- La Chaise-Dieu
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For the village in the Eure department, see Chaise-Dieu-du-Theil.
La Chaise-Dieu
The abbey at La Chaise-Dieu 
La Chaise-DieuAdministration Country France Region Auvergne Department Haute-Loire Arrondissement Brioude Canton La Chaise-Dieu Mayor Robert Flauraud
(2001–2008)Statistics Elevation 916–1,120 m (3,005–3,670 ft)
(avg. 1,083 m/3,553 ft)Land area1 13.58 km2 (5.24 sq mi) Population2 926 (2009) - Density 68 /km2 (180 /sq mi) INSEE/Postal code 43048/ 43160 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. Coordinates: 45°19′20″N 3°41′51″E / 45.3222222222°N 3.6975°E
La Chaise-Dieu is commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France.
Contents
Geography
La Chaise-Dieu occupies a 1082 m butte which dominates a plain between the mounts of Livradois and Velay. The closest cities are Brioude, Ambert, and Le Puy-en-Velay.
The Senouire forms most of the commune's eastern and western borders.
History
La Chaise-Dieu draws its name from Latin casa dei (House of God), in reference to the Benedictine abbey which was founded on the site in 1043 by Robert de Turlande, a kinsman of Gerald of Aurillac and canon of Saint Julian's church at Brioude, nearby. Robert served an apprenticeship at Cluny under Abbot Odilo, then served as abbot in the community he founded in the wilderness here, initially in the company of a repentant knight, Stephen. The traditional date of the founding is 28 December 1043 The abbey had over 300 monks and 42 outlying priories depending on it when Robert de Turlande died, probably in 1067. After his death, Robert was quickly canonized (1095) as Saint Robert de Turlande. The Chaise-Dieu continued to grow throughout the Middle Ages, becoming the motherhouse of further congregations of Black Monks. Pope Clement VI began his vocation as a monk at Chaise Dieu and was the patron of the vast abbey church (built 1344–1350), a suitable setting for his tomb.
The abbey church
The monks were driven out and the abbey secularized during the French Revolution. Clement's vast abbey church, his tomb and the abbey cloister remain. The fresco of the Dance of Death (ca 1470) is a famous example of this motif, which gained wide currency following the visitations of the Black Death. The partners of the figures are skeletons and the parade strictly follows precedence of contemporary society, with Adam and Eve preceding all: the pope then the emperor, the legate, the prince, the cardinal, the High Constable, the patriarch, the knight, then the abbot, the townsman, the merchant, the lady, ending with the lawyer, the minstrel, the clark, the ploughman, the monk, the innocent child and the pilgrim.
Between 1727 and 1740, the Jansenist bishop Jean Soanen was exiled to the abbey.
French pianist Georges Cziffra started an annual festival of sacred music in La Chaise-Dieu in 1966.
References
See also
Categories:- Communes of Haute-Loire
- Haute-Loire geography stubs
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