La commanderie du Soulet (traduction en Anglais par Finn Anson)

 

The Templar Commandery of Soulet

 

The beautiful fortified Romanesque church of Saint Martin, and the surrounding village of Cherval was an annexe of the Templar Commandery of Soulet, whose last commander, in 1301, was Ysard de Chaussade.

The rectangular church with four bays, built at the end of the 11th century, was vaulted with four cupolae on pendentives, and fortified by the Templars in the 12th century, and then by the Hospitallers in the 14th century.                         

Napoleonic Land Register of Gout

Map by Cassini (1748-1756)

The order of soldier-monks, Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem, was founded in 1129 at the Council of Troyes to protect pilgrims on the road to Jerusalem, and subsequently for the war against the Arabs. Created across western catholic Europe from financial donations, it consisted of a network of monasteries known as Commanderies, benefiting from numerous privileges, notably fiscal. Through this established activity, the order became a choice financial intermediary to the powers that be, going as far as making non lucrative transactions with certain kings, or looking after the royal treasury. Hugues de Payns, a knight from Champagne, was the first Grand Master. The preceptors of the commanderies oversaw what was essentially agricultural holdings belonging to the order; farms. As well as its mill, the properties (mainemants) of the Soulet Commandery were numerous, numbering thirteen in the village of Cherval, and others in the villages of Gout, Saint-

Martial de Viveyrols or Bouteilles. The order was suppressed in 1312, under accusations, from Philippe le Bel and the Pope, of heresy. The knights were imprisonned, judged, condemned and executed; some managed to flee to neighbouring countries.

Yzardus de Chaussada, præceptor domus Templi de Soloreto. (Isard de Chaussade, preceptor of the templar house in Soulet) was preceptor from 1291 to 1301. His commandery was attached to that of Andrivaux in Chancelade. After the dissolution of the Templars their assets were inherited by the Hospitallers. Le Soulet and its annexes passed under the control of the Hospitaller commandery of Comberanche.

Finn Anson