THE OLD FORTIFIED GATE OF LONGPONT ABBEY.
In the background: Villers-Cotterets Wood and the road leading to Villers-Cotterets village.
The Abbey, which belonged to the Cistercian Order, was founded by Raoul IV., Count of Crespy, for which pious act he was absolved from excommunication. It quickly became a flourishing institution, the number of monks at the end of the 12th century being two hundred. In the 14th century, during the Hundred Years’ War, this number had fallen to thirty, while on the eve of the Revolution there remained only fifteen.
