Commanderie de Xugney, Templar Commandery in Rugney, France.
The Commanderie de Xugney in Rugney is a Templar commandery whose chapel, built of coarse-grained sandstone, is wedged between two farm buildings. It has a single three-bay nave about twenty metres long, with no side aisles, and a five-sided apse lower than the nave. The apse's five panels each hold a window framed outside by a large blind semicircular arch; the nave's rib vaults have collapsed, leaving traces on the piers.
The commandery belonged to the Templars, who called it "Preceptor domus Templi de Suniaci". After the trial of the Order of the Temple, it passed in 1314 to the Hospitallers of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. It sometimes shared a commander with the commandery of Libdeau. In 1630 commander Charles de Lorraine leased both commanderies for six years, as he did for Robécourt, except the revenues of Norroy.
The name appears in Latin as "Preceptor domus Templi de Suniaci" and in Old French as "La mayson de Temple de Seugnez", which also gave the form Sugny. The chapel, probably isolated at first, is now wedged between two farm buildings, with only its west facade and chevet clear. In 1630 commander Charles de Lorraine leased it with Libdeau for six years.
The chapel is wedged between two farm buildings, so only its west facade and chevet are visible from outside; the nave and apse cannot be entered freely. The west facade is much altered and in poor condition. The church has been listed as a monument historique since 1926.
A dendrochronological analysis in 2011 of an oak beam found in the nave dated the wood to 1138, the earliest evidence of the chapel's construction. The chapel itself is not earlier than the late 12th century, so the beam predates the standing building.
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