The Monastery of Saint-André d'Eixalada (Catalan: Sant Andreu d'Eixalada) was a Benedictine Christian monastery active in the 9th century in the eastern Pyrenees (now the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales). Founded on the banks of the River Têt no later than 840–841, the site suffered flood devastation in 878.
Founded by members of the same family, the Saint-André d'Eixalada monastery initially experienced a period of stagnation and poverty, until the arrival of new, much wealthier monks in 854. The wealthiest of them, Protasius, was also a dynamic man. Under his impetus, the monastery increased its possessions and influence, notably obtaining a diploma from Charles the Bald, King of the Franks, in 871, making it a royal abbey.
By 878, the abbey was at its peak. Both protégé and ally of the Count of Conflent, Miro the Elder, played a part in his conquest of the County of Roussillon. At the end of the same year, the Saint-André d'Eixalada monastery was destroyed by a flood. Such was the damage that the surviving monks decided to abandon the site and found a new abbey downstream, at Cuxa, on land belonging to Protasius.
Location
The Têt is a river that rises in the Pyrenees at the foot of the Carlit summit, before joining a vast high plateau (the Cerdanya, whose historic capital is Llívia) at Bolquère. As it flows around the citadel of Mont-Louis, it enters a graben that forms a deep valley with numerous canyons. From Prades onwards, the river widens, then crosses the Roussillon plain before flowing into the Mediterranean shortly after Perpignan. The Têt valley, between Cerdanya and Roussillon, is called the Conflent. Haut Conflent is the steep, incised part, Bas Conflent the broad valley that follows.
This region is influenced by the Mediterranean climate of the Roussillon plain, hot and dry in summer, with occasional heavy rains (referred to as "cévenol episodes") in late summer and autumn. Like all the Pyrenees, the Conflent region is home to numerous hot springs that have been used for thermal baths since ancient times, and were venerated by pagan peoples before the arrival of Christianity. Numerous human communities (villages, monasteries) have sprung up near these springs over the millennia.
The Saint-André d'Eixalada monastery was built on the right bank of the Têt, close to hot thermal sources, known as Eixalada springs, at a point where the coastal river has cut a defile (Graus defile). Today, several hot water springs are found near this site, and in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there was an active spa about a kilometer upstream: the Thuès-les-Bains spa, now a locality including a specialized nursing home, about two kilometers downstream from the commune of Thuès-Entre-Valls. The site of the vanished monastery lies on the edge of Route Nationale 116, at the end of the Graus defile. Here, the right bank of the Têt belongs to the commune of Nyer, while the left bank is part of the commune of Canaveilles.
Toponymy
Several explanations have been given for the word Eixalada, sometimes spelt Exalada.
The Catalan word eixalada (from the verb eixalar) means "cut". This toponym, and others like it (Xalada, Lassada), is fairly common in northern Catalonia and refers to steep places.
The most likely origin of the toponym Eixalada is the Latin verb caelare ("to cut") with the prefix ex. Other etymologies have been proposed, based on the topography and characteristics of the place: based on acquis ("waters"), exire ("to go out", the place is at the exit of a defile), scala ("ladder", stepped ascent, which corresponds to the current name of Graus), or laxicare ("to let go"). The presence of thermal springs has also led some authors to associate the name with the verb exhalare ("to exhale").
The monastery is named Saint-André because it is dedicated to Andrew the Apostle, one of Jesus' first disciples.
History
Context
During the late seventh and early ninth centuries, Charlemagne's troops succeeded in driving back the Saracens (Muslims) south of the Pyrenees. To reinforce the newly conquered territories, Charlemagne founded the Spanish March, a group of counties linked to the emperor. In the Catalan counties to the east of the Pyrenees, numerous monasteries were founded to clear, populate and manage these new territories under Frankish rule, and to propagate and strengthen the Christian faith.