Bassac Abbey () is a former Benedictine monastery in Bassac, Charente, France, in the former diocese of Saintes.
The abbey was founded in 1002 by Wardrade Lorichès, count of la Marche and first known Lord of Jarnac, and his wife Rixendis on their return from a pilgrimage to Rome. Both were later buried in the abbey church,Le château de Jarnac, ses barons et ses comtes, P. Lacroix, Aux Librairies Historiques, Paris, 1875 which was consecrated in around 1015 by Grimoard, Bishop of Angoulême, and his brother Iso, Bishop of Saintes. In 1095 the abbey was made subordinate to the abbey of Saint-Jean-d'Angély by Pope Urban IIJules Denyse, "L'abbaye royale de Saint-Étienne de Bassac," Bulletins et mémoires de la Société archéologique et historique de la Charente 5, no. 3 (1880): 86. but regained its independence in 1246.Paul Calendini, "Bassac (Abbaye bénédictine Saint-Étienne de)," in Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. Alfred Baudrillart, Albert de Meyer, and Van Cauwenbergh (Paris: Librairie Letouzey et Ané, 1932), 6:1260–61. Bassac Abbey was largely reconstructed under Guillaume de Vibrac, abbot from 1247 to 1286.Abbaye Saint-Étienne de Bassac virtualtourist.comFrench History: The Charente River adamandmollygo.com
It was suppressed in 1791 during the French Revolution. The buildings were sold off as biens nationaux ("state property") except for the church, which became the parish church.Base Mérimée,
From 1947 to 2012 the surviving buildings were occupied and partly restored by the Congrégation des frères missionnaires de Sainte-Thérèse de l’Enfant Jésus. The site was sold in 2015 to a trust ("") for renovation as a "cultural and spiritual space of international dimensions" ("").Olivier Sarazin, Abbaye de Bassac (16): un ambitieux projet présenté ce soir à Paris, in Sud Ouest, 21 August 2020 (online version)
See also Plantagenet style
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