Troarn, Abbey of
TROARN, ABBEY OF
Former benedictine monastery of Saint-Martin in Troarn, Calvados, France, diocese of Bayeux. It was founded by Roger de Montgomery in place of a college of canons established by his father. The original monks were drawn from Conches c. 1050, and the first church was dedicated in 1059 under Abbot durandus of troarn, poet, liturgist, and writer on the Eucharist. It secured freedom from secular control in 1190 and flourished considerably in its first three centuries, playing a vital part in regional economic life till the 16th century. In 1562 the Calvinists launched an iconoclastic attack on the monastery. This was used by the monastery's tenants as a cover for pillaging, and the monks were unable to reestablish their rights. During the 17th century it was in the hands of commendatory abbots (see commendation), and attempts to reform it in the 18th century achieved nothing. It was dispersed during the French Revolution (1790). Only a few ruins of the claustral buildings survive.
Bibliography: r. f. n. sauvage, Histoire et développement économique d'un monastère normand au moyen âge: L'abbaye de Saint-Martin de Troarn (Caen 1911). l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 2:3220.
[d. j. a. matthew]