The site of the famous La Trappe Abbey was for centuries isolated in a valley surrounded by forests, streams and lakes, 9 miles from
Mortagne and 84 miles from
Paris, in the
Diocese of Séez and the former province of
Normandy. It began as a small oratory chapel to the
Virgin Mary, built in 1122 by
Rotrou III, Count of Perche, as a memorial to his wife
Matilda FitzRoy, Countess of Perche. (An illegitimate daughter of
Henry I, she drowned in the
White Ship disaster of 1120.) A few years later Rotrou built a
monastery adjoining, which he offered to the monks of
Le Breuil-Benoît Abbey near
Dreux, a house of the
Order of Savigny. The order was highly respected at that time for its fervour and holiness. In 1140 the monastery of La Trappe was raised to the status of abbey. In 1147
Savigny Abbey, with all its affiliated monasteries, was united to the
Cistercian Order. From that time onwards, La Trappe was a Cistercian abbey, immediately subordinate to the
abbot of Clairvaux. After years of prosperity, La Trappe suffered during the
Hundred Years' War. It was in the path of both the English and French armies. The monks were forced to abandon the monastery, which was burnt and pillaged in 1376 and again in 1465. In the 16th century, after the reconstruction, the abbey, in common with many other monasteries, was given to a series of absentee abbots
in commendam. The lack of leadership depressed its fortunes. The 14th commendatory abbot, installed in 1662,
Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, godson of
Cardinal Richelieu, proved to be La Trappe's greatest leader. De Rancé experienced a religious conversion which led him to take his responsibilities seriously. He became abbot in fact as well as in name. From 1664 La Trappe was the centre of a thorough reform of the Cistercian Order, led by de Rancé. The reform movement took the name of the abbey and became renowned as an order.
Bossuet, a friend of de Rancé, was a frequent visitor at La Trappe.
James II of England came here while a refugee in France. The distinguished
Benedictine scholar,
Dom Jean Mabillon, after his long quarrels with de Rancé, visited him here to make peace. ==Present day==