The royal monastery of Saint-Bernard, better known as the
Couvent des Feuillants
or
Les Feuillants Convent
, was a
Feuillant
nunnery or convent in
Paris
, behind what is now numbers 229?235
rue Saint-Honore
, near its corner with rue de Castiglione. It was founded in 1587 by
Henry III of France
. Its church was completed in 1608 and dedicated to
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
.
The nunnery was secularised and nationalised in the decrees of 13 and 16 May 1790 and became notable as the meeting place of the
Feuillant Club
.
Jacques-Louis David
used the nave of the convent's church as a studio for his painting
The Tennis Court Oath
. Most of the complex was then demolished under the
French Consulate
, leaving only the guesthouses at 229?235 rue Saint-Honore (built in 1776 by
Jacques Denis Antoine
and classed as a historic monument in 1987
[1]
) and the outline of its church's
apse
, which can be discerned in the courtyard of one of the guesthouses.
History
[
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]
Foundation
[
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]
Between the end of the 16th and the start of the 17th centuries, several
Catholic Reformation
and
Counter Reformation
religious orders set up complexes in the district below the second
porte Saint-Honore
. They were most often set up on royal initiative, such as the
Capuchin
house set up by
Catherine de Medici
in 1576 in the
Tuileries Palace
, close to the district. Not ten years later, in 1585, Henry III acquired the hotel des Carneaux,
[N 2]
whose buildings and lands bordered those of the Capuchins, to set up a new convent. At first he intended it to be a
Hieronymite
house, but he later switched this to sixty members of the Feuillant order from Toulouse. They arrived in the outskirts of Paris on 11 July 1587 and moved into the convent on 8 September the same year.
[2]
: 8
The convent buildings were designed by the king's architect
Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau
,
[3]
: 300
and construction work was led by one of the monks.
[4]
: 483?486
Development
[
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]
Abbot
Jean de La Barriere
remained loyal to Henry III, preaching his funeral oration at Bordeaux, but several of his disciples joined the
Catholic League
.
[2]
: 8
At the end of the
French Wars of Religion
the convent held only nine monks,
[5]
: 86
but still benefited from royal patronage after the war's end.
By letters patent of 20 June 1597,
[5]
: 86
Henry IV of France
put the convent under his protection and granted it all the privileges owing to a royal foundation. On 25 August the same year, he enlarged its lands by adding a house beside the couvent des Capucins which Henry III had acquired from the
duc de Retz
. Henry IV promised the convent the revenues from the rich
Val Abbey
in
commend
, though that promise was realised only by his successor
Louis XIII
.
[2]
: 11
The convent church was also completed during Henry IV's reign, in 1608, thanks to the alms given in the
holy year
of 1600. It was dedicated to
Bernard of Clairvaux
and in 1624 gained a monumental facade, paid for by Louis XIII.
In 1621
[6]
: 306, 314
the Feuillants set up their novitiate in the
faubourg Saint-Jacques
, at what is now 10
rue des Feuillantines
. In 1633 that site was given over to a convent of nuns of the same order (known as
Feuillantines
) to fulfil a vow by
Anne of Austria
and the novitiate moved to rue d'Enfer (on the site of 91-105 of present-day
boulevard Saint-Michel
)
[6]
: 306
Besides the revenues from Val Abbey, the Feuillants also enjoyed those of several guesthouses which they bought or built on their lands.
[2]
: 11
One of them, built in 1676, later became the home of
Marguerite de la Sabliere
, who hosted
Jean de La Fontaine
there.
Under the Constitutional Monarchy
[
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]
The
French Revolution
marked a turning point in the convent's life. Decrees on 13 May and 16 July 1790 transferred all church lands, goods and buildings to the nation
[7]
: 582
and so the lands and buildings belonging to the Feuillants were nationalised. The buildings became more and more abandoned by the monks (some of whom housed themselves in the former couvent de la Mercy on
rue du Chaume
), but were not sold, since they were close to the
salle du Manege
, where the
National Constituent Assembly
met from 1791 onwards.
[8]
: 181
The buildings thus housed several offices and committee rooms and for a few months the convent library housed the
national archives
. These political and administrative functions justified opening the complex to the public, including, merchants, artisans, lemonade sellers and coffee sellers. The place Vendome section of the
National Guard
was also based in the complex.
[8]
: 188
The church was also used for secular purposes. Its nave given to the painter
Jacques-Louis David
in autumn 1791 to paint his
The Tennis Court Oath
, not only since it could be adapted to fit the huge canvas but also due to its proximity to the Assembly, where several of its sitters were deputies.
[9]
: 58
He placed an announcement in
Le Moniteur
asking deputies who had been present to the event to come to have their likeness engraved.
[9]
: 68
The complex's proximity to the Assembly also meant that a club was set up in the old convent buildings - this became known as the
Feuillants Club
. Its members were dissidents from the "Society of Friends of the Constitution", more popularly known as the
Jacobin Club
after its meeting place in the former
couvent des Jacobins
on
rue Saint-Honore
. The split had led to the
Champ de Mars Massacre
on 17 July 1791, marking the people's defiance to a king who had tried to flee. Opposed to supporters of Louis XVI's fall, the more moderate members of the Jacobin Club left it and set up a "Society of Friends of the Constitution Sitting at Les Feuillants", made up of supporters of the constitutional monarchy. The presence of this political club so close to the Assembly's meeting place led to a strong parliamentary polemic in December 1791.
[7]
: 819
The Feuillants Club disappeared with the constitutional monarchy it supported on
10 August
, when
Louis XVI
and his family were arrested - the royal family were housed at the convent before their transfer to the
prison du Temple
on 13 August.
[7]
: 582
First Republic
[
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]
In 1793, the
National Convention
moved from the Manege and les Feuillants to the Tuileries. In the autumn, the old convent buildings became factories and administration buildings for arms manufacture. The artillery museum was also set up there before being moved to the couvent des Jacobins in 1796.
Under the
French Consulate
, the decrees of 17-vendemiaire and 1-floreal in year X (9 October 1801 and 21 April 1802) put into effect part of the works planned in the "Plan des Artistes",
[10]
: 140
ordering the creation of what would become
rue de Rivoli
and rue de Castiglione over the Feuillants convent site. The convent was thus totally demolished, except for the guesthouses on rue Saint-Honore (numbers 229-235) and the apse of the church, whose outline can be seen in one of the guesthouses' courtyard.
Buildings
[
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]
Rue Saint-Honore
[
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]
The entrance gateway, probably built by
Jean Richer
to a design by
Liberal Bruand
,
[11]
was built between 1676
[12]
et 1677.
[11]
It was a large gateway surmounted by a
bas-relief
and surrounded by paired columns supporting a triangular pediment containing the arms of France and Navarre. The bas-relief was by
Anguier
and showed Henry IV presenting the monks with plans of the church.
[N 1]
In the 18th century, this classical gateway formed the focal point of place Louis le Grand (now
place Vendome
), opposite the gateway of the new
couvent des Capucines
on the opposite side. It gave access to a courtyard in front of the church and to a passage linking the convent to the stables of the Tuileries and the 'terrasse des Feuillants'. This passage was later enlarged to form
rue de Castiglione
, whose construction led to the destruction of the gateway.
To the left of the gateway and to the east of the corner of the present rue de Castiglione were convent buildings (on the site now numbered as 229-235 rue de Castiglione) built between 1776 and 1782 by
Jacques Denis Antoine
. It was one of the main guesthouses belonging to the convent and still exists, its central body surmounted by a semi-circular pediment corresponding to number 231 and now inscribed on the historic monuments list.
[13]
Church of Saint-Bernard
[
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]
Exterior: Mansart facade
[
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]
Convent buildings, cloister and gardens
[
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]
Notes
[
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]
- ^
a
b
Thiery 1787
, p. 109 and Aubin Louis
Millin 1790
, p. 11, who attribute the bas-relief to
Jean Goujon
(although the sculptor probably died even before the convent's foundation), argue that it showed Henri III and Jean de La Barriere. However an engraving published by Millin (portfolio X, n
o
1) shows that it was Henry IV rather, launching building work on the church around 1601. A model of the bas-relief was held in the convent library.
- ^
According to
Biver & Biver 1970
, p. 84, 'Carneaux' derives from 'creneaux', meaning an old fortified house.
References
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]
Sources
[
edit
]
- Berty, Adolphe (1866).
Topographie historique du vieux Paris. Region du Louvre et des Tuileries
. Vol. I. Paris: Imprimerie imperial.
- Biver, Paul; Biver, Marie-Louise (1970).
Abbayes, monasteres et couvents de Paris: des origines a la fin du XVIIIe siecle
. Paris: Editions d'histoire et d'art, Nouvelles editions latines. pp. 76?98.
- Brette, Armand (1902).
Histoire des edifices ou ont siege les assemblees parlementaires de la Revolution francaise et de la premiere Republique
. Vol. I. Paris: Imprimerie nationale. pp. 275?286.
- Ciprut, Edouard-Jacques (1957). "L'eglise du couvent des Feuillants, rue Saint-Honore. Sa place dans l'architecture religieuse du XVIIe siecle".
Gazette des Beaux-Arts
. Vol. L. pp. 37?52.
- Hillairet, Jacques
(1956).
Connaissance du Vieux Paris
. Editions de Minuit/Le Club Francais du Livre. pp. 9?10.
- Millin, Aubin Louis
(1790). "Les Feuillans de la rue Saint-Honore".
Antiquites nationales
. Vol. I. Paris: Drouhin.
- Sauval, Henri
(1724).
Histoire et recherches des antiquites de la ville de Paris
. Vol. I. Paris: Moette et Chardon. pp. 483?486.
- Soboul, Albert (1972).
Precis d'histoire de la revolution francaise
. Paris: Editions sociales.
- Thiery, Luc-Vincent (1787).
Guide des amateurs et des etrangers voyageurs a Paris
. Vol. 1. Paris: Hardouin et Gattey.
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2°19′45″E
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