Chapel of Étricor
| Grammontens Priory of Étricor | |
|---|---|
 The Chapel of Étricor |
|
| location |
 Franceregion Nouvelle-Aquitaine department Charente |
| Lies in the diocese | Angoulême |
| Coordinates: | 45 ° 52 '9 " N , 0 ° 47' 50" E |
| founding year | around 1148 |
| Year of dissolution / annulment |
1772 |
| Mother monastery | Grandmont Abbey ( Haute-Vienne Department ) |
|
Daughter monasteries |
no |
The Étricor chapel is the only remnant of a former Grammontese priory in the commune of Étagnac in the Charente department , Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in France . It is located on the right bank of the Vienne , around 70 kilometers northeast of Angoulême and 10 kilometers west of Saint-Junien . The chapel has been recognized as a monument historique since 1987 . It is the oldest surviving structure of the Order of the Grammontese and is therefore considered a prototype.
etymology
The chapel, French Chapelle d'Étricor or Saint-Pardoux d'Étricor or Sainte-Vierge d'Étricor , is named after the hamlet of Étricor in the immediate vicinity . Étricor is a derivative of the Latin stricto cornu (compressed horn - dative or ablative).
geography
The Chapel of Étricor can be reached from Étagnac on the D 193 to Chassenon . After about 3 kilometers, at the hamlet of Beaulieu, there is a junction to the left towards Les Betoulles . Here you turn right to Étricor . The chapel is located in the Vienne floodplain at 159 meters above sea level. Not far to the east the small brook Ruisseau de l'Étang flows into the Vienne. Immediately behind the stream is a huge decantation basin from the Saillat-sur-Vienne paper mill and, further north on the slope, a garbage dump from the same factory - which seriously disturbs the harmony of this spiritual place.
geology
The chapel of Étricor stands on the Holocene alluvium of the Vienne, predominantly clayey fine sands with rubble of the crystalline basement . The hamlet of Étricor is already on paragneiss of the lower gneiss cover . At the Ruisseau de l'Étang the thrust of the upper gneiss cover runs , which here consists of gray paragneiss and into which narrow quartz diorite and diorite lenses are inserted. The general strike direction of the metamorphic rocks is southeast-northwest with vergence to southwest.
description
The granite chapel is located in a large meadow, only 60 meters from the right bank of the Vienne. Blocks measuring up to 70 × 40 centimeters and weighing 400 kilograms were installed in the lower section, but their dimensions are reduced in the upper section. The east-facing nave is 17.20 meters long and 7 meters high. It is extended to the east by a 5.37 meter wide and 4.50 meter long sanctuary. The total length is therefore 21.70 meters. The walls are 1.25 meters thick. The entrance for the believers on the north-west corner consists of three pointed arches one behind the other without a tympanum, the first large one being chamfered and the inner two smaller ones rounded off like bulges. The masonry is reinforced here to 1.60 meters because of the arches. In the west facade there is a small Romanesque window in the upper half for lighting purposes . The chapel has a slightly nuanced pointed barrel vault with a quarter circle at its base. A semicircular apse with apse dome closes the sanctuary to the east. From the fourth buttress, the apse area is up to 5.93 meters wider than the actual nave (by 28 centimeters on each side). The apse is illuminated by three glazed, narrow, Romanesque arched windows (with dimensions: 1.80 meters high, 0.40 meters wide). The windows are at the same height and have a clear reveal. Two struts on the outer wall - the struts are flattened rectangular - frame the window triplet, a smaller strut is located below the central window. The side walls of the ship are - as is customary with the Grammontensers - windowless in order to emphasize the effect of the divine light penetrating from the sunrise. A baptismal font is set into the south wall of the sanctuary. On the south side there was also a pointed arch door in the middle, which was bricked up after the destruction of the convent building towards the end of the 16th century. It was through them that the monks once reached the church from the courtyard, which has since disappeared. The fact that convent buildings connected directly to the south (and also to the east) of the church is evidenced by openings for load-bearing beams in the buttress. A small stone statuette with Saint-Pardoux (14th century) is set in a niche in the walled-up pointed arched door. Saint-Pardoux was once very venerated by the peasants and even today pilgrimages are still held in his memory on the second Sunday of October. The outer walls were later built up by up to 2 meters with small blocks to accommodate the current wooden roof structure, which is covered with round tiles.
history
Étagnac once belonged to the diocese of Limoges , but went to the diocese of Angoulême in 1790 . The original cella of the priory was donated to the Grammontensers by the princes of Chabanais in 1148 (depending on the source, 1151, 1157 or 1187 is also given as the year of foundation), although the clerics of Lesterps were actually intended for this.
In 1317 Pope John XXII reformed . the Grammontenserorder and summarized all foundations of the order in 39 priories. The cells were now only agricultural enterprises that delivered their products to the priories. At that time, Étricor was directly subordinate to the mother abbey of Grandmont and its abbot, but still retained his privileges. In the 13th and 14th centuries Étricor received many foundations and was able to acquire numerous rights (such as fish and rights of way), but also lands, properties, mills, etc. in the vicinity.
During the turmoil of the Huguenot Wars , almost all of the priory's buildings were destroyed at the end of the 16th century - probably by the Protestant nobleman Le Sieur de Rochebrune, who used the stones for his own castle ( Rochebrune Castle ). The mother abbey then had to take action against Rochebrune, who had also appropriated the proceeds from Étricor in order to drive him and his tenants away.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the remaining buildings were restored and entrusted to two farming families. The first was 32 hectares, the second 24 hectares. About half of these lands could be cultivated, the rest served as pastures and heather. Thanks to this agreement, Grandmont Abbey was able to achieve a profit of 700 livres at the beginning of the century and 800 livres by 1745.
In 1772 the Order of the Grammontese was dissolved by the Commission des réguliers . As a result, Étricor's income now went to the Diocese of Limoges, whose bishop, Louis-Charles du Plessis d'Argentré , was heavily in debt because of his lavish lifestyle.
During the French Revolution , Étricor was sold as a Bien national , but came back to the Church for liturgical purposes in 1886. The last owners sold the meadows with the chapel to the municipality of Étagnac in 2001. The latter has since managed and maintained the chapel together with the Association des Amis d'Étricor (Association of Friends of Étricor).
On September 29, 1987, the chapel, along with the land of the parcel belonging to it, was registered as a monument historique and is therefore now a listed building .
literature
- Dom Jean Becquet: Aux origines d'Étricor . éd. BMSAHC, 1977, p. 17-20 .
- Dom Jean Becquet: Saint Étienne de Muret et l'archevêque de Bénévent . In: Bulletin de la Société Archéologique et Historique du Limousin, 112e année . tome LXXXVI. Milon, S. 403-409 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chapelle d'Étricor, Étagnac in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Docteur Adrien Grézillier: L'Architecture grandmontaine . Paris 1963.
- ↑ Docteur Adrien Grézillier: Grandmontains Vestiges . In: Bulletin de la société archéologique du Limousin . tome LXXXVI, 1957.