MONTREUIL, ABBEY OF

Former Carthusian house of Notre-Dame des Prés, at Neuville-sous-Montreuil, Pas-de-Calais, France, Diocese of Arras. This charterhouse was established in 1324 by Count Robert VII of Boulogne; its church was consecrated in 1328 by John of Vienne, bishop of the former Diocese of Thérouanne. It was periodically sacked and abandoned in the 14th and 15th centuries (Hundred Years' War). Dom Pierre de Marnef, a monk of Montreuil, was general of the carthusians from 1540 to 1546. Imperial troops pillaged Montreuil in 1542; the charterhouse was extensively rebuilt in the 17th century under Dom Bernard Bruyant. Montreuil was suppressed in 1790 during the French Revolution, and its prior, Dom Eloi Marion, was imprisoned at Arras and executed. After repurchasing a portion of the former lands of Montreuil, the Carthusians built a new monastery there (1872–75), which was consecrated by Bishop Lequette of Arras. It served as a major center of Carthusian publications; e.g., the Annales ordinis Cartusiensis of C. Le Couteulx were published there (1887–91). The charter-house was closed in 1901, during the era when France expelled all religious orders, and the monks moved to parkminster, England.

Bibliography: r. gazeau, Catholicisme. Hier, aujourd'hui et demain, ed. g. jacquemet (Paris 1947–) 2:1008. l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 2:1974–75.

[g. e. gingras]