Brantôme - Abbaye Saint-Pierre

The Benedictine Abbey of Brantôme was founded in 769 by Charlemagne, who
endowed relics of Saint Sicarius (Sicaire), one of the infants in the Massacre of the Innocents. The abbey got looted and destroyed by Norman invaders in 848 and 857.

The abbey was rebuilt end of the 10th century - and again end of the Hundred Years' War. The belltower dates to the 11th century (and is belived to be the oldest in France!), but it may actually even older, as parts of the foundations are merovingian, from a time, when hermits lived in caves, carved into the cliff behind the buildings of today. The ensemble was restored by disputed Paul Abadie in the 19th century.

The village of Brantôme developed on an artificial island opposite the abbey. Already in the 9th century, the monks had created that island by digging a connecting trench into a meander of the river Dronne.