Trade and circulation in the Loire Valley during the Carolingian period: the case study of the monastery of Cormery
Résumé
The cella of Cormery was established in the Indre valley at the end of the 8th century by an abbot of St Martin of Tours. The small monastery was located approximately 20 km from the famous funerary complex, which housed the remains of the bishop Martin. The supply of St Martin’s people was based on the river system of the Loire valley, which allowed the carriage of resources from the countryside to Tours. The settlement of Cormery is excluded from this network because the Indre River was not supposed to be navigable during the Carolingian period because of the presence of mills along its route. On the basis of the 9th-10th century charters of the monastery, let us propose to reconsider this hypothesis and include Cormery into the monastic exchange network of the Loire valley.
Entrées d’index
Keywords : Loire, St Martin of Tours, Cormery, Indre, carolingian, Benedictine
Texte intégral
1Today, Cormery is a quiet village of the Loire valley in Touraine but during medieval times, it was the seat of an important monastery, which progressively declined until the end of the 18th century. The monastic settlement was created at the end of the 8th century by Ithier, an abbot at the head of the powerful community of St Martin of Tours and a grand chancellor of Charlemagne. The monastery was located near the Indre river, a tributary of the Loire river, at approximately 20 km from the famous funerary complex in Tours which housed the remains of the bishop Martin. The remains of the monastic settlement of Cormery are still numerous in the heart of the village. They have been studied within the framework of a PhD thesis in medieval archaeology defended in December 2019 (POUYET, 2019). In this work, we also covered the organization of trade and circulation during the Carolingian period and the question of the Indre river as a navigable waterway, which is still discussed today1. These questions are difficult to answer, especially while studying the early part of the medieval period because the written sources related to the topic as well as the materials sources, are scarce. Fortunately for Cormery, many charters of the 9th century, copied during the modern period, still contain numerous information linked to our interrogations, which is mainly restrained to the limits of the former diocese of Tours, roughly the area of the actual French department of Touraine2.
The monastic communication network in the Loire valley: St Martin and Cormery
2Hélène Noizet has recently investigated the supply of St Martin’s people (NOIZET, 2007). She enlightened the existence of a supply network based on the river system, which allowed the carriage of resources from Saint Martin agricultural domains in the countryside to the monastery in Tours. Almost all St Martin’s domains identified in the charters from the 8th-10th were located near a river (Figure 1). These rivers as well as terrestrial roads were used to carry the goods towards some intermediate point of transshipment, like the port of Rest in Candes-Saint-Martin, which was dedicated to the domains located at the west of Tours or the place of La Lande for the north part of the supply network. Hélène Noizet showed the autarkic nature of St Martin exchange system compared to other Carolingian abbeys such as Saint-Denis or Saint-Germain-des-Près which were engaged in the economic circuit of Northern Europe (NOIZET, 2001, 61-62). None of St Martin domains were located in the Indre valley if we exclude the case of Courçay, but this configuration could be easily explained by the creation of Cormery in 791. Moreover, during the same period, we can observe the transfer of the villae of Tauxiny and Aubigny - which are located in the same area, to the young monastic settlement. The foundation of the cella at this place was a thoughtful decision for St Martin of Tours, which also used the settlement to welcome pilgrims3. Until the middle of the 9th century, the monastery didn’t have its own abbot and had to be considered as a territorial extension of the community of St Martin of Tours4. In this regard, it is very likely to include Cormery in the territorial supply network of St Martin.
Figure 1 - The domains of St Martin of Tours in the Loire valley during the 9th-10th centuries

Hélène Noizet 2007, p. 49
3During the first half of the 9th century, many tax exemptions were granted to Cormery by the Carolingians rulers to promote the development of the monastery. These exemptions highlight the existence of a trading network structured on the Loire river involving the use of two boats in 8005 and later on without transport limitation in 8446. However, the charters never mention the Indre river although others tributaries of the Loire river are listed like the Vienne, the Sarthe or the Mayenne for example. Regarding these elements, the state of the river Indre has been considered as non-navigable from the Carolingian times (ZADORA-RIO, 1992, 23). A state which should be linked to the presence along the rivers of numerous mills mentioned in the 9th century charters (NOIZET, 2007, 51).
The non-navigability of the river Indre: a complex case
4The list of rivers named in these tax exemptions has been interpreted as the map of the rivers navigated by the monastery’s boats, but it does not prove that the unnamed rivers like the Indre were non-navigable. If we look at the mentions in details, we can notice that as a matter of fact, the text includes all the rivers of the kingdom in 807 (« per omnia flumina in regno nostro »), in 831 (« per diversa flumina in regno ») or in 844 (« per caetera diversa flumina regni nostri »). The issue could probably be rephrased to “why are some rivers named in these documents and others not?”. One line of research concerns the significance of the waterways: the cruised rivers could more likely be taxed by the officers of the Carolingian power, and the Indre didn’t belong to this category. Aside this argumentation, the passage of boats on the stream is still supposed to be blocked by the presence of water mills along its route.
5In Touraine, no Carolingian mills have been identified in archaeological excavations, making the 9th-10th charters the only historical sources documenting this matter. In the cartulary of Cormery, the first mills located with a toponym are mentioned in an act of 844 referring to an exchange between the monastery and the bishop of Tours7. The three names involve places located around Cormery: “Evena” matches the municipality of Esvres-sur-Indre, “Avon” is a locality set in the same area and “Troicis” refers to the village of Truyes. Theoretically, these mills were supposedly located on the banks of the Indre river (LORANS 1996, 48; GUICHANE, 1998, 74). By observing in details the text referring to the mills in the cartulary of Cormery, we observed that there were no explicit mentions of the watermills on the river until the 11th century, when they were sometimes described on river banks. At a European level, the watermills described in the 8th-10th texts are generally located in the headwaters of the rivers or on small tributaries (LOHRMANN, 1989, 371; ROUILLARD, 2013, 4). It is therefore questionable to presume that the Carolingian mills of Cormery mentioned in 844 were stationed on the Indre river. On the cadastre of the 19th century, we identified three watermill spots with the same pattern, in the area of Truyes, Avon and Esvres. These watermills were not established on rivers but on springs, which are numerous on the hillsides of the valley. For example, the first mill of Avon was built on a spring, which allowed the creation of a water reserve for the mills. Later in the medieval period, they built a second mill directly on the stream of the Indre river (Figure 2).
Figure 2 - The watermills of Avon in the 19th century cadastre

6In Truyes, there were even two mills: the first was located directly on the spring in the heart of the village and the second situated below the hill8. The water of the spring was partially channeled by an aqueduct which probably goes back to antiquity and allowed to fill a pool with water for the mill (Figure 3).
Figure 3 - Photography of the aqueduct of Truyes

7Regarding this analysis, the arguments of the non-navigability of the Indre river during the Carolingian times doesn’t seem to be confirmed9. The lack of archaeological evidence forces us to be cautious, but the Indre river can probably be embedded in the navigable network of St Martin and Cormery during the 8th-10th centuries.
The network of Cormery in the Loire valley
8Cormery developed its own network of villae in the Loire valley during the 9th century and almost all these domains were located in the Indre valley or near a tributary of the Loire or the Vienne rivers: the Veude, the Dive, the Manse, the Creuse, the Bourouse… (Figure 4). Most likely, the monks of Cormery used the hydrographic system to carry resources from their domains to the monastery in the Indre valley. Around the middle of the 9th century, the monastery was powerful enough to create itself a new monastic settlement called Villeloin with the financial help of local landlords10. Villeloin was established on the Indrois river, a tributary of the Indre river, upstream of Cormery. One charter of the 9th century tells us that the monastery of Cormery owned some warehouses in the port of Rest for trading and shipping purposes11. As St Martin of Tours, Cormery probably used the port of Rest as a point of transshipment to redeploy the resources from its domains in the west. Cormery also had fishing activities in the port of Rest according to the charter which describes a drawn net.
Figure 4 - The domains of Cormery during the 9th century

Original map from NOIZET, 1997, p. 200; modification POUYET 2020
9By boat the transport time between Cormery and the port of Rest, approximatively 75 km, could be made in one day sailing down the Indre and then the Loire river. The other way round was probably much longer if we refer to the estimation of 15 km a day upstream, even with draught animal power (LEBECQ, 2011, 191). To reach Cormery from Rest by the river, the boats needed at least 4 or 5 days. It is still far better than the use of carriages harnessed by animal power – oxen or mules – that we can estimate between 10 and 20 km a day. However, the short distance between Saint Martin of Tours and Cormery, less than 20 kilometers, does not exclude the use of ground transportation for direct exchanges between the two monasteries.
10The nature of the transported goods is almost never directly mentioned in the written sources. The question must be examined with another perspective: what kind of resources could have been produced or brought in the Indre valley? The 9th century charters sometimes describe the composition of the domains close to Cormery including the forest, fields, meadows, vineyards, pastures, arable and unusable lands which are mentioned in these same sources.
The resources usually transported by waterway: cereals, wood and wine
11From all the potential resources produced in the Indre valley, three of them were particularly suitable to be transported by boat due to their weight: cereals, wood and wine (CHAPELOT and RIETH, 1995, 126).
12During the Antiquity, the Indre valley was already an important place of production of cereals to supply the Roman city of Caesarodunum at the position of the actual city of Tours (POIRIER 2014). In addition to that, Elisabeth Lorans pointed out that according to the Middle Ages charters, there was a meaningful number of references of soil exploitation in the 9th-10th written sources, showing probably the importance of the production of cereals in the valley (LORANS, 1996, 158). An interesting aspect of this question concerns St Martin of Tours and its grinding process. Helene Noizet noticed that the canons didn’t have any mills near their location, and that they probably had their cereals ground on floating mills on the Loire or in their domains not far away12. In light of the study of the Indre valley mills outlined earlier, it is highly possible that St Martin used these facilities to produce the flour and brought it back to Tours by waterways.
13In the medieval society, wood was an omnipresent resource used for many purposes and especially as softwood lumber. For the abbeys, it wasn’t necessarily easy to obtain in the appropriate shape. For example, in 859, Loup of Ferrières, asked another abbot called Berthold to give him twenty trees from his forest for the purpose of building a boat13. After this event, Ferrières received from Odon some forest that belonged before to the abbey of Corbie14. For St Martin of Tours or Cormery, the information linked to this resource in the Carolingian charters are very sparse and have not been yet fully exploited. However, the existence of an important forest called Bréchenay, located between the Indre and the Cher rivers, is attested for the first time by a charter of the 12th century a reporting a conflict concerning the use of the wood involving the monastery of Cormery15. This forest almost disappeared around the 16th century to be replaced by agro-pastoral activities (Figure 5). The data recorded in archaeological sites located in this area show us that the forest cover was very sparse during the Antiquity (YVARD, 1995, 554-555; JOLY, 2014). Most likely this forest has been established between the early Middle Ages and the 9th-10th centuries when it reached its maximum surface (JACQUET, 2003, 133-134). Is there a possible connection between this expansion and the monastic activities of the settlement of Cormery? The answer is probably yes if we compare to the use of the forest by the abbey of Cormery at another period, between the 12th and the 16th century; but many actors were probably involved in the management of this resource like the abbey of St Julien of Tours or the archbishop of Tours (POUYET, 2019, 135-136). Around the 9th century, we can assume that Cormery and St Martin fully exploited the wood of the forest of Bréchenay for the building purposes.
Figure 5 - Presumptive limits of the forest of Bréchenay

14At the Carolingian times, the wine production of the abbey was relatively well-known. Beyond a simple product of consumption, it was also used as currency on markets and fairs (DEVROEY and LAPEYRE, 1984, 583). The French wine from the Paris area was shipped throughout the whole Frankish territory and even in Northern Europe (MCCORMICK, 2001, 651). The wine produced in the Loire valley was apparently better than the one produced in the Parisian abbeys according to the polyptych of Irminon, but this assessment did not refer explicitly to the Touraine area (TANGE, 1997, 951). The production of wine in this area was rather kept for local markets during the medieval times, it started to be shipped beyond around the 15th century (LETURCQ and LAMMOGLIA, 2018, 31-33).
15Vineyards are mentioned in the charters of the 9th-12th centuries in the Loire and the Vienne valleys, but also in the domains located near Cormery. A chapter of the Vita Alcuini describes the delivery of wine to the monks of Cormery by Alcuin which was abbot of St Martin at the end of the 9th century (VEYRAD-COSME, 2017, 287). Did the young monastery lack of a vineyard ready to produce, or should we consider it as an exceptional event, the gift of a better-quality wine? In any case, the community of St Martin of Tours had largely the means to provide the monks of Cormery according to estimates which assesses the production of several thousands of hectolitres per year (NOIZET, 2003, 208).
16In Cormery, a topographical singularity of the monastic organization could be related to this issue. The cellars of the monastery, built around the 12th century, are located in the north part of the cloister (which is situated at the north of the church like the monastery of Villeloin and Saint-Julien de Tours) in front of the river (Figure 6). This position was usually the place of the refectory (at the opposite of the church), like in most of the Benedictine abbeys of Touraine. In Cormery, the refectory of the 13th century was located in the west part of the cloister close to the road. The cellar location could be linked to a former use related to the navigation of the river or to the exploitation of the vines. At the east of the monastery, an important vineyard which surrounded the parish church was exploited by the monks and the villagers of Cormery at least since the 12th-13th centuries16.
Figure 6 - Localization of the monastery, the parish church and the vineyards in Cormery

The range of the exchange network of Cormery
17From the middle of the 9th century, Cormery obtained from Charles the Bald the right to hold a weekly market near the monastery and also to organize an annual fair the day of the conversion of St Paul17. In Meuse, Georges Despy analyses the rural market as “a commercial relay between the rural areas and the towns” (DESPY, 1968, 163-168). By prolonging this thinking, we can interpret Cormery’s rights as the will to create an exchange node, a relay which allowed the Indre valley to join the Loire valley exchange network. Most likely, the role of the monastery was not limited to purchasing goods and collecting taxes but also to sell its own production, like St Denis monks in the 8th century (TANGE 1997: 943-955).
18The right of holding an annual fair on January, 25th is even more significant. According to the work of Michael McCormick, Cormery and St Maixent are the two only references that we know of today for the western half of Francia, if we exclude Rouen and Paris (MCCORMICK, 2001, map. 22.1). The short length of these fairs - which only lasted for a day, stated probably the small size of these events at the beginning18. The significance of this fair is difficult to assess, it could have been established to attract merchants of rare products needed for the activities of the scriptorium, liturgy, medicine or even cooking. For example, the monks of Corbie abbey used to buy gold dust, incense, myrrh and pepper in Cambrai, probably during the fair of St Gély (DEVROEY, 2003, 133).
19The study of these events during the medieval period remains to be done, meanwhile it must probably be considered as a very local exchange space dedicated to the resale of the production of the Loire valley, like cereals and wine. This analysis emphasizes the concept of “territoire san-martinien” mentioned by Hélène Noizet to describe the omnipresence of St Martin of Tours in Touraine but also the closed nature of its exchanges activities which were very different from those of St Germain-des-Près or St Denis (NOIZET, 2001, 14). On the other hand, we have to highlight the longevity of these markets in Cormery which evolved over time but were still some very important moments of the life in this rural area during the 18th-19th (MAILLARD, 1998, 28)19.
20The boat range of the Cormery monastery was not limited to the Touraine area regarding some particular products. The exemption taxes charter of 831 mentioned the Tenu river20, a small tributary of the Loire near Nantes which allowed boats to reach the Portus Vetraria, one of the most important places of the salt trade in the Atlantic coast (BRUAND, 2008, 18). We can suppose that Cormery’s ships sailed up to the Portus Vetraria on the Loire river in order to bring back salt in Touraine (Figure 7). In 844 in Bony-sur-Loire, between Orléans and Nevers, the abbey of St Germain-des-Près initiated the building of salt warehouses and obtained tax exemptions for four of their boats (BAUTIER, 1989, 17).
Figure 7 - The rivers mentioned in the 9th-10th charters of Cormery

21In the middle of the 9th century, Cormery possibly opened its exchange network towards the north-east in Champagne: in 844 the Seine river is mentioned for the first time in a tax exemption and in 865 a hospital in Ponts-sur-Seine, between Provins and Troyes, was given to the monastery by St Martin of Tours21. Except these few elements, the network of Cormery remains limited to the west part of Francie. The interrogations concerning the provenance of oil resources, used for many purposes in monasteries, remain also a mystery. For example, the abbey of St Denis benefited a tax exemption on olive oil from the Mediterranean during the early Middle Ages (TANGE, 1997, 950). The monastery of Cormery produced maybe itself some vegetable oil in its domains: in a charter of 844, some “oleae” 22mentioned near Avon could refer to olive trees or some others oil-fruits23. In addition, we have known that this domain of Avon was equipped with a watermill in the 9th century, which could have been used to manufacture the oil.
Conclusion
22The establishment of the monastery of Cormery in the Indre valley was a strategic decision linked to the supply policy of the canons of St Martin of Tours. After studying the Carolingian acts, the topographic features of the 9th century watermills have been reviewed and the navigability of the Indre river appears very likely. The supposedly increase of the circulation and exchanges around the middle of the 9th century testifies the vitality of the exchange system based on the hydrological network of the Loire valley. The implementation of a weekly market and an annual fair in Cormery contributed to this process, which underlines the leading role of the monastery in the territory enhancement like other monastic settlements of the Frankish world during the same period (LEBECQ, 2000, 129-133).
Bibliographie
Sources
BOURASSE, Jean-Jacques (1861) – Cartulaire de Cormery, précédé de l’histoire de l’abbaye et de la ville de Cormery, Tours : Mémoires de la Société archéologique de Touraine.
LEVILLAIN, Ernest (1964) – Loup de Ferrières, Correspondance. Paris : les Belles Lettres.
TESSIER, Georges (1943) – Charles le Chauve : Recueil des actes de Charles II le Chauve. Paris : Imprimerie Nationale.
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Notes de bas de page
1 This specific problematic was the subject of a communication given at the “40e journées internationales de l’Association française d’Archéologie mérovingienne (AFAM)” in Nantes in October (3-5th) 2019 (POUYET, in press).
2 These charters were compiled by Joachim Perion at the beginning of the 16th century, they were then edited in the 19th century by the abbot Bourassé in 1861. A very happy initiative because the original cartulary of Perion burned in the fire of the library of Tours during WWII.
3 The chart of foundation recalls this function « quam et pro stipendio fratrum ibidem in Dei servitio habitantium, necnon consolatione peregrinorum » (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 1).
4 The first abbot Jacob appears in the text in 831 (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 10) but it’s definitively under the abbacy of Audacher from 837 that the independence of Cormery increased (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 11).
5 « in monasterio quod est constructum in honore sancti Pauli Apostoli, in Loco qui dicitur Cormaricus licentiam haberent naves duas per Ligerim fluvium, et Meduanam, sive Sartam, et Ledum, vel Viennam, huc illucque pro necessitatibus dirigendi…» (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 3).
6 « ut immunes ab omni teloneo naves quotquot sint necessariae per alveum Ligeris, et per Carum, Vigennam, Meduanam, Sartam, Sequanam et Ledim, vel per caetera diversa flumina, ob necessitates ipsius monasterii fulciendas, discurrere, nostra regalis decerneret auctoritas sequens morem praecedentium regum…» (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 16).
7 « […] in pago Turonico, in condita Eveninse, inter duos locos in Evena farinarium I […]; in Avon autem mansions VIII, et prata aripennos XV, farinarium I […] in villa Troicis farinarios III… » (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 15).
8 This mill is probably the one described in a chart of the beginning of the 11th century: « […] ut concederemus ei cum duobus successoribus quoddam farinarium more censili, cum uno arpenno de terra, quod est subter Troillum villam, non longue juxta ripam Agneris » (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 34).
9 The complete study is available on the chapter 3 of the PhD thesis (POUYET, 2019).
10 The foundation charter is edited in the cartulary of Cormery (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 17) and in the collection of acts of Charles le Chauve (TESSIER, 1943, n° 131).
11 « mansiones quoque in Condate de villa Reste que dicuntur Ad Rupas, quas ad compendium navium solamenque piscium, unde et eis tractum sagene concessit in Ligere de memorata villa Reste… » (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 18).
12 « les chanoines se soient fait livrer directement en farine et aient fait moudre leurs grains ailleurs qu’à Tours, soit directement dans leur villae, soit dans des moulins non loin de Tours […] » (NOIZET, 2007 : 59).
13 « je comptais vous prier […] de vouloir bien nous faire cadeau de vingt arbres, dans votre bois de Marnay… » (LEVILLAIN, 1964, n° 105).
14 « Envoyez-nous avant le début de septembre, selon nos conventions, si l’occasion ne se présente pas avant, les frères qui doivent nous assigner une partie de votre forêt » (LEVILLAIN, 1964, n° 106).
15 BOURASSE, 1861, n° 55.
16 Some vines are mentioned in the text of the establishment of the chapel St-Martin in the abbatial church in 1322 by the knight Pierre de la Charpraie: « […] Item Thomas Deradon sept solz sex deniers et ung chappon et demy sur la vigne do cimitière que fust à la femme Gueignart. Regnau Babin bochier cinq solz et ung chappon de sa vigne, séant audict leu. Jehan Camuseau bouchier tres solz cinq deniers et maille sur sa vigne séant audict leu, une ruete entre deux. Macé Guibert le genre tres solz cinq derniers et maille de sa vigne séant audic leu. Phelippin de Rudebor dix solz, deux chappons, sur les vignes de celluy leu et dou Bruillaz, près des vignes au sacretain… » (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 117).
17 « Insuper etiam petiit majestatem pietatis nostrae ut in omni hebdomada absolute mercatum juxta idem monasterium possit haberi, et aliud mercatum annuale in festivitate Conversionis beati Pauli, octavo kalendas februarii… » (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 16).
18 The length of a fair in days reflected approximately “the distances which merchants travelled to attend that market” (MCCORMICK 2001: 648). By comparison, the fair of St-Denis lasted several days at the end of the 8th century and up to four weeks at the beginning of the 10th century.
19 In 1443, the monks had the right to organize two fairs the Sunday in September and November (not in January like in the 9th century) and they ask the king Charles VII to modify the date of these fairs: “les religieulx, abbé et couvent de Sainct Poul de Cormery […] ont droict de toute ancienneté d’avoir deux foires en ladicte ville de Cormery, don’t l’une d’icelles estoit tenue le premier dimenche de septembre et l’autre le dimanche devant la sainct André, esquelles foires aflluait grand nombre de merchandz et autres gens qui y venoyent de plusieurs parts, lieux et contrées […] (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 132.
20 « ut monachi qui in Cormarico monasterio […], licentiam haberent duas naves per Ligerim fluvium et Viennam et Carum et Tavagum […] » (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 8).
21 BOURASSE, 1861, n° 25.
22 « in Avon autem mansiones VIII, et prata aripennos XV, farinarium I, et tres partes ex altero, et inter oleas et vineas et terram arabilem aripennos ccxx » (BOURASSE, 1861, n° 15).
23 However, the cultivation of olive trees so far north would be surprising.
Auteur
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Thomas Pouyet
University of Tours, CITERES-LAT, thomas.pouyet@univ-tours.fr
Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence Licence OpenEdition Books. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire.
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