Montier-en-Der Abbey

The monastery was founded in about 670, in deep oak forest[1] on the banks of the river Voire, at a place that at first still carried its Gallo-Roman name of Puteolus ("little well") in the diocese of Châlons-sur-Marne.

The eighth century was a time of eclipse for this monastic community, and when the monastery reemerges in the ninth it was Carolingian property, given by Louis the Pious to the bishop of Reims, and the house was served by canons rather than monks.

By the end of the century, the primitive buildings had been replaced; the abbot Adso (960-92)[5] set about rebuilding the ruined church in stone; it was reconsecrated in 998.

The cartulary of Montier-en-Der, assembled in the 1120s at the height of the monastery's prestige and wealth, is a crucial source of information for the history of west Francia; among the genuine charters are a number of forgeries that are equally interesting for the claims that they were intended to support.

At the time of the Wars of Religion, Montier-en-Der supervised twelve priories, and the abbey was one of the core benefices in the strategy of Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, who exercised seigneurial powers over twenty-one villages in the surrounding countryside.