Hildebert (or Ansius), a canon of
Auxerre, petitioned
abbot Stephen Harding of Cîteaux to found a monastery in a place he had selected for this purpose. Accordingly, in 1114 Stephen sent twelve monks under the guidance of Hugh of Mâcon, the first abbot and a friend and kinsman of
Bernard of Clairvaux, to establish the new foundation. Under Abbot Hugh and his successor, Guichard, the new monastery developed such a reputation for sanctity that it attracted sufficient numbers to be able to establish another twenty-two Cistercian monasteries. In the 12th century, Pontigny was situated in the
County of Auxerre, at that time not a part of the
Duchy of Burgundy and, though
exempt, in the
Diocese of Auxerre, a
suffragan of the
Archbishopric of Sens, which also comprised the
Diocese of Paris. The distance from
Sens is 44 km (27 miles). It was sponsored by
Louis VI of France (and
Theobald II, Count of Champagne). This way connected to the
crown lands around
Paris, it participated in the inception of
Gothic style, already in the first phase of construction (probably since 1138) of its abbey church. Many members of the community of Pontigny went on to occupy high positions in the church and many distinguished personages sought refuge there. Amongst the former were, Blessed Hugh of Mâcon,
Bishop of Auxerre (d. 1151);
Girard Mainard,
Cardinal Bishop of Praeneste (d. 1202); and Robert, Cardinal Titular of St. Pudentiana (d. 1294). The latter included three
Archbishops of Canterbury:
Saint Thomas Becket, and
Stephen Langton.
Saint Edmund of Abingdon was taken ill here on his way back from Rome, died at the house of
Augustinian Canons at
Soisy-Bouy and his body was brought back to the Abbey for burial. Over the centuries, however, the original strict discipline relaxed, especially from 1456, when the abbey was given
in commendam. In 1569 it was pillaged and burnt by the
Huguenots, only the relics of Saint Edmund being saved. Partly restored, it continued in existence until it was suppressed during the
French Revolution. The monastic buildings were largely destroyed, but the church was saved, due to the respect in which the cult of Saint Edmund was still held, and continued in use after the Revolution as a parish church. In 1843 a community of the
Fathers of St. Edmund was established here by
J. B. Muard. In 1909 the remaining southern wing (refectory and dormitories of the lay brothers) was bought by the philosopher Paul Desjardins, who from 1910 to 1914 held meetings every year at the abbey, known as "Decades of Pontigny", or conferences of ten days' duration, where the intellectual élite of Europe met including inter alia
Jean-Paul Sartre,
Simone de Beauvoir,
T. S. Eliot,
Thomas Mann,
Heinrich Mann,
Nikolai Berdyaev. Between 1922 and 1939, after the end of
World War I, Desjardins reorganized the conferences to evaluate the future of Europe, annually bringing together such notables as
Charles du Bos,
Roger Martin du Gard,
André Gide,
Paul Langevin,
André Malraux,
François Mauriac,
Jacques Rivière and
Alice Voinescu, among others. It later housed a college, then from 1954 the
Mission de France seminary. In 2003, it was bought by the Regional Council of Burgundy. ==Burials==