Le Prieuré de Loups

With its five  guest rooms, each with its own private bathroom, its large reception rooms, its beautiful terraces, its petanque court and its magnificent setting, the Prieuré de Loups has everything you need to ensure the success of your getaway in our region.

Let yourself be seduced by the beauty of the surrounding landscape: ponds, fields, walking paths, woods, groves... You benefit from both the charm of the Berry countryside and the proximity of tourist sites in a peaceful and authentic green setting.

In order to make your stay enjoyable, we provide you with an important tourist documentation and a list of restaurants in the area. The region is full of rich and varied activities.

Founded in 1096 by Pierre de l'Etoile, the Priory of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine-de-Loups is located on land donated by Lucie de Brenne, also known as Dame de Mézières, and by Robert IV de Buzançais. Managed by successive priors, it prospered and achieved a certain notoriety in the region.

However, the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were not favourable to the Prieuré ( King Philippe Le Bel took money to finance his military expeditions, the papacy, which had come to seek refuge in Avignon, created the “papal tax” and the incursions of the English squadrons during the 100 years' war did not help matters). Nevertheless, it benefited from the good management of the priors Pierre and Guillaume de Fougères who, between 1470 and 1500, led an important "pond policy": creation of new ponds and important ditches, negotiation of land rights.

The Priory declined in the sixteenth century. It was depopulated and in 1606 it fell under the jurisdiction of the Abbey of Saint-Cyran, in Saint Michel in Brenne. It experienced a certain revival in the seventeenth century. The year 1632 saw the reconstruction of the priory chapel of Sainte Marie Madeleine by Dom Gabriel Robin, prior of Loups from 1613 to 1658. Then it was the Jansenist patron Paul Le Pelletier, sieur des Touches et de Seleine, who became involved in the maintenance and restoration of the Abbeys of Port-Royal and Saint-Cyran, and became prior of the Priory.

In 1715, the Priory returned to Fontgombault and Don Charles Jacquet was the prior. He undertook the restoration of buildings, ponds and woods, built stables and a large barn, now destroyed.

In 1741, after the dissolution of the Benedictine community of Fontgombault, the Priory was entrusted to the Abbey of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe until the revolution of 1789, during which the Constituent Assembly voted to spoliate the Church's properties. The Loups estate, put up for auction in 1791, was acquired by Mrs. Marie-Madeleine Dupin, wife of the former “fermier general” Mr. Louis-Claude Dupin, already owner of the marquisates of Le Blanc and Rochefort and the castle of Chenonceau. He was also the grandfather of George Sand. As for Madame Dupin, she remained famous for having been the protector of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

After having seen a succession of various owners, the Priory was acquired by Mr. Jules Lebaudy in 1872 at the same time as the Blizon estate; it has remained in the family ever since.