Canaveilles, Italy
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 d
evastation 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.
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