Monasteries and monks played an enormous role in medieval France, as they did throughout Europe. Originally just places for spiritual devotion and a retreat from the world, monasteries evolved to become carriers of culture – where books were copied and learning was transmitted, agricultural centers, architectural pioneers, and in some cases centers of wealth. In the High Middle Ages, there were over a thousand monasteries in France, and over time more than a million monks have taken their vows. The first one of those million was at Poitiers.
The future Saint Martin was born in Panonia (today’s Hungary), and raised near Pavia, in Italy. He served in the Roman Imperial Cavalry, being stationed in Samarobriva (today’s Amiens). He left the military some time prior to 361, when he became a disciple of the most famous of Gaul’s early Christian bishops, Saint Hilaire of Poitiers. Martin wished to worship in solitude, and Hilaire arranged for him to do so less than two hours walk from Poitiers, at Ligugé, the site of a former Gallo-Roman villa. From his hermitage, Martin often ventured forth to preach across western Gaul. Many of the places he preached retain his name today. Devotees joined him, and the solitary hermitage became transformed into a monastery, the first in Gaul. Martin remained at Ligugé until around 370, when he was convinced to become the Bishop of Tours.
Not only did Martin found the first monastery of what would become France, but his legend helped create other “firsts” that remain with us. The best-known story about Martin’s life is about his cloak: while still a soldier, he met a poorly clothed beggar near Samarobriva; Martin tore his military cloak in half, and gave half to the beggar. That night Martin was said to have dreamed of Jesus wearing his now half-cloak. Martin’s cloak became one of the famous relics of Merovingian France, carried by kings into battle, and conserved at a royal villa. The priest assigned to care for the holy relic was called a cappellanu, after the Latin word for cloak, “cappa.” From there all priests who served alongside armies became referred to as cappellani; this word eventually became “chapelain” in French, and “chaplain” in English. The relic of Martin’s cloak was also sufficiently famous to have small temporary churches built for it where the king would travel, and these were called “capella,” or “little cloak.” The word later came to refer to all small churches, which we call “chapels.” Monasticism in France was outlawed by the 1789n Revolution, and though many monasteries were subsequently restored, it is a shadow of what it was in its medieval heydays. Today fewer than 2,000 monks are active in France, in some 29 monasteries, a tiny fraction of what existed in the Middle Ages. But Ligugé, and the memory of the First Monk, remain with us.
