The abbey was founded by Saint
Martin of Tours (316-397) in 372, after he had been made
Bishop of Tours in 371. Martin's biographer,
Sulpicius Severus (
c. 363–
c. 425), affirms that Martin withdrew from the press of attention in the city to live in Marmoutier (Majus Monasterium), the monastery he founded several miles from Tours on the opposite shore of the river
Loire. Sulpicius described the severe restrictions of the life of Martin among the cave-dwelling cenobites who gathered around him, a rare view of a monastic community that preceded the Benedictine rule: According to the French chronicler St. Denis, the Muslims in 732 had decided to attack and destroy the monastery. In 853, the abbey was pillaged and destroyed by
Normans, who killed over 100 monks. In 982 the abbey, which had fallen into some disorders, was restored by
Majolus of Cluny, Abbot of Cluny, at the instance of
Eudes I, Count of Blois and of Tours, who died a monk at Marmoutier. During the years shortly after 1000 AD, the abbey grew considerably, becoming one of the richest in Europe. In the wake of the
Norman Conquest of 1066, the abbey acquired patronage of churches in England. In 1096
Pope Urban II consecrated its new chapel, and preached the
First Crusade.
Pope Calixtus II preached crusade again in 1119, convincing Count
Foulques V d'Anjou to take part and leading to his subsequent role as
King of Jerusalem. In 1162
Pope Alexander III, who came to reside in Tours after being chased from
Rome by
Frederick Barbarossa, consecrated the monastery's new Chapel Saint Benoit. The abbey eventually grew too small for its inhabitants, and was completely rebuilt at the start of the thirteenth century under the leadership of Abbot Hugues des Roches. Work was periodically interrupted by violent attacks made by the counts of Blois on the monks of Marmoutier. In 1253,
Louis IX took the abbey under his protection. ==See also==