The monastery moved to Beaulieu (c. 1827)
Old postcard, private collection
This Benedictine nunnery is dedicated to Saint Ausonius, the first bishop of Angoulême (4th–5th centuries). According to tradition, it was founded near the tomb of the saint —who is sometimes also credited as its founder—, but the earliest documentary evidence is a donation dated before 1028, suggesting the actual foundation should be placed in the 11th century.
First location: BB
Beaulieu Church: 5
La Cosmographie universelle de tout le monde (1575)
The monastery was destroyed during the Wars of Religion; in 1573 the nuns relocated to Beaulieu, near the parish church of Notre-Dame. There they acquired the château of Bellejoie (or Beaulieu), granted by the Abbey of La Couronne, and secured rights over the old church of Notre-Dame de Beaulieu, which they converted into a chapel. In the early 18th century, the community still counted around forty nuns, but the monastery was dissolved during the Revolution.
By 1800, with no community remaining, the site was repurposed as a school. The buildings were completely rebuilt shortly thereafter and by the mid-19th century the monastery had entirely vanished. The current structures date from that period. Archaeological excavations conducted during the rebuilding uncovered remains from several periods, including a medieval crozier —possibly belonging to an abbess of Saint-Ausone or originating from a burial in the church of Beaulieu— now held in the Musée de Cluny in Paris.
Objects from the Beaulieu excavations
Published in Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique de la Charente
Second location of the monastery (18)
Notre-Dame de Beaulieu (17)
Current church of Saint-Ausone
Photo by Cobber17, on Wikimedia
- BAUDRILLART, Alfred (1931). Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques. Vol. 5. París: Letouzey et Ané
- BEAUNIER, Dom (1910). Abbayes et prieurés de l'ancienne France. Vol. 3: Auch, Bordeaux. Abbaye de Ligugé
- BELLEFOREST, François de (1575). La Cosmographie universelle de tout le monde. París : Chesneau
- BIAIS, Émile (1881). Notes sur les anciennes paroisses d'Angoulême. Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique de la Charente, vol. IV
- GEORGE, J. (1898). Topographie historique d'Angoulême. Bulletin et mémoires de la Société archéologique et historique de la Charente. Vol. 8
- GERVAIS, Jean (1864). Mémoire sur l'Angoumois. París : Aubry
- NANGLARD, Jean (1893). Pouillé historique du diocèse d'Angoulême, 2. Bulletin et mémoires de la Société archéologique et historique de la Charente, vol. 3
- ROCHEBRUNE, M. A. T. De (1870). Sur les fouilles practiquées a Beaulieu. Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique de la Charente. Vol. 6. Angoulême: F. Goumard
- SAINT-MAUR, Congregació de (1720). Gallia Christiana in provincias ecclesiasticas distributa. Vol. 2. París: Typographia Regia
No remains survive from the monastery, which once occupied two separate sites on the western edge of the old town of Angoulême