From the 10th-11th centuries, a small convent of Benedictine nuns was
built in the valley, at the heart of the forest: "Our-Lady of Bondilhon".
The nuns abandoned their convent at the end of
the 12th century as the site had become unsafe.
At that time, the bishop of Uzes, Guilhem de Vénéjan,
attentive to the heretical peril that the Cathars represented to the estates
of the Count of Toulouse, entered into relations with the Carthusian Order
of Saint Bruno and permitted them to build a new monastery in 1204.
Thus was founded on February 10, 1204 the forty-first house of the Carthusian Order.
Beginnings were difficult, as for so many other monasteries. About ten
monks who arrived in the forest of Bondilhon, had to reclaim and make
habitable the small valley which was granted to them. Still today,
a part of the buildings are built upon immense arches to assure proper drainage.
This valley, returned to fertility by the constant labor of the Carthusian
monks, became "vallis bona" (the "good valley"), or Valbonne.
Thanks to the numerous donations that were made to them, the Carthusian
Order was quickly at the head of a large domain in the region. Their riches,
their influence, their reputation for being intercessor to God, their
works of charity which redistributed a large share of the received donations
to the needy persons of the region - all this could only cause jealousy
and greed on the part of their noble neighbors. Illustrations of this are the conflicts
with the priorate of Saint Peter of Saint-Saturnin-du-Port (town now called Pont-Saint-Esprit). |
