Le Thoronet Abbey [SEP] religious order
Le Thoronet Abbey
Le Thoronet Abbey () is a former Cistercian abbey built in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century, now restored as a museum. It is sited between the towns of Draguignan and Brignoles in the Var Department of Provence, in southeast France. It is one of the three Cistercian abbeys in Provence, along with the Sénanque Abbey and Silvacane, that together are known as "the Three Sisters of Provence."
Le Thoronet Abbey is one of the best examples of the spirit of the Cistercian order
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