Abbaye du Sauvoir-sous-Laon, Cistercian nunnery site in Aisne, France
Abbaye du Sauvoir-sous-Laon was a Cistercian nunnery founded in 1220 south of Laon, in the Aisne. After a move around 1240 to the La Ramée land given by the bailiff Soibert, it took the name Notre-Dame du Sauvoir, from salvatorium, a fish pond. Its church was rebuilt around 1550; the buildings were demolished in 1795 and no remains survive above ground.
Founded in 1220 to provide a home for nuns unable to enter Montreuil-les-Dames Abbey, this monastery was placed under the supervision of Foigny Abbey. It expanded through donations throughout the medieval period and remained active until the time of the French Revolution.
The name Sauvoir derives from the Latin salvatorium, meaning fishpond, a reference to the ponds the nuns maintained. The abbey's church was rebuilt around 1550, and in 1677 Marie-Chrétienne de Choiseul-Praslin had the dormitory rebuilt and the choir, cloister roof, sheepfold and bakehouse restored. The modern church Notre-Dame du Sauvoir in Laon keeps the abbey's name alive.
No remains of the abbey stand above ground; the site lies south of Athies-sous-Laon, near Laon. The name survives in the modern church Notre-Dame du Sauvoir in Laon, which recalls the former monastery. The abbey's house-refuge in Laon stood at 49°33′53″N, 3°37′43″E.
Jeanne of Flanders, daughter of Robert III of Flanders and widow of Enguerrand IV of Coucy, entered the abbey after her husband's death and became abbess around 1324. Her carved recumbent tomb figure is now in the church of Saint-Martin in Laon. The abbey took its name from the Latin salvatorium, a fish pond.
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