page_title: Les Écharlis Abbey
section_title: Difficulties and first destructions
hierarchical_section_title: Les Écharlis Abbey / Difficulties and first destructions
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: La porterie de l'abbaye des Echarlis de l'ordre de Citeaux fondée en1108 à Villefranche-Saint-Phal (Yonne)
context_page_description: Les Écharlis abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in Villefranche, Yonne, France. It was founded in the twelfth century by a secular priest with two companions who wanted to live a monastic life. Soon afterward, the monastery joined the Cistercian order as a dependency of the Abbey of Fontenay.
  An initial site, quickly deemed too small for the growing numbers of monks, was soon abandoned in favor of a more suitable site located a few kilometers away. The abbey grew rapidly, thanks especially to the fame of the peasant saint Saint Alpaïs whom the monks had befriended and whose vita was written around ca. 1180 a monk named Peter. However, the abbey experienced numerous changes and hardships thereafter: the Hundred Years' War, the French Wars of Religion, abbatial appointments in commendam, and repeated destruction. It was dissolved in 1791 and sold as a so-called bien national during the French Revolution.
context_section_description: From the beginning of the Hundred Years' War in 1356, the monks were menaced by the advancement of the English in the Gâtinais. They sought refuge in their "red house", near the porte de Sens in Villeneuve-le-Roi (now Villeneuve-sur-Yonne). Soldiers destroyed the abbey down to the walls and it remained unoccupied until at least 1373. Even after their very gradual return to the abbey, the monks had to pray in the small entrance chapel. As their numbers had seriously descreased due to the war, they were likewise forced to rent out some of their barns. The war dragged on and in the fifteenth century the monks again fled before the invading British forces. Les Écharlis Abbey languished unoccupied and open to pillage from 1440 to 1455.
  Their numbers having decreased severely due to war, the Black Death, and a general decrease in interest in monasticism prevented the monks from cultivating their lands themselves. They chose to lease out their lands under emphyteusis, a kind of long-term lease, thus becoming both farmers and owners.
caption: The abbey's gatehouse
exif: {"Image Make": "SAMSUNG", "Image Model": "SAMSUNG MV800", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "1201104", "Image DateTime": "2011:05:10 12:37:29", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "COPYRIGHT, 2010", "Image ExifOffset": "228", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "20186", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3851", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/350", "EXIF FNumber": "33/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:05:10 12:37:29", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:05:10 12:37:29", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "244411/131064", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "419/50", "EXIF ApertureValue": "86/25", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "86/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "49/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4608", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "EXIF RelatedSoundFile": "RelatedSound", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "20050", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "1", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "26", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}