The Vaulerent or Vaulerand barn is a former monastic barn in Villeron, on the French plain in eastern Val-d'Oise.
From the 11th century onwards, it was a farm belonging to the Chaalis Abbey. Almost 800 years later, the barn still serves this agricultural function. Operated directly by the Royal Cistercian Abbey and its lay monks until 1315, it was then leased out. It remained the property of the royal abbey until 1791 when it was sold as biens nationaux.
The current complex includes a storage building, the barn, which dates back to the 13th century. Measuring 72 meters in length, it is one of the most imposing Cistercian farm buildings in France. The barn was listed as a historic monument in 1889; the dovecote, the well and the cellars were listed as historic monuments on February 20, 1990.
Location and topography The Domaine de Vaulerent is situated on a broad plateau in the northeastern part of the Pays de France, rising to a height of around one hundred meters. It is bordered to the northeast by the Butte de Montmélian in the commune of Saint-Witz, which marks the beginning of the Valois region, and to the south by the upper Croult valley in the communes of Louvres and Chennevières-lès-Louvres, which forms only a small, shallow valley in which the stream flows only intermittently. The subsoil of the plateau is composed of Saint-Ouen limestone (Bartonian), covered by a thick layer of plateau silts. This is the source of the land's remarkable agricultural qualities. On average, it reaches a thickness of 3 meters but can reach up to 6 meters, as shown by test pits carried out at Roissy-en-France, a little further south.
Like all the cereal barns in the Chaalis area, Vaulerent is isolated from any built-up area, in the middle of an open-field system. The center of the village of Villeron is 800 meters away. Around 1 kilometer to the west runs the ancient Roman road, then the royal road between Paris and Senlis, which later became Route nationale 17. The Chaalis Abbey is 15 kilometers to the northeast of the barn, a distance of around 20 kilometers by road in the Middle Ages. Today, urbanization is progressing all around the estate, with the presence of Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport 3 kilometers to the south, the development of housing estates around the village of Villeron, and a business park close to the old Route Nationale.
Toponymy
The name Vaulerent comes from the Latin Vallis Laurentii, meaning "Laurent's valley". The spelling of the name has constantly evolved: Vallorens, Vaulaurent, Volleron. Today, the spelling varies between Vaulerand, Vollerand, Vaulerant, and Vaulerent. Researchers prefer this last spelling, as it is the closest to the etymology and phonetic evolution.
History At the beginning of the 13th century, the Chaalis Abbey owned eleven barns, three of which were located on the French plain: the Stains barn in the present-day commune of Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin (Seine-et-Marne), the Choisy-aux-Bœufs barn in Vémars (Val-d'Oise), and the largest of all, the Vaulerent barn.
The creation of the estate The estate's history is well documented in the original abbey documents held at the Archives Départementales de l'Oise in Beauvais and the abbey's cartulary kept at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
The land of Vaulerent has belonged to the Chaalis abbey since it was founded in 1136. A charter dated 1138 specifies that it was bought half by King Louis VI and half by the monks. These lands had previously belonged to the lords of Villeron and the Suger de Chennevières family. At the time, these territories were largely occupied by woods and uncultivated land. After the first royal donation, other gifts came from local lords: Barthélemy de Montgé gave 37 arpents in 1139, Guillaume de Goussainville gave 20 arpents in 1140, Gautier d'Aulnay gave a nearby wood around 1143, which the Cistercian monks obtained the right to clear and cultivate.
Between 1140 and 1145, small buildings were erected on the site, and new donations were made. These lands were located in the parishes of Villeron, Saint-Witz, and Épiais. An isolated piece of land was also donated in Goussainville. The donations were made at a time when Bernard of Clairvaux was extending the influence of the Cistercians, thanks in particular to his preaching on the Second Crusade. In 1160, 140 arpents (61 hectares) were donated by Gui de Senlis, a butler of the King.
From 1163 onwards, the monks began to purchase new land around their estate, often disguised as donations. These purchases, made from local lords or other ecclesiastical establishments, enabled the estate to expand, but also to reduce the number of landlocked plots. This expansion came to a halt in 1173. It resumed only sporadically until around 1212, with purchases from small lords in economic difficulty. Around 87 plots were bought up until 1248. The surface area of only 52 of these is known: they cover 631 arpents or 275 hectares. The total surface area in 1248 is estimated, using a document called État général des terres de Vaulerent, at between 320 and 380 hectares. It covers a single block of land 4.5 kilometers long from north to south and no more than 1.5 kilometers wide, located between the parishes of Survilliers, Louvres, Roissy, and Épiais.
Barn farming in the Middle Ages
Direct use by monks (11th and 13th centuries)
When the monks acquired this land, none of it was under the tenancy. Instead, they were farmed directly by the abbey's lay monks. As required by the order's statutes in 1134, these lands were less than a day's walk from the mother abbey. All the modern agricultural methods of the time were employed. Horses were used as draft animals, rather than oxen, and land was cleared and improved. The monks developed a strict three-field system for all their plots, resulting in very high yields per hectare for the time. The first soles were devoted to wheat, the second to fallow land and the third to spring cereals, mainly barley. Archival documents from the 13th century are sufficiently precise to determine which plots were in which soles and in which year. This system lasted until the 18th century. In addition, the monks carried out extensive land consolidation. Of the 87 parcels listed in the acquisitions, the 1248 État Général mentions only 31 in total, a reduction of almost two-thirds. Of these parcels, nine were between 50 and 100 arpents, or between 22 and 45 hectares each, occupying over 90% of the estate.
Farming the barn (14th and 15th centuries) At the beginning of the 14th century, the Parisis region was undergoing a serious agricultural crisis due to poor weather conditions, resulting in famine and a sharp rise in mortality. This crisis was compounded by difficulties in recruiting new lay monks to keep the farms running. According to Charles Higounet, these problems led to the decision in November 1315 to lease a part of the land to a certain Pierre Bove, living in Vémars, for nine years, with the buildings attached. According to Georges Duby, the agricultural crisis needs to be put into perspective, and this decision is more closely linked to a general trend at this time, among ecclesiastical and seigniorial farms, to cease direct exploitation and favor leasing.
According to the inventory of 1315, the farm included 13 mares, 6 cows, 12 pigs, and 500 sheep. Since the rent was set at 1,123.80 hectolitres of wheat, the minimum yield required to break even and pay the rent was 15 hectolitres per hectare or 12.5 quintals. According to Higounet, the yield per hectare should have been over 16 quintals in the best years. The farm also grew dye woad and a small amount of vigne.
The barn continued to be subdivided throughout the 14th century, and its direct tenancy was completely abandoned. According to the 1401 "aveu et dénombrement", the monastic estate reached 453 hectares but was divided into seven fragments operated in different ways. In 1375, a new barn was leased to the north of the estate, on the land of Le Guépelle (now part of the commune of Saint-Witz), covering an area of 79 hectares. Other farms were created to the south of the estate, in Goussainville, Louvres, and Épiais. In addition, part of the Louvres' land was leased to tenants in the form of taxes. Some of these lands remained the property of Chaalis, but no longer depended on Vaulerent. The barn was reported in ruins in 1446, having lost its framework as a result of local fighting during the Hundred Years' War. It was undoubtedly restored in the years that followed. Its farm, created in 1315, covers between 194 and 227 ha.
Farming in modern times
The farm at the center of the monastery estate was first recorded in the farm archives in 1537. At that date, it covered 234 hectares and was divided into three families, Jean, Claude, and Jeanne Bruslé, with holdings of 75 to 80 hectares each. At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, the division of the estate was reduced to two. In 1649, Adam Le Febvre finally reunited the entire farm. Despite these successions of the same family on the farm, the situation remained precarious for each farmer, as their lease had to be renewed at the same rate of nine years, i.e. the rate of three crop rotations, as had been the case since 1315. This renewal was often accompanied by the payment of bribes, necessary to keep the lease: Noël Le Maire paid 500 pounds in 1630. The farm remained the property of the Chaalis abbey and its commendatory abbot until the French Revolution. Every year, the farmers had to bring the amount of their rent in kind to the parent abbey by cart convoy. They were obliged to reserve a room "ready and well furnished" for the abbot's officers and servants so that they could check on the state of the area.
Despite this precarious situation, the family managed to accumulate enough income to own land on other estates. In 1639, Françoise Ganneron, widow of Guillaume Le Maire, owned 88 hectares of land, to which were added 51 hectares bequeathed to her children. The marked honorability of these farmers is reflected in their burials: the Bruslé family was one of the first to obtain the privilege of being buried directly in the parish church. The church of Saint-Germain de Villeron still houses a number of their tombstones, including that of Jehan Bruslé, dating from 1561, that of Anthoine Guérin, who died in 1612 and is depicted full-length on his slab, and that of his wife.
At the end of the reign of Louis XIV, the economic crisis that devastated the kingdom also affected the wealthy farmers of Vaulerent. Land yields fell sharply, due in part to poor weather conditions linked to the peak of the Little Ice Age. Farmers were unable to sustain ever-increasing rents. In 1696, Louis Le Febvre's last lease ended, and the property was taken over by the family of Jean Navarre, who were settled in the Villeroy region, near Meaux. In 1708, he combined Vaulerent with the neighboring farm of Choisy-aux-Bœufs and the seigneurial farm of Villeron, the other large farm in the parish, giving him a total of 658 hectares and 18,600 pounds in rent. He owned 39 plough horses, a thousand sheep, and 17 carters.