Commanderie de Devesset, Commandry in Devesset, France

The Commanderie de Devesset stands on the eastern edge of the village, behind a dark wooden fence and trees. Its tall walls of light tan and grey masonry rise to a steeply pitched roof, with a small square window set mid-height on the front and a dormer near the left corner. A calvary stands near the entrance.

The commandry is attested from 1246, probably founded by Hospitaller brothers of the Saint-Jean la Chevalerie commandry at Le Puy. At the end of the 13th century it became the seat of a mandement held from the Count of Valentinois, and in the early 14th century the centre of a castrum with Hospitaller fortifications and the villa nova Devesseti, when the Hospitallers also founded a parish. Its goods grew with the 1312 devolution of Templar property, and 14th-century commanders such as Pons de Fay, Raynaud de Fay and Robert de Châteauneuf also became grand priors of the Langue d'Auvergne.

The commandry belonged to the Langue d'Auvergne of the Hospitallers from the 13th century. In the 14th century several of its commanders, including Pons de Fay, Raynaud de Fay and Robert de Châteauneuf, also became grand priors of that province, and some held Devesset together with Saint-Jean la Chevalerie. A calvary stands near the entrance.

The commandry stands on the eastern edge of Devesset, in the Haut-Vivarais near the Velay border; a calvary cross marks the approach near the entrance. The building is behind a dark wooden fence among trees, and the grounds are uneven, so sturdy shoes help. The masonry walls and steep roof are best seen from outside.

The building stands on the watershed between the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, near the source of the Eyrieux River. This unusual geographic position made the location a key point for regional connections and control.