Combelongue

Title

Combelongue

Also Known As

Casalia Sti. Laurentii Combaelongae, Comalonche, Comba longa, Combalunga, Cumbalonga, Cumbalunga, Saint Laurens de Combelongue, Vallis Longa

Dates

Founded 1138; dissolved 1791

Dedication

Laurent, Mary

Affiliation

Case-Dieu

Medieval Diocese

Couserans

Circary

Gascony

History

Combelongue was founded ca. 1138 by Arnaud, count of Pailhas, whose son Antoine became its first abbot. It was closely associated with the comital family of Foix, and collaborated with them to establish the bastide of Campagne in 1254. It also helped to found the bastide of Rimont in 1272. In 1446, the brothers left the monastery for a more secure location at La Bastide de Sérou. 

Combelongue became a commendatory abbey in ca. 1530. The buildings at Combelongue were renovated in 1680. It was suppressed in 1790, and the abbey buildings burned in 1796. Much of the cloisters were destroyed, but the former abbey church survived.

Heads of Community

Abbots

Antoine, 1143-1165
Arnaud I, 1165-1189
Michel I de Verdun, fl. 1191
Navarrus d'Aqs, fl. 1208
Pierre I, 1211-1216
Gerald I, fl. 1220
Jean I, 1229-1235
Michel II, 1238-1241
Raimond Guillaume, fl. 1251
Isarnus, 1251-1256
Arnaud II, 1257-1263
Bernard, 1272-1280
Pierre II, fl. 1282
Michel III Carbonnel, 1297-1308
Jean II de la Vigne, 1314-1321
Jacques I, fl. 1322
Pierre III de Pira, 1326-1345
Guillaume I de Lorda, fl. 1347
Jacques II du Verger, 1373-1391
Michel IV de Durban, 1391-1399
Raimond d'Arias, 1448-1461
Arnaud III d'Arias, 1461-1495
Gerald II de la Font, 1495-1520
Firmenetus de Capdeville, 1520-1529
Guillaume II de Dominico, 1529-1530
Arnauld IV de Darrerio, 1530
Arnauld V Guillaume de Mauléon, 1530
Manfred (or Maffre) Roger de Comminges, 1530-1552

Status

Abbey

Archival Sources

Foix, Archives départementales de l'Ariège

18 Fi 552 (19th/20th c.; postcard)

64 Fi 807 (19th/20th c.; postcard)

1 J 289 (15th c.)

1 J 327 (Later copies)

1 J 526 (1532; inventory)

36 J 630 - 36 J 652

H 74 - H 83 (12th-18th c.)

Nancy, Bibliothèque Stanislas

MS 1752 (992, vol. 5), fols. 259r-260r

MS 1768 (995, vol.1), fols. 48r-51r, 54r-59r

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale

MS fr. 5128, p. 418 (1552)

Languedoc Doat 97, fols. 136-156

Pau, Archives départementales des Pyrénées-Atlantiques

B 1142 (1540s)

B 5950 (15th c.)

E 476

Toulouse, Archives départementales de la Haute-Garonne

15 FI 41 (1920-1950; photograph)

42 Fi 449 1- 4 (1990s; photographs)

Bibliography

Baroies, L. de. “Excursion de la société des études du Couserans, abbaye de Combelongue et château de Durban.” Bulletin périodique de la Société ariégeoise des sciences, lettres et arts 9 (1904): 217–20. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k57278962/f227.item.

Ferras, Vincent. “L’abbaye Notre-Dame et Saint-Laurent de Combelongue en Ariège (1131-1790).” In Actes officiels du 17ème Colloque du Centre d’études et de recherches prémontrées : Prieuré du Béarn, Valmont, 1991 : les femmes dans l’ordre de Prémontré, les abbayes de la circarie de Gascogne, edited by Martine Plouvier, 111–19. Amiens: Centre d’études et de recherches prémontrées, 1991.

Guillonnet, Pierre-Georges. L’Architecture retrouvée de l’abbaye de Combelongue. Rediviva. Nîmes: C. Lacour, 2001.

Mirguet-Avanzi, Jean. “L’abbaye de Combelongue en 3 D.” Roman en Couserans, 2016.

Pailhès, Claudine. “Les premières chartes de l’abbaye de Combelongue.” Archives Ariégeoises 9 (2017): 9–22.

Pradet, A. “Une copie non datée de l’acte de fondation de l’abbaye de Combelongue.” La Cour d’honneur de Marie 23 (1886): 13–16, 32–36, 53–58, 78–85, 106–15, 122–32.

Image Credit

The abbey of Combelongue, 2012. Wikimedia.

Files

Collection

Gascony

Citation

“Combelongue,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/169.

Geolocation