time was upset ... we were in the 100 years war, the Plantagenet claimed the Duchy of Normandy and Stephen of Boulogne some seized the throne of England ...
It turns out that Richard Baron argued that Stephen ... Surprised when he was in Cherbourg by Geoffrey Pantagenêt he sailed for England. ...
But it was not wise to venture into the English Channel without an escort boat, and Richard was captured by pirates and taken as hostage in a distant Scandinavian countries ....
All submitted themselves to his vassals ... except Matilda Plantagenet, who would ever believe the death of her husband ....
She was right, for Richard managed to escape and join the Normandy ... The reunion of the lovers were so touching that the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Henry II became King of England instead of the usurper Stephen forgave his rebellion to Baron, made him his chief confidant and appointed him Seneschal Normandy ...
It turns out that Matilda had made a vow to the announcement of the disappearance of her husband if he came back, they would build a Abbey on their land ...
The abbey was consecrated in 1154 and placed under the patronage of Saint Nicolas ... and entrusted to Prémontrés, mixed order allowing clerics who devoted themselves to the parishioners, and monks who devoted themselves to prayer ....
Abbey experienced a turbulent past, was plundered many times, and sold as national property during the revolution in 1790 ... the Canons Prémontrés then left the Abbey that they occupied 635 years ....
Several unscrupulous owners so succeeded ... in 1845, the Abbey Church was destroyed and the cloister, used as a career .. Mayor Neufmesnil saved the most remarkable pieces and put them away in the church of his village ...
A miracle happened when the Countess of Robersart bought the property in 1857 ... she restored the park and abbey home ...
Then in 1880, she invited the Sisters of Purgatory Auxiliatrices has moved to Blanchelande .. she opens Hospice Lempérière ....
They will stay there 102 years but found himself at the Abbey for sale again in 1982, and this time it is a private individual who purchased an Englishman ...
since Blanchelande was included in the inventory of historical monuments ...
Several English as successive owners .. I have nothing against the English ... they have very nicely renovated, very faithfully, many historic sites, castles, longeres, fortified farms and abbeys ... ... Some days in the year, Blanchelande was accessible to visitors ....
When we had good times, then one could admire the exterior architecture and interior furnishings ...
Some even say they have crossed the phantom of the Abbot Cross Jugan ... made famous by my favorite writer Normand, Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly in "Enchanted »....
Barbey d ' Aurevilly is our Edgar Allan Poe .... It beautifully tells the fantastic ... but they say he drew his sources in the real world ... Then, he heard during his walks has a story inspired the story of Joan La Hardouey bewitched by the vision of Abbot in hooded black officiating at the abbey, and he invented everything?
I do not know ... but I guess, whatever, there must be some lost souls wandering in the cloister of the White. ..
Read "Enchanted" on paper or via the web here
You will not regret it ....
