Chartreuse of Liget was a monastery of hermit-monks of the Carthusians order in France, founded in 1178[note 1] in Touraine by Henry II, Count of Anjou and King of England, in atonement for the murder of Thomas Becket (Archbishop of Canterbury) committed on his command.

[1] The Corroirie, the fortified gate, the chapel and the old prison were the subjects of an entry in the inventory of historical monuments from the 7 September 1926.

[3] This monastery is located in Indre-et-Loire 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Tours, in the heart of the forest of Loches in the town of Chemillé-sur-Indrois.

From its inception in 1151, Henry II, Count of Anjou and King of England, confirmed his authority and Touraine became the center of the Plantagenet empire stretching from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees.

[5] The founding deed was dated 1178,[Arch 1] was confirmed in 1199 by King John of England and in 1234 by Louis IX of France.

No mention of this is made in contemporary documents[6] and the legend seems to rely on an inscription, now lost, which adorned the main gate of the Chartreuse.

This fief supervised many farms making a total of 800 hectares of land, meadows, pastures, gardens and vineyards.

In 1363, Charles V founded thirteen more and Chartreux was allowed to acquire 300 pounds of annual rent on the royal domain.

From the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360, which formalised a truce in the Hundred Years War, the Anglo-Gascon had to vacate the places they had taken in Touraine.

By letters patent of Charles VII of France dated 12 July 1432, it was even equipped with a garrison by royal command.

The hermitage accumulating artifacts abandoned by generous donors like Hippolyte de Béthune, Count of Selles, nephew of the great Sully, who left in 1650 two paintings attributed to Caravaggio,[11] recently discovered[note 3] in the Church of St. Anthony of Loches.

Chartreuse was purchased as property of the state on August 19, 1791 for 25,300 livre by Louis-Victor-Bear Philippe Potier, Court Judge of Loches and John Ondet, a merchant of the same city.

[12] On August 6, 1837, Como-Édmond Marsay, former mayor of Loches bought part of Chartreuse, specifically, the cloister, the harvest room and the chapel.

After several transactions, Arthur de Marsay became sole owner of all of the Chartreuse, and undertook the initial work of conservation.

After World War I, the land therefore reverted to Henri de Marsay, his nephew, who moved to Liget in July 1919 with his wife.

Located at the bottom of a bowl near a waterhole surrounded by forest, the Upper House at Liget included two courses.

The outdoor courtyard was flanked by long buildings containing the common kitchen, bread oven, blacksmith and other workshops.

[17] Built in the twelfth century, the chapel, dedicated to Saint-Jean-Baptiste, is located in the town of Sennevières, bordering Chemillé-sur-Indrois about 750 metres (2,460 ft) "as the crow flies" southwest of chartreuse, back from the road from Loches to Montrésor.