Le prieuré des Bénédictines

THE BENEDICTINE PRIORY The importance of this priory (or convent) is significant. Under the Ancien Régime, the town's economic, social and political life depended above all on the prioress and her lawyers, in particular her farmer-general (or fiscal procurator), who wielded considerable power. The prioress had the rights of a seigneurial lady, but also charitable duties towards the population. She was also an "employer", as the inhabitants earned their living by working on her lands and saltworks. Most of the successive prioresses were of noble origin, but they rarely resided in the priory. The number of nuns living in the convent varied over the centuries, reaching 12 after the Hundred Years' War. During the French Revolution, the religious orders were abolished, and the priory house (now the town hall) was sold. It comprised: the dwelling, the vast barn, the cellar, the stables, the wine press, the bakery, the "bucherie", the garden, the orchards and a vast pond. The priory, in a very poor state of repair, was sold to the parish in 1817. It was rebuilt as a presbytery from the old stones of the Madame church. The building was then bought by the municipality in 1978 to become the present-day town hall. * Excerpt from Monique Albert's book "Flâneries aux Moutiers-en-Retz".