Bonneval - Abbaye Saint-Florentin

Founded in 857, the Bonneval Abbey was attacked and burnt down by invading Normans in 911. It took decades to rebuilt. After Louis VI of France (aka "the Fat", "le Gros") took the abbey under royal protection (1110), the Benedictine convent thrived.

During the Hundred Years' War the monastery was pillaged and burnt down by Henry V of England´s troops. This time the rebuilding process took about a century. When, 150 years later, the Wars of Religion was raging, le Grand Condé (aka "Louis II de Bourbon-Condé") at that time commanding a Protestant armee, burnt down the abbey again.

At the French Revolution the abbey's premises were declared a national asset and sold. Meanwhile the abbey accommodates a psychiatric hospital, named for the psychiatrist Henry Ey, for many years its director.

After the French Revolution many abbeys were converted into prisons (eg "Abbaye aux Dames", "Fontevraud", "Clairvaux") or as (psychiatric) hospitals (eg "Prémontré").