Note 240 — Chapter VIII · Gothic in the Midi (continued 2)

The Cistercian abbey of Fontfroide lies in a wild gorge some six miles from Narbonne. The church, begun in the middle of the XII century, was roofed with a pointed cradle vault. The cloister, like that at Tarragona, was covered with bombé vaults on eight ribs. Little marble columns support the Gothic masonry roof of the chapter house, which, like Poblet’s, opens by arcades on the cloister. Twelve monks from Fontfroide founded Poblet in 1150. The countess who ruled Narbonne for sixty years confirmed the abbey charter in 1157: ” I, Ermengarde, give to God and the Blessed Mary, to Abbot Vital and the present and future servants of God, the lands of Fontfroide,” runs her deed of gift. Doubly is a nation robbed when monastic lands are held by private individuals who assume no responsibility toward the public, as did a majority of the ancient houses, before royalty named its favorites as their abbots. Even as vast tracts were granted to nobles that they might perform gratis the military defense of a land, so monasteries were expected to give payment for their domains, by voluntary services to civilization. J. de Lahondès, in Congrès Archéologique, 1906, p. 61; Calvert, Études historiques sur Fontfroide (1875); G. Desdevises du Dézert, Barcelone et les grands sanctuaires d’art catalan (Collection, Villes d’art célèbres), (Paris, H. Laurens).