Charterhouse of Prémol
Prati Mollis / Pratimollis / Notre-Dame de Prémol
(Vaulnaveys-le-Haut, Isère)
Prémol is one of the few female houses of the Carthusian Order. It was founded during the first half of the thirteenth century, not far from the Grande Chartreuse. Apart from some temporary abandonments for external reasons, it remained in use until the Revolution. In a particularly isolated setting, a few vestiges survive, now difficult to identify.
The porter’s lodge
The Charterhouse of Prémol was founded by Beatrice of Montferrat (1210–1274), wife of Guigues André, dauphin of Viennois between 1228 and 1237. In 1234 she obtained from the canons of Oulx (Piedmont) a number of properties they held at Prémol for the new foundation, to which further donations of property and revenues were later added to ensure the maintenance of the community. It has been suggested that the female monastery was affiliated to the Carthusian Order at a date later than its foundation and that it may previously have been connected with Oulx; in any case, by 1239 its belonging to the Carthusian Order is explicitly recorded.
Prémol was the third female house of the Order, after those of Prébayon (Vaucluse) and Bertaud (Hautes-Alpes). At that time, the customs of the female branch had not yet been defined: the nuns did not have the independent cells typical of male houses, and female charterhouses were closer to Benedictine monasteries in terms of organisation. They nevertheless had to provide accommodation for clerics — Carthusians or otherwise — responsible for religious services. In the following decades, donations and acquisitions in favour of the community were frequent, with the aim of achieving the isolation required by the Carthusian Order. In 1252, the nuns of Prémol took part in the foundation of the nearby charterhouse of Parménie (Isère).
Illustration from Maisons de l'ordre des Chartreux (1913)
Illustration from Mémoires et documents publiés par l'Académie salésienne (1879)
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Throughout its history, Prémol experienced several adverse episodes. In 1467 it suffered a fire and in 1563 was affected by the Wars of Religion, leading to a first temporary abandonment. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, further fires and periods of insecurity forced the house to be abandoned on several occasions, until the charterhouse was finally able to resume its activity after the reconstruction begun in 1715. The monastery remained active until 1791, when it was suppressed as a result of the Revolution; the site was looted and later sold. In 1819, some former nuns of Prémol founded the new Charterhouse of Beauregard, also in the département of Isère.
In 1830, Prémol passed into public ownership and a forester’s house was established on the site, while vegetation gradually took over the ruins. In 1989, the gatehouse, which was still in relatively good condition, was destroyed by fire. The appearance of the earliest buildings of the charterhouse is unknown, except that some earlier structures were reused. Although the present condition of the site allows little to be appreciated of the former monastery, plans of the buildings dating from before the Revolution (eighteenth century) and several early views of the ruins are preserved.
Illustration from Album du Dauphiné (1835)
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Illustration from Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l'ancienne France (1854)
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Photo by unknown author (1910)
Private collection
Porter’s lodge
Photo published in Le Monde Illustré (25-09-1920)
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Illustration from Histoire des ordres monastiques, religieux et militaires (1718)
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Armorial Général de France (18th century)
Bibliothèque nationale de France
- BURNIER, Eugène (1869). La Chartreuse de Saint-Hugon en Savoie. Chambéry: Puthod
- CARTOIXA DE NOTRE-DAME DES PRÉS (1913). Maisons de l'ordre des Chartreux. Vol. I. Chartreuse de Notre-Dame des Prés (Tournai)
- CASSIEN, Victor; i altres (1839). Album du Dauphiné, Recueil de dessins. Vol. 1. Grenoble: Prudhomme
- HÉLYOT, Pierre (1718). Histoire des ordres monastiques religieux et militaires. Vol. 7. París: Coignard
- LE COUTEULX, Carolo (1888). Annales Ordinis Cartusiensis ab anno 1084 ad annum 1429, Vol. IV. S. Mariae de Pratis
- PILOT DE THOREY, Jean-Joseph-Antoine (1882). Chartreuse de Prémol près Uriage-les-Bains. Grenoble: Drevet
- POUYET, Thomas (2010). La chartreuse de Prémol. Physionomie et représentation du bâti. XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles. Grenoble
- SERPOLLET, Roger (2008). Il était une fois... le monastère de Prémol. Bulletin Municipal Vaulnaveys-le-Haut. Núm. 60
- TAYLOR, J.; i altres (1854). Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l'ancienne France. Dauphiné. París: Firmin Didot
- THOMAS, Jérôme (2014). Entre apogée et déclin. Vivre sa foi au Grand Siècle dans les chartreuses féminines, 1570-1715. Université d’Artois
The remains of the charterhouse of Prémol are located in an isolated area within the territory of Vaulnaveys-le-Haut (Isère), to the south-east of Grenoble