Abbaye Notre-Dame-de-la-Charité

Abbaye Notre-Dame-de-la-Charité is the site of a former Cistercian monastery straddling the present-day communes of Neuvelle-lès-la-Charité and Fretigney-et-Velloreille, in the Haute-Saône department of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. Most of the monastic buildings vanished after the French Revolution, but the grounds still hold traces of the abbey's working outbuildings and remain a point of interest for visitors curious about the region's monastic past.

What was this abbey and who founded it?

La Charité was a men's Cistercian house established in the 1130s. Its founding is credited to Adélaïde de Traves, who acted with the backing of the Archbishop of Besançon. The monks who settled the site came from the Abbey of Bellevaux, making La Charité a daughter house of Bellevaux and, through that lineage, a granddaughter of Morimond — one of the four senior abbeys at the root of the entire Cistercian order. The new community grew quickly: by 1139, only a few years after its own founding, La Charité had enough resources and monks to establish another abbey of its own, La Grâce-Dieu, northeast of Besançon.

How did the abbey fare over the centuries?

Gifts of land from local nobility and the protection of regional lords allowed the abbey to build up its holdings over time, but it did not escape the region's turbulent history. The monastery was damaged during Louis XI's war against the Duke of Burgundy, then hit again in 1569 during the Wars of Religion. A further blow came during the so-called Ten Years' War, the conflict tied to the French crown's conquest of Franche-Comté under Louis XIII, when the wider region repeatedly changed hands.

Despite these setbacks, the community proved resilient. Its strongest period of rebuilding came in the 18th century: the abbey church was reconstructed around 1735, a new abbatial wing went up around 1750 together with a garden laid out in the classical style, and further farm and service buildings followed around 1775. Much of what can still be traced on the site today dates from this 18th-century phase rather than from the abbey's medieval origins.

The French Revolution ended the community's existence. The abbey was looted, then sold off in 1791 as national property and largely dismantled — a fate shared by many religious houses of the period.

What remains to see today?

What survives on the site relates mostly to the abbey's water management and service buildings rather than to the church or monks' quarters. Traces of hydraulic installations, including a basin and a mill, along with a dovecote, still mark the ground. These modest remnants are enough to give a sense of how the estate was once organized, and the site is protected as a listed historic monument.

Frequently asked questions

What religious order ran the abbey? The Cistercian order — La Charité was a men's house founded as a daughter community of the Abbey of Bellevaux.

When was the abbey founded? In the 1130s, through the initiative of Adélaïde de Traves and with the support of the Archbishop of Besançon.

What happened to the abbey during the French Revolution? It was looted and, in 1791, sold as national property, after which most of its buildings were demolished.

Can visitors still see abbey buildings on site? Only fragments remain, mainly service structures and water installations such as a former basin, a mill, and a dovecote, largely dating from the 18th-century rebuilding.

Where exactly was the abbey located? On land now split between the communes of Neuvelle-lès-la-Charité and Fretigney-et-Velloreille, in Haute-Saône, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.