The Augustinian priory of Notre-Dame de Meillerie was founded at an unknown date in the second quarter of the 12th century. The site is first documented in 1154, when it was already linked to the congregation of Montjoux (or Grand-Saint-Bernard, Switzerland). According to this arrangement, the priors of Meillerie were subordinate to the provost (“prévôt”) of the house of Montjoux.
The priory exercised considerable influence in the surrounding territory, where it administered justice, and it also became one of the usual residences of the provost of Montjoux. The priory was known as a castle or fortified house. It suffered from the social unrest of the 16th and 17th centuries, during which it was the victim of several episodes of pillage. In the 18th century it recovered, although without a monastic community.
In 1752 the military Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus took possession of the priory, while its administrator had to flee and seek refuge at the Abbey of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune (Valais, Switzerland). The site remained under the authority of that military order until the revolutionary period, when it passed into public hands and was sold in 1795. In 1803 it became a parish, the original chapel being enlarged and the defensive tower incorporated as a bell tower.
Nice et Savoie: sites pittoresques (1864)
- BOCHATON, Sidonie (2013). Meillerie en Chablais ; la fondation du prieuré. Annecy: Académie florimontane
- BOCHATON, Sidonie (2020). Meillerie : un prieuré fortifié de chanoines réguliers, XIIe - XIXe siècle. Annecy: Académie salésienne
- COMTE, Henri; dir (2018). Millénaire de l'abbaye de Talloires : actes du colloque tenu à Talloires. Annecy: Académie
- DESSAIX, Joseph (1864). Nice et Savoie, sites pittoresques, monuments, description et histoire. París: Charpentier
Meillerie is located on the southern shore of Lake Léman, very close to the border with Switzerland