Prefecture of Loiret
The Priory of Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle, in Orléans, has ancient origins. At the end of the 10th century, the Frankish king Hugh Capet (940–996) promoted the restoration of an ancient church dedicated to Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle, previously known as Sancta Maria Puellaris, a circumstance that has led scholars to associate the site with an earlier nunnery.
Before the arrival of Maurists
Detail of Jean Fleury's plan (1640)
Médiathèque centre-ville, Orleans
After suffering a Norman attack (989), Hugh's son and successor, Robert II the Pious (972–1031), restored and endowed the house, where a community of secular canons was established. By 1149, the canonry had fallen into decline. Simon de Beaugency († c. 1153), one of the lay lords exercising authority over the house, obtained permission from Bishop Manassès of Orleéns to transform it into a priory dependent on the great Benedictine abbey of Marmoutier (Tours), a measure approved in the same year by Pope Eugene III.
During the second half of the 14th century, Bonne-Nouvelle Priory suffered directly from the effects of the Hundred Years' War, and the same occurred during the siege of Orléans (1428–1429), leaving the site in a state of decline. The monks withdrew to Marmoutier while retaining the priory's title. During the second half of the 16th century, the Wars of Religion further aggravated its ruin, and the site was abandoned.
Monasticon Gallicanum
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Detail of Plan de la ville d'Orléans (C. Inselin, 1680)
Médiathèque centre-ville, Orleans
In 1653, the Congregation of Saint-Maur arrived with the intention of establishing a college there. It acquired the site from Marmoutier Abbey and took possession of it the following year. This was therefore not the Maurist reform of an existing Benedictine house, as was usually the case, but rather the foundation of a new monastery on the site of an abandoned priory. The monastic complex was built anew. A notable episode in the history of this new establishment was the arrival of the library of Guillaume Prousteau (1628–1715), donated to the city of Orléans in 1714 on condition that it should be administered by the Maurists.
In 1790, the French Revolution brought the conventual life of Bonne-Nouvelle to an end, and the property passed into State ownership. In 1800, it became the seat of the Prefecture of Loiret, a function it still fulfils today. The surviving buildings essentially correspond to the Maurist reconstruction, although they have undergone alterations since becoming public property. The church was demolished in 1807.
Priory project (1718)
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Detail of Plan de la ville d'Orléans (Ch. Pensée, 1836)
Médiathèque centre-ville, Orleans
Detall d'un manuscrit donat per Guillaume Prousteau
Amb exlibris
Médiathèque centre-ville, Orleans
According to Armorial général de France (18th century)
Bibliothèque nationale de France
- BEAUNIER, Dom (1905). Recueil historique des Archêvechés, Évêchés, Abbayes et Prieurés de France. Vol. 1. Province ecclésiastique de Paris. París: Poussielgue
- BOUCHER DE MOLANDON, Rémi (1872). La salle des Thèses de l'Université d'Orléans. Orleans: Herluison
- HUREL, Daniel-Odon (1997). Les mauristes de Bonne-Nouvelle d'Orléans et leur bibliothèque au XVIIIe siècle. Revue d'histoire de l'Église de France. Vol. 83, n°210
- JOLLOIS, M. (1836). Mémoire sur les Antiquités du département du Loiret. París/Orleans: Jollois/Gatineau
- PEIGNÉ-DELACOURT, Achille (1877). Monasticon Gallicanum. Paris: G. Chamerot
- POLLUCHE, Daniel (1736). Description de la ville et des environs d'Orleans avec des remarques historiques. Orleans: F. Rouzeau
- SAINT-MAUR, Congregació de (1744). Gallia Christiana in provincias ecclesiasticas distributa. Vol. 8. París: Typographia Regia
- VASSAL, M. de (1842). Recherches sur le monastère de Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle. Mémoires de la Société Royale des sciences, belles-lettres et arts d’Orléans. Vol. IV. Orleans: Danicourt-Huet
The prefecture, formerly Bonne-Nouvelle Priory, stands in the historic centre of Orléans, between the cathedral and the Loire