Foundation

The founder of the abbey was Saint Bertrand, Bishop of Le Mans from 586 to 616, who founded the monastery "de la couture" in honour of Peter and Paul. The name couture or cultura was chosen because of the cultivated fields that surrounded the monastery at the time. From the 10th century onwards, the term took on the meaning of cultura dei: worship of God. At that time, the city's inhabitants had taken refuge behind the defensive walls. Only the suburb of Saint-Nicolas was then a modest place to live on this side of the Sarthe. In local folklore, the Archangel Michael is said to have come down to earth to indicate the precise place of creation in Saint-Bertrand. The rural area was then located about 600 metres south of the end of the Gallo-Roman wall. The monastery quickly amassed a significant amount of land, starting in Maine with donations from local lords. But these possessions spread throughout France. The most famous were located in Bordeaux, Provence, Burgundy, and especially in England. Of these foreign possessions, the abbey always kept a symbol. The coat of arms of the abbey has always taken the double colours of the fleur-de-lis of the Kingdom of France and the three English lions.

A small town was formed between the suburb of Saint-Nicolas and the abbey. This is now the centre of the city. However, the hyper-centre, as we know it (Place Saint-Nicolas and not Place de la République) remains several hundred metres from the abbey.

However, the 9th and 10th centuries were not to the advantage of the religious. They were subjected to the law of the new secular lords, the Counts of Maine and were soon attacked by the Normans. The abbey was partially destroyed and its cultural possessions were burned. Gauzbert rebuilt the abbey of Saint-Pierre de la Couture in 990, supported this time by Hugues I, Count of Maine, in agreement with Avesgaud, Bishop of Le Mans. Although attracted by the Cluniac movement, Gauzday did not depend on it. However, like the Order of Cluny, La Couture tried as much as it could to guarantee its independence from the lordly and even episcopal powers. Above all, the bishopric of Le Mans, which was one of the most powerful in France because of its size, and also because of its financial capacities. The abbey tried, like many others, to place itself under the direct authority of the Pope. The abbey had to face a significant number of trials against local lords. If donations were important for the abbey at that time, it was mainly because it recovered land lost during conflicts or usurped by secular lords. With these recoveries, the abbey rebuilt the abbey church in the 11th and 12th centuries.

Around 1010, Geoffroy, Lord of Sablé, gave the monks of the Abbey of La Couture in Le Mans the church of Solesmes and its attached farm, thus creating Solesmes Abbey.^[2]

At the beginning of the 12th century, the abbey owned 30,000 hectares of land, this time collected in the Le Mans region. In 1288, Charles, Count of Anjou and Maine, grants rights to hold two fairs each year to the monks of LaCouture, on their domain of Moullins. It also has a number of other priories. During an outbreak of the plague which struck Le Mans in 1515, Dom Michel Bureau sent part of the community to shelter in Volnay Priory and took the others, including all the dignitaries to Moullins. Couture became the most powerful abbey in Maine and one of the largest in the whole kingdom. In 1399, abbots of La Couture were endowed with the dignity of bishops, with mitre, ring and cross. The churches of the city and the suburbs are subject to the authority of the abbey. But the Hundred Years' War soon caused much destruction to the abbey and its many priories. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the periods of English occupation were the most destructive. L'Épau Abbey was burned down to prevent the enemy from taking refuge there. However, it is also during this period that its autonomy is strengthened.

Decline

Abbaye de la couture XVIIè siècle

By 1518, it was again declining. First, abbots were now appointed by royal authority, which threatened the autonomy of the abbey. The abbots received the income due to them but did not perform the spiritual function for which they were responsible. This new system, the result of the Concordat of Bologna of 1516, allowed the king much more control of the clergy. Martin Fournier de Beaume, son of the Minister of Finance, replaced the monks at the "Maison de l'Etoile in Paris, with his mother and sister. Upon the capture of Le Mans by the Protestants in 1562, the congregations of the 7 monasteries of Le Mans had to flee. Nicolas Fumée resettled that of La Couture in Moullins. He housed his monks in nearby manor houses belonging to Moullins.

King Henry IV stayed in the abbey during the siege of Le Mans against the league on November 28, 1589. As early as 1657, Maurists were asked to reform the monastery. But the monks were against this. It was a renewal for the abbey in the second half of the 16th century; but its autonomy was non-existent, quite the opposite of before its establishment. She is integrated into the congregation appointing abbots for three years and now only a pawn in the great Congregation of Saint-Maur. It was also the time of the most violent tensions with the other "great" abbey of Le Mans: the abbey of Saint-Vincent, favoured by the Maurists. Much destruction was caused during the Religious Wars, not to mention the fires that partially damaged it. In 1760, the abbey was rebuilt, and by the eve of the Revolution, the abbey was extremely powerful, owning more than 6,000 hectares of land, 33 priories and 224 farms (plus 18 mills). It was already proposed to transform the buildings into a library. But after the concordat between Napoleon and Pius VII, the abbey church became a parish church.

The reconstruction of 1760 made it a remarkably large building for the small community of twenty-four that resided there. Although the initial project was even more gigantic in scope, the church stopped the reconstruction in light of the small congregation willing to live in the monastery. For example, the project was to open 21 windows on the main building and only 15 windows were finally created. The original monastery consisted of a main building located parallel to the nave to the south and two perpendicular wings running west of the South Tower of Notre-Dame and east of the south crossroads of its transept. The central space is divided in two by a kind of intermediate building giving to the north the cloister and to the south the kitchen courtyard. The plan was hardly more innovative than that of the old abbey, but it extended the east wing and the south wing to the north.

Abbots

Commendatory abbots

• 46. Jean Calluau ou Colluant, 1518 - † 29 June 1522, canon of Saintes, then of Angoulême, also abbot of La Couronne (1515), bishop of Senlis from 1517 to his death.
• 46. Martin Fournier de Beaume, 1524 - † 2 July 1527, Archbishop of Tours from 1521 to his death.
• 48. Adam Fumée, 1530, resigned in 1546 and switched to Protestantism.
• 49. Nicolas Fumée, 1546, resigned in 1575 to assume the bishopric of Beauvais, nephew of the previous one, first canon of Paris, master of the King's chapel (1587), also abbot of Beaulieu-lès-Loches (1584), died in Chartres on 3 March 1593.
• 50. Charles Ier de Bourbon, cardinal de Vendôme, 1575, resigned in 1580, son of Charles de Bourbon and Françoise d'Alençon, also bishop of Nevers, of Saintes, then archbishop of Rouen and bishop of Beauvais, also abbot of Jumièges, Saint-Wandrille, Saint-Germain-des-Près, Corbie, Vendôme, Saint-Lucien, S.Michel-en-l'Herm, La Clarté-Dieu, Beaulieu-lès-Le-Mans, les Châtelliers, S.Etienne de Dijon, Montebourg, etc. uncle of Henri IV and proclaimed king of France under the name of Charles X by the League after the death of Henri III, he died captive in the castle of Fontenay-le-Comte on May 9, 1590.
• 51. Charles II de Bourbon, second cardinal of Vendôme, 1580 - † July 30, 1594, nephew of the previous one, archbishop of Rouen (1582), appointed cardinal by Gregory XIII on December 12, 1583, also abbot of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, S. Lucien de Beauvais, Bourgueil, Jumièges, Corbie...
• 52. Michel Dionneau, 1594, resigned in 1602, priest of Le Mans.
• 53. Jean ou Michel Legay, November 1602 - 1604, cleric of Paris, adviser to the King.
• 54. Léonore d'Estampes de Valençay, 27 July 1605, Bishop of Chartres (June 3, 1620), then Archbishop of Reims (December 16, 1641), also abbot of S. Martin de Pontoise, Bourgueil (1605–44), Beaulieu-lès-Loches, l'Epine, Vaas, Champagne, L'Epau, la Cour-Dieu and La Pelice, died in Paris on Holy Saturday, April 8, 1651, at the age of 62.
• 55. Balthazar Poitevin, 1620 – † 1632, also confidential abbot on behalf of the Count of Soissons de Jumièges, S. Oüen de Rouen and S. Michel-en-l'Herm.
• 56. Jean-Baptiste de Croisilles, 1632, deposed filed in 1637 for having married in secret, adviser to the King, also confidential abbot of S. Ouen de Rouen (1632–39), Jumièges (1632–38) and S. Michel-en-L'Herm (1636–37).
• 57. Guillaume de Montagne, (1638 – 1640)
• 58. Nicolas de Conty-Gramont, grandson of the Prince de Condé killed in Jarnac, also abbot of Bassac (1629) although Calvinist, died in 1648.
• 59. Henri-Louis Chasteigner de La Roche-Posay, 1644 - died of apoplexy on July 30, 1651, at Dissay at the age of 74, Bishop of Poitiers (1611), Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit, also Abbot of S. Cyran (1616–20), S. Cyprien de Poitiers and Nanteuil-en-Vallée (ca 1595).
• 60. Eugène-Maurice de Savoie, 2 octobre 1651 – resigned in 1657 to marry Olympe Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarin.
• 61.Louis-Henri de Bourbon, chevalier de Soissons, 1669 - 1683, died in 1703 at the age of 63.
• 62. Philippe de Savoie, also abbot of the Gard, S. Médard de Soissons and Corbie (ca 1669), died on October 5, 1693.
• 63. Louis Bouton de Chamilly, December 1694 - † 1705.
• 64. François de Caillebot de la Salle, 1705 - Doctor of Theology, Bishop of Tournai (1690-1705), also Abbot of Plaimpied (1680) and Rebais (1672), where he died on December 21, 1736, at the age of 83.
• 65. Martin-Maurice de Lossendière, ... – 1728, then abbot of Saint-Maur-sur-Loire until 1754
• 66. Charles-Louis de Froullay de Tessé, 26 November 1728 - † 31 January 1767 in Le Mans at the age of 80, Canon Count of Lyon (1708), Bishop of Le Mans (October 17, 1723), Chaplain to the King, former abbot of Saint-Maur-sur-Loire (1721).
• 67. Bernardin-François de Fouquet, 1767 - † 20 April 1785 at the age of 80 in Paris, in his hotel on rue du Bac, distant cousin of the famous Superintendent, doctor of theology of Sorbonne (1732), vicar general of the diocese of Noyon, general agent of the clergy of France for the province of Toulouse (1735), archbishop of Embrun (17 September 1740-resigned on 17 April 1767), former abbot of Caunes-Minervois.
• 68. Louis-Sylvestre de La Chatre, 1785 – 1790, first lieutenant of carabinieri before entering the orders in 1774, vicar general of the diocese of Nevers (1786), ordinary chaplain of King Louis XVIII (1814), bishop of Beauvais (1817-22), canon of Saint-Denis (1822), died in Paris on 5 February 1829 at the age of 75.

The crypt of Saint-Bertrand

The abbey was destroyed by the Vikings in 865. The ruins were not discovered until 1002 by Gauzbert. It was in the 10th century that the abbey church took on the importance it is now known for. Gauzbert voluntarily built a large abbey church, already foreseeing the importance that the abbey would acquire on the regional and national level. It is already composed of a crypt half buried, the place where its first founder is buried. It is divided into three small naves separated by eight pillars aligned in two rows of four. The choir is elevated above the crypt and is surrounded by ten strong columns and pillars, all of which are topped by semicircular arches. The walls are pierced with windows and the apse is made of the cul de four. Around the choir was built a vaulted ambulatory with ridges and five absidioles arranged like a fan. Between the chapels, there is an arched window made of either bricks or stones. The construction site was completed and opened to the public in the 11th century. A vaulted transept will then be added. If it no longer exists, we can imagine it by the presence of period pillars on each arm. They end in a chapel, also on the bottom of the oven. To the west, the building has three naves. The most important is the one in the centre, 8 metres wide as an extension of the choir. The other two follow the ambulatory. The aisles are composed of seven communicating bays. Each has a wall decorated with four arcades carved into the thickness of the wall. Above the aisles, fourteen windows are drilled, one per bay. Each aisle was dug with a bay leading to the nave. Although this was exceptional, the construction took into account the fact that the public could come to attend the services. That is why the architecture was also made of very high walls. The nave and galleries are not vaulted and the structure was for a time exposed or panelled. Then was built the facade, composed in front of towers built of large blocks of Roussard sandstone. Their walls were 14 metres high and can still be demarcated. To the north of the nave and outside the building, we still find the 11th century Romanesque windows. They are now walled and clearly indicate the alteration that took place in the 13th century. In 1110, the body of Helie de la Flèche, former Earl of Maine, was brought into the abbey church. A representative in war clothing is raised with his shroud, helmet, sword and shield. At the time, the abbey also had a copyists' workshop where the religious illuminated the manuscripts. Manuscripts of very high quality dating from the second half of the 11th and early 12th centuries have been found. They were kept in the monastic library. Today, four manuscripts are recognized as the most precious documents, they were kept in the archives and library on rue Gambetta, before being transferred to the Louis-Aragon media library.

Interior architecture

During the reconstruction of the abbey, the monks pay particular attention to different areas that they wish to see very well cared for. For example, the cloister has three galleries, each with a horseshoe in its layout. The galleries are particularly well cared for because they are the most important point of passage for monks. The side along the nave still has 12th century sculptures, which are still visible today. The galleries will have 21 bays open to the courtyard through window arches. Each bay is separated from the next by Tuscan capital pilasters. The ceilings are rounded. In the centre of each, there is a small carved rockwork motif. On one of them we can notice the very symbolic keys of Saint Peter and the sword of Saint Paul.

The large staircase, still intact today, will be one of the jewels of interior architecture. Its degrees rotate three times and connect four levels. The relatively wide flights are suspended on half hoops lightened with glasses. The whole is a masterpiece of stereotomy. In all, there are more than 120 steps divided into twelve straight flights to get from the basement to the attics. An iron railing sits around the stairwell and wraps around the railing while following its movements. The only window present, more than 15 metres high, allows light to be diffused throughout the staircase without subaltern lighting.

The chapter room is small in size. It looks like a feminine boudoir of the time with its carved woodwork of various small motifs. An interesting anecdote, above the front door is a carved woodwork with the initials LL, dedicated to Louis XV. This detail will miraculously pass over the revolutionary destruction. The walls will be decorated with eleven paintings and the room will contain twenty-seven seats. The repertoire will offer a very simple architecture. It will include five paintings by Pierre Parrocel, dating from 1718. Embedded in the walls, they will face the windows. In the sacristy, the sculptures of the panels date from 1772. The woodwork covers only 4/5 of the walls, the rest being reserved for the fallout from the ceiling. The latter present silvery motifs often linked to Bible stories.