Abbey of Saint-Paul de Cormery

In 799, Alcuin raised Cormery to the rank of abbey, obtaining both royal protection and the intervention of Benedict of Aniane (c. 750-821) in introducing Benedictine customs. After Alcuin’s death, the offices of abbot of Saint-Martin and Cormery were held by Fridugise († 834), who, in 821, granted the monks of Cormery the right to freely elect their own abbot, without interference from Saint-Martin. Nevertheless, it was not until around 837 that the effective separation of the two houses was achieved. It should be noted that Saint-Martin did not adopt the Rule of Saint Benedict and remained a regular canonical chapter.

During the eleventh century, the house experienced a new period of prosperity, during which the church was rebuilt and dedicated in 1054. This favourable period lasted until the Hundred Years’ War. In the mid-fourteenth century, the site was affected by the conflicts, a situation repeated during the first quarter of the fifteenth century. As a result, rebuilding and fortification works were undertaken. Chapels were also added, tombs were constructed and the complex was enriched with stained glass. Later came the commendatory regime and, in 1562, the Wars of Religion, which again affected the monastery. In 1662, the house joined the Congregation of Saint-Maur, to which it belonged until the Revolution. In 1791, a millennium after its foundation, the abbey was suppressed.

The north wall of the eleventh-century church also survives, together with the present chapel of Saint-Symphorien, built in the Gothic style. The north side of the church was occupied by the cloister, of which some thirteenth- and fourteenth-century elements remain. To the west of this area stand the refectory and the kitchen and, to the north, the cellar. The eastern side was occupied by the chapter house, of which only part of the façade survives.