Commandery of Châteaubernard

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Geographical description

The vault templière of Châteaubernard is located at Châteaubernard, in Charente, close to Cognac.

History

The vault which is devanue the parish church, is the only vestige remaining of the commandery of Châteaubernard. There does not exist document mentioning its date of onstruction but architectural elements militate in favor of the years 1150-1160. A document preserved in the departmental records, gone back to 1220, relates to an agreement made with private individuals between Templiers de Châteaubernard and the monks Benedictines of the abbey of Fontdouce about the rebuilding of mills located close to Cognac and another gone back to 1227 mentions that the manpower of the commandery was of 5 templiers, of which only one knight.

Dautres acts give us the names of the commanders: in 1242, Guillaume de Sonnac, Commander of Aquitaine and Main future about the Temple and in 1295, on an act of purchase of a mill to a private individual Frère Hugues de Narzac are mentioned like commander of Châteaubernard and Angles.

This vault is on the way of the Pèlerinage of Saint-Jacques-to-Compostelle which passed by the Saint-Jacob district to Cognac. Châteaubernard suffered from the One hundred Year old War, which devastated all the area, then of the great plague. The commandery ceases being autonomous at the beginning of the 15th century and depends on Beauvais-on-Matha. Then, only the vault was maintained and a document of 1655, following the visit of the prior of the Order mentions the state of decay and ruin of the field.

After it would have belonged to the Ordre of Malta. With the revolution, the field of Châteaubernard is sold like national good. Returned to the worship in 1844, the vault becomes parish church only in 1874.

Description

Of rectangular plan, the commandery which dates from the 12th century consists of shouldered thick walls of Contrefort S, a vault was added on its line at the 15th century and the sacristy goes back to 1890.

It was built out of stone of size to only one vessel, with nave arched in broken cradle and tile channel. The vaults are with groined vault out of brick and for the arched southern vault of warheads

Commanders templiers

State

See too

List of the commanderies templières in Poitou-Charentes

References

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