Lahonce

Title

Lahonce

Also Known As

Fontia, Honcia, Lefonce, Lehontza, Lehuntza, Leonsium

Dates

Founded ca. 1160; dissolved 1790

Dedication

Mary

Affiliation

La Case-Dieu

Medieval Diocese

Bayonne

Circary

Gascony

History

Lahonce was founded ca. 1160 by Bertrand, viscount of Labourd, perhaps on the site of an earlier Benedictine house. It became a commendatory house in the 15th century. 

Lahonce was suppressed in 1790. Its 12th-century church is now a parish church.

Heads of Community

Abbots

Vitalis, fl. 12th century
Nicolas de Damasan, fl. 1227
Nolivet, fl. ca. 1285
P., fl. 1315
Roger de Villesangues, fl. bef. 1378
Guillaume de Labadie, fl. 1398
Pierre de Beyries, 1471-1474
Jean de Joyeuse, fl. 1487
Laurent d’Olhast, fl. 1518
Pierre II de Beyries, fl. 1524
Pierre III de Pinaqui, ?-1539
Pierre IV d’Aquarra, 1544-1558

Status

Abbey

Archival Sources

Pau, Archives départementales des Pyrénées-Atlantiques

The abbey's medieval archives were largely lost in the 16th century.

H 126-H 134 (17th-18th c.)

Bibliography

Béague, Nadine, and Leroy Fabrice. “Lahonce (64), Abbaye : rapport de diagnostic.” Research Report. Inrap GSO, 2015. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02010976/.

Biard, Georges. “L’abbaye prémontrée de Lahonce.” In Les femmes dans l’orde de Prémontré, les abbayes de la cicarie de Gascogne. Actes Officiels du 17ème Colloque du C.E.R.P. (Valmont, 1992), edited by Martine Plouvier, 105–10. Amiens: Centre d’études et de recherches prémontrées, 1992.

Bioy, François. “L’abbaye Notre-Dame de l’Assomption de Lahonce.” In Actes officiels du 44e colloque du Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Prémontrées. Circarie de Gascogne. Les prémontrés et la frontière. Pays Basque, 2018, edited by Martine Plouvier, 115–23. Laon: Centre d’études et de recherches prémontrées, 2019.

Nogaret, Joseph. “A l’église de Lahonce.” Bulletin de la Société des sciences et arts de Bayonne, New Series, 14 (July 1934): 349–50. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k32060191/f135.item.

Romatet, Jacques. “Notes sur les origines de l’abbaye de Lahonce.” Bulletin du Musée Basque 47 (1970): 1–16. https://prentsa.bilketa.eus/ark:/27020/bi00013/1970/47/v0003.simple.highlight=parent_iid:%22ark:/27020/bi00013%22.selectedTab=record.

Image Credit

The church of Notre-Dame, Lahonce. 2012. Wikimedia.

Files

Collection

Gascony

Citation

“Lahonce,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/153.

Geolocation

Item Relations

Item: Orisson DependentOn This Item
Item: Orthecole DependentOn This Item
Item: Otsantz DependentOn This Item
Item: Jatxou DependentOn This Item
Item: Béhaune DependentOn This Item