![]() From the monastic enclosure, districts developed outside the walls: the Faubourg de la Grave, towards the Dordogne, where the former hospital was located the main district at the site of the old village of Vellinus the Barri du Trou in which the deceased were buried and the Mirabel district near the ancient orchards of the abbey. From the end of the 12th century, a village was built around the conventual buildings protected by a wall, punctuated by towers and bordered by a ditch. ![]() The powerful abbey, under the protection of popular saints, was located around fertile lands, an indispensable condition for the village inhabitants to develop. In the fourteenth century, a separate western steeple was erected: this also acted as the town's belfry. Annexed to the Cluny Abbey around 1095, it was reformed and experienced a favourable period and the construction of the great abbey church was begun and it continued for nearly half a century. As its wealth grew, the independence of the abbey was threatened by neighbouring feudal lords and it was defended against their depredations by the bishops of Limoges. Beaulieu became an essential stage on the roads uniting Limoges to Aurillac and Figeac, leading to Conques, Moissac, Toulouse and Compostela. Endowed with a treasure trove of relics (Saint-Prime and Félicien), and although it suffered from secular lusts, it had a spectacular rise that allowed the development of pilgrimages. Thanks to the pious donations of the Counts of Quercy, the Viscounts of Turenne, their multiple vassals, the area of the abbey consists of a third of the Bas-Limousin. The first monks came from the abbey of Solignac, near Limoges. Like those at nearby Uzerche and Limoges, the abbey of Saint Pierre at Beaulieu was a Benedictine foundation and flourished largely because of its proximity to the Way of St. ![]() From the great Solignac Abbey, he invited a team of monks to set up a new monastery and participated with his wide kin in the building of the abbey's heritage. The cartulary of the abbey reported that at the sight of the place's splendour, he could not help but baptise it "bellus locus". After a vain attempt at Végennes, he turned to Vellinus. In the midst of the War of succession at the head of Aquitaine, around 855, Rodolphe de Turenne, Archbishop of Bourges, rallied to the legitimate cause embodied by Charles the Bald, was committed to establishing a monastic foundation on his family lands. ![]() Chapelle des pénitents (left) in the village of Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne across the river from Altillac. ![]()
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