Translation to be reviewed. This page is a translation of the French original, which remains the reference. Read the French version
The abbey and the church of Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens
From a Benedictine abbey to the registers of the Protestants who stayed.
A legend attributes the founding of the abbey to Charlemagne: it is a legend. In 1530 Abbot Gérard Roussel, close to Marguerite d’Angoulême, encouraged the ideas of the Reformation here; in 1604 Henri IV granted the abbey’s revenues to the chapter of Saint John Lateran, in Rome. The former abbey and the church were listed as historic monuments in 1996. [W1] [W11]
In 1699 the “Rôle des nouveaux convertis de la paroisse de Saint-Pierre-de-Clairac” lists the Protestants who stayed and were forced to abjure. [W30] Their children were baptised in the parish: the registers extracted by Claude Martin and by Glenys make it possible to follow families divided between those who left and those who stayed.
Those who stayed Protestantism in Clairac
Sources
- [W1] French Wikipedia, « Clairac (Lot-et-Garonne) », accessed 5 October 2026: fr.wikipedia.org
- [W11] Calenda (OpenEdition), « Clairac et la Réforme », study day of 2 June 2018, accessed 5 October 2026: calenda.org
- [W30] Archives départementales de Lot-et-Garonne, Protestants agenais de Henri IV à la Révolution, exhibition catalogue (Agen, 2007) (PDF), accessed 7 October 2026: archivesdepartementales.lotetgaronne.fr