Monastère de Royaumont

A few kilometers north-west of Paris lies a monastery. Its stone buildings are surrounded by fields and stables where monks wearing dusty white cloths work. Inside the bare halls, mute steps and whispers hang like ghosts, and somewhere, the king listens to the lector.

Clare memorie Ludovicus quondam rex Francie, illustris genitor noster, in suo testamento ordinaverit quandam novam abbatiam, ad honorem Dei et pro anime sue remedio, construendam. De voluntate et assensu executorum ipsius quandam abbatiam Cisterciencises ordinis in loco qui dicitur Cuimont, quem de cetero Regalem montem decrevimus appellandum, in honore Dei et B. Marie et omnium sanctorum duximus erigendam.
Louis de brillante mémoire, autrefois roi de France, notre illustre père, avait ordonné dans son testament qu'une nouvelle abbaye soit construite à la gloire de Dieu et pour le repos de son âme. Ayant constaté la bonne volonté et l'assentiment des exécuteurs de ce testament, nous avons fait construire une abbaye de l'ordre Cistercien dans un lieu qu'on appelait Cuimont, et que depuis lors nous avons ordonné qu'on appelle Regalis-Mons, à la gloire de Dieu, de la douce Marie et de tous les saints.

Louis IX builds Regalis-Mons to respect his fathers wish, still grieving, but also thinking of a place to go to for retirement and rest. He decides to offer the new abbey to the ordi Cisterciencis, but he invites a frater predicator to be the lector, Vincentius Bellovacensis, upon recommandation. The place soon becomes one where the king may be sought if noone knows where he hid his hide : always ready to accomplish his duties, Louis IX retires there when he has time or feels he needs to look at things by a new angle.

Type
Religious, Monastery

1128 - 1790

Alternative Names

Regalis-Mons, Cuimont

Official State Religion

Catholicisme

Official Languages

• Lingua Latina

Notable Characters
Vincentius Bellovacensis