The monastery of Notre-Dame du Pin was founded around the year 1120 by the canon of Poitiers Guillaume des Forges, with the collaboration of Gerald of Salles (c. 1050–1120), and was established under the Rule of Saint Benedict. Around 1141–42, the house joined the Cistercian Order and, in 1163, was affiliated with the abbey of Pontigny (Yonne).
Notre-Dame du Pin received significant benefits from King Richard the Lionheart of England, who between 1189 and 1199 was also Duke of Aquitaine. The monarch granted it lands in England, along with the right to collect duties on the grain trade. Due to the difficulties of managing these assets abroad, they were sold in 1284 to Rewley Abbey (Oxford). Notre-Dame de Beaumont-le-Perreux (Eure) was a priory dependent on this monastery.
The abbey suffered during the Hundred Years’ War, but it was especially damaged in 1569, during the Wars of Religion, when it was militarily occupied, burned, and pillaged, leaving the church in ruins. In the 17th century, it was restored with many alterations compared to the original building. Construction work continued in the 18th century, focusing on the rest of the monastic buildings. At the end of the century, during the Revolution, the monks abandoned the abbey for good and its assets were sold. In 1945 the church vault collapsed, and in 1952 the remaining structure was dismantled. It is now privately owned.
Affiliation of Notre-Dame du Pin
According to Originum Cisterciensium (L. Janauschek, 1877)
Armorial général de France (s. XVIII)
Bibliothèque nationale de France
- ANDRAULT-SCHMITT, Claude (2021). L'histoire contrastée de l'abbaye du Pin au XIIe siècle entre lacunes documentaires et vestiges monumentaux. Le patrimoine de Béruges, 35
- BEAUNIER, Dom (1910). Abbayes et prieurés de l'ancienne France. Vol. 3: Auch, Bordeaux. Abbaye de Ligugé
- GUILLOREAU, Dom Léon (1913). Les relations financières de l’abbaye du Pin avec l’Angleterre. Revue Mabillon. Núm. 33. Lugugé / Paris: Abb. Saint-Martin / Jouvé & Cie.
- JANAUSCHEK, Leopoldus (1877). Originum Cisterciensium. Vol. 1. Viena
- SAINT-MAUR, Congregació de (1720). Gallia Christiana in provincias ecclesiasticas distributa. Vol. 2. París: Typographia Regia
The former monastery stands in an isolated location in the municipality of Béruges, west of Poitiers