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Founded: 12th centuryCategory: Historic city squares, old towns and villages in France
Historical period: Birth of Capetian dynasty (France)
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The well-preserved fortified town of La Couvertoirade was owned by the Knights Templar, under orders from the Commandery of Sainte-Eulalie, from the twelfth century. The Templars built the fortress there during the 12th and 13th centuries; its two upper floors have since been removed. Following their dissolution in 1312, the Templars' property in the causses was taken by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem who were responsible for building the curtain wall at La Couvertoirade between 1439 and 1450.
Access is via steps cut into the rock at the church of Saint Christophe. Built in the 14th century by the Templar and then by the Hospitaler Knights, it is partly dug into the rock and its flat chevet forms part of the village ramparts. The church possesses surprising contemporary stained glass windows: the work of master glass worker Claude Baillon, they have the particularity of being figurative, which is rare for contemporary stained glass windows.
Today the village is brought to life by the artisan boutiques and old shops.
References:Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).