Saint-Martin-des-Champs Priory

The oldest known structure on the site was a chapel dedicated to St. Martin of Tours, founded during the Merovingian dynasty, which appears in a text of 710.

In 1060, King Henry I of France chose to rebuild the complex of the former abbey, intending it then to be a priory of canons regular.

[2] The priory church was completed in 1135, having a choir section with a double ambulatory, topped by a simple ribbed arch.

It became the site of the last officially sanctioned trial by combat in France in 1386, when both the king and the Parliament of Paris authorized such a contest between the knights Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris, when the former charged the latter with raping his wife.

Over time, the priory fell subject to the system of commendatory abbots and became the property of a number of titular priors.