During the batttle between the King of France and Girart duke of Burgundy near Saint Père, the story says that flames came out of the sky and the earth trembled. Even the most brave soilders were afraid. The wrriors layed down weapons and prayed. So it is that the land became sacred and the long history of Veleay began.

A convent was built under the orders of Girart, but was destroyed by the Normans, it was replaced by a monastary and consecrated by the Pope in 878. Two hundred years later the monks of Cluny arrived and build a church, where the relics of Saint Mary Madelaine are deposed.

On a pilgrims day in 1120, a fire begins and more than a thousand people are buried in the ashes. In 1146 Saint Bernard preaches the secon Crusade before king Charles VII

In 1150 the rebulding is accomplished but without the narthex. The French revolution destroys much of the buldings, but is restored by Viollet the Duke in 1840 to 1856.

U.N.E.S.C.O. link http://www.unesco.org/whc/sites/84.htm

Historical site Basillica of Vezelay (Vézelay)

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