The Louroux Priory, also known as Château du Louroux, is located in the commune of Louroux in the French department of Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire region. It was founded in the 12th century by the Marmoutier Abbey. At the time, the Benedictine monastery was one of nine priories belonging to the Touraine abbacy and located in the Tours diocese.
The buildings, constructed between the 11th and 20th centuries, are surrounded by an enclosure and a fortified wall from the Feudal period, with a drawbridge and a standing bridge. Dating from the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Classical eras, the complex includes several buildings, most notably the Prior's Residence, two barns, a dovecote, and a church dedicated to Saint Sulpice. The priory also included a Romanesque building, probably a "Grande Salle", built in the Middle Ages, of which only vestiges remain.
Towards the mid-16th century, with the beginning of the commendam regime within Marmoutier Abbey, the priory was transformed into an agricultural establishment, then came under the administration of the Archbishopric of Tours in the mid-18th century. Leased to farmers, the former priory and its estate were sold as national property in 1791.
The church was listed in 1973. The dovecote, façades, and roofs of the feudal farm buildings were listed on the general inventory in 1975.
The Louroux priory, which has been the subject of numerous restoration campaigns undertaken by the abbots of Marmoutier, was restored in the 2000s.
Geography
The Louroux priory, also known as "Château du Louroux",Charles Loiseau de Grandmaison, "Abbaye de Marmoutier", in Charles Loiseau de Grandmaison, Archives ecclésiastiques antérieures à 1790 : inventaire sommaire de la série H – Clergé régulier – H1 987, Archives départementales de Tours, 1891, 358 p. (read online archive [PDF]), p. 112 and 114.Impey et Lorans 1988, p. 153.Jacques-Xavier Carré de Busserolle, "Le Louroux", in Dictionnaire géographique, historique et biographique d'Indre-et-Loire et de l'ancienne province de Touraine, t. IV, Société archéologique de Touraine, 1882 (read online archive). is located east of the main center of Le Louroux, a commune in the arrondissement of Loches, department of Indre-et-Loire, in the Centre-Val de Loire"Abbey farm" archive, on the OpenStreetMap database (accessed 24 July 2018)."Le Louroux – aerial photograph and map (2014)" archive, on the Remonter le temps website of the Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (accessed 16 July 2018). region. To the northeast of Le Louroux stands the former commune of Saint-Bauld,Impey Lorans, p. 156. a parish founded at the same time as the priory.Impey Lorans, p. 153. The fief of Armançay, or Armençey, straddles the communes of Tauxigny-Saint-Bauld and Le Louroux, where Hardouin V de Maillé had a manor house towards the late 13th century,Ambroise Ledru, L. J. Denis and Eugène Vallée, chap. IX "Hardouin V de Maillé mari de Jeanne et Jeanne de Beauçay (1248–1306)", in La maison de Maillé: Histoire généalogique, t. 1, Paris, Alphonse Lemaire, 1905, 498 p. (read online archive), p. 47-48. and which was later elevated to a castellany.Isabelle Girard, "Châtellenie d'Armançay au Louroux", publication by the Indre-et-Loire departmental archives, Tours, Conseil départemental d'Indre-et-Loire, 2012 (read online archive [PDF], accessed 27 July 2018) The commune of Manthelan, situated on a south-southeast axis, was probably the center of a vicus, a small settlement dating from the 5th century BC.
The fortified complex is bordered by the Route de Louroux to the north and the Route Départementale 50 to the west. The Rue du Château, which starts in the south-west, provides access to the priory's enclosure. The priory's northern boundary is delimited by a stream of the Échandon,Impey et Lorans 1988, p. 159. a tributary of the Indre, which feeds the Louroux ponds to the southwest of the commune's main square.J-F Allard, D. Chigot and J-P Chevrier, Bassin versant de l'Echandon – Eaux souterraines et eaux superficielles (37), Bureau de recherches géologiques et minières, October 1983 (read online archive [PDF]), chap. 83."Fiche cours d'eau (K7514001) – L'Echandon" archive, on the Service d'administration nationale des données et référentiels sur l'eau database (accessed 25 July 2018). This watercourse, which forms part of the moat of the fortified complex, separates it from the town center to the west. The Échandon serves as a border, a type of demarcation specific to the Loch region during the Middle Ages.Élisabeth Lorans, Le Lochois du haut Moyen ge au xiiie siècle: territoires, habitats et paysages, Université de Tours, 1996, 289 p., p. 123.
The Louroux ponds, comprising two bodies of water -the 52-hectare Etang des Roseaux and the 4-hectare Etang de Beaulieu- were created in the 10th and 11th centuries respectively and exploited by the monks of the priory.François Colas, Michel Bacchi and Etienne Herault, chap. I.2.2 "Description et Historique du site", in Evaluation du Contrat Restauration Entretien 2003–2008 de l'Espace Naturel Sensible du Louroux, Conseil Général d'Indre-et-Loire, October 2009 (read online archive [PDF]), p. 9. Not far from the ponds, in a place called "Mazère" (lieu-dit), a Gallo-Roman villa was discovered in 1976.Jacques Dubois, "Archéologie aérienne en Touraine (France)", Revue archéologique de Picardie, no spécial 17 (Actes du colloque international d'archéologie aérienne Amiens, 15 – 18 octobre 1992. Hommage à Roger Agache pour 35 ans de prospections aériennes dans le Nord de la France, 1999, p. 363 (DOI 10.3406/pica.1999.2123, read online archive, accessed 26 July 2018).Jacques Dubois, "Archéologie aérienne – Prospections 1982 en Touraine", bulletin de la Société archéologique de Touraine, t. 40, 1983, p. 421 (read online archive, accessed 15 April 2019). From this 100 x 100 m ancient settlement, only remains traces that were identifiable by aerial survey.Jacques Dubois, "Archéologie aérienne : prospections de 1987, 1988 et 1989", bulletin de la Société archéologique de Touraine, t. 44, 1990, p. 112 and 113 (read online archive, accessed 25 July 2018).
The fortified complex, which lies at the heart of a small valley, is flanked on the south by a plateau, which rises to a modest altitude.Saint-Jouan 2009, p. 101. The Louroux priory, like the rest of the commune, rests on a subsoil largely made up of yellow limestone formed in the Turonian period, as well as siliceous clay and lacustrine limestone formed in the Senonian period.L. Rasplus, J.-J. Macaire and G. Alcaydé, "Bléré: entre Indre et Cher", Carte géologique à 1/50 000, Bureau de recherches géologiques et minières, no. 488, 1982 (read online archive [PDF], accessed 27 July 2018)."Les plateaux agricoles du center Touraine", in Atlas de l'Indre-et-Loire: Partie 3 – Le Savignéen, coll. "Études des paysages d'Indre-et-Loire", 2012 (read online archive [PDF]), pp. 217 and 221.
After its foundation, the Le Louroux monastery became one of nine priories belonging to the Marmoutier abbey in the Tours diocese.Odile Gantier, "Recherches sur les possessions et les prieuré de l'Abbaye de Marmoutier du xe au xiiie siècle : Troisième partie – rôle économique et social du prieuré", revue Mabillon: archives de la France monastique, Abbaye Saint-Martin de Ligugé, no. 220, April–June 1965, p. 83 (read online archive, accessed 30 July 2018).
History
Middle Age
Foundation In 993, the Archbishop of Tours, Archembault de Sully, made a donation of the Saint-Sulpice church (or, more precisely, of an oratory)"Excursion Sunday, September 24, 1978: en Touraine centrale", Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Touraine, September 1978, p. 603 (read online archive, accessed 2 August 2018). to the monks of the Marmoutier abbeyÉmile Mabille, "Notice sur les divisions territoriales et la topographie de l'ancienne province de Touraine [fifth and last article]," Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes, t. 27, 1866, p. 343 (DOI doi.org/10.3406/bec.1866.446064, read online archive, accessed 24 July 2018). – the toponym Louroux comes from the Latin word oratorium and literally means oratory, "place of prayer".Roger Brunet, "Les édifices du culte", in Roger Brunet, Trésor du terroir. Les noms de lieux de la France: Les noms de lieux de la France, CNRS Éditions, 2016, 656 p. (read online archive), p. 193.Jean-Claude Bouvier, "Gendron Stéphane. 2012. L'origine des noms de lieux de l'Indre-et-Loire – Communes et anciennes paroisses [Compte-rendu].", Nouvelle revue d'onomastique, no. 54, 2012, p. 303 (read online archive, accessed 4 August 2018).Stéphane Gendron (dir.) (pref. Marianne Mulon), Les noms des lieux en France: essai de toponymie, Errance (read online archive), p. 50. This deed is the oldest manuscript document relating to Louroux. The Louroux church was then ceded as an ecclesiastic benefice in return of an annual income (or cens) of ten sous. This annual remuneration came to an end under the ministry of Raoul II, towards the late 11th and early 12th centuries.
The foundation of the priory was most probably simultaneous with the creation of the parishes of the Louroux and Saint-Bault.Lorans and Impey 1988, p. 153. However, as with the eighteen other priories erected in Touraine by the abbacy of Marmoutier, there is no trace of a foundational deed for the Louroux. According to Jacques-Xavier Carré de Busserolle, the Louroux Priory was founded in 1058 by Geoffrey of Anjou.Montoux 1978, p. 693.Impey et Lorans 1988, p. 155. At the time of its foundation, the Louroux's establishment was the seat of a castellany held by the abbey of Marmoutier, whose ruler possessed "the titles and prerogatives of lord of Louroux with the rights of high, medium and low justice". However, as Edward Impey and Élisabeth Lorans point out, there are no documents attesting to the foundation of the Louroux by the Count of Anjou. However, charters of donation, issued in the 11th and 12th centuries, enable us to reconstruct the increase in seigniorial and religious rights at the Louroux. These documents show that during this period, Geoffroy II d'Anjou, as well as the lords close to him, contributed to the priory's development.
The priory's first buildings and development The very first mention of the priory appears in a 1052 donation charter issued by Goscelin de Sainte-Maure. The lord of Sainte-Maure agreed to cede to the monks of the Louroux the right to bread-making, with the exception of those who had long owed him the privilege of doing so. This donation was executed before 15 August 1052, the date of Goscelin de Sainte-Maure's death.
During the 11th century, Montbazon appears in acts relating to the priory. The monks of the Louroux, who belong to the Benedictine order,Laurent-Henri Cottineau (dir.), Répertoire topo-bibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, vol. 1, Mâcon, 1935–1938, 3488 p. (read online archive), p. 1662. have held land at Lavatorii (fief du Lavoir, commune of Veigné) from their Tenant-in-chief Thibault de Braord, knight of Montbazon, since the foundation of the monastic establishment, in exchange for an annual cens of 200 denarius.Mabille 1863, p. 44.Impey and Lorans 1988, p. 158. On Braord's death, his wife Audierne demanded one setier of wheat and 4 setiers of wine in addition to the cens. The monks refused, the dispute was brought before the court of Montbazon and Braord's widow's claim was rejected.Mabille 1863, p. 112–113.