Commandery of Bessaut
Commanderie de Bessaut / Sainte Marie-Madeleine de Bessali / Bessal
(Lencouacq, Landes)
The commandery of Bessaut, which belonged to the Order of Santiago, had an attached hospital. It was probably founded here to provide assistance to pilgrims travelling the Way of Saint James. The house was already in existence in 1219, when Guilhem de Maseroles made a donation to it.
In the last quarter of the thirteenth century, Bessaut passed to the Order of the Holy Ghost, which administered the site for about a century before returning it to the Order of Santiago. In 1569, the commandery fell into the hands of the Huguenots and the office of commander was held by them until it returned to the Catholics in 1612. In the seventeenth century, both the hospital and the chapel were in decline and the site was threatened with ruin. In 1679, Bessaut was incorporated into the hospital of Mont-de-Marsan and eventually fell into ruin during the Revolution.
- BEAUNIER, Dom (1910). Abbayes et prieurés de l'ancienne France. Vol. 3: Auch, Bordeaux. Abbaye de Ligugé
- DÉPART, A. (1894). Les commanderies dans le département des Landes. Bulletin de la Société de Borda, núm. 19
- FOIX, V. (1909). Bessaut. Commanderie-Hôpital de St-Jacques de l’Epée Rouge. Revue de Gascogne, vol. 9
- PACAUD, Serge (2014). Bessaut, une commanderie dans la Haute-Lande. Cressé: Ed. des Régionalismes
The remains of the commandery of Bessaut, located within the limits of the commune of Lencouacq, stand in a secluded spot north of Mont-de-Marsan, on the road towards Bordeaux