Sénanque Abbey [SEP] religious order
Sénanque Abbey
Sénanque Abbey (Occitan: "abadiá de Senhanca", French: "Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque") is a Cistercian abbey near the village of Gordes in the "département" of the Vaucluse in Provence, France.
First foundation.
It was founded in 1148 under the patronage of Alfant, bishop of Cavaillon, and Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona, Count of Provence, by Cistercian monks who came from Mazan Abbey in the Ardèche. Temporary huts housed the first community of impoverished
of the cities. Sénanque Abbey was the first, established in the Luberon between 1148 and 1178. Le Thoronet Abbey was founded in a remote valley near Draguignan in 1160. Silvacane Abbey, on the Durance River at La Roque-d'Anthéron, was founded in 1175.
France, Toulouse and Catalonia battle for Provence.
In the early 13th century a religious and political struggle in neighboring Languedoc upset the existing order in Provence. Pope Innocent III sent missionaries and then soldiers to suppress the Cathar religious movement in Languedoc. The