Flavigny-sur-Ozerain

Our next stop, now June 28th, was the village of Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, another of les plus beaux villages de France. The village is nice enough by itself, and very old, but it has a special attraction, the factory where the famous Anis de Flavigny candy is made, which will require a second post. But first, the town, starting with the remains of the Benedictine abbey there founded by Widerard in 719. 

Helpful map

Extremely helpful chronology; click to enlarge and you
will read that Julius Caesar and his legions camped here--
bringing anise seeds for medicinal purposes--and gave
the place to one of his veterans, Flavinius, whose name
stuck

The Three Abbeys milestone...13th century, marking
the boundaries of the three abbeys, of which Flavigny's 
was one...see below

Rare dorsal view showing St. Seine and his famous donkey

Now entering the Carolingian (8th-9th cerntury) crypt of
the old Benedictine abbey; renovation was funded by the
Anis de Flavigny company (next post)

Assorted remnants, helpfully labeled

Helpful design of the abbey church--now gone--with
the crypt to the left; not in English too, but--click to
enlarge--and the pix are pretty easy to follow

Easy to tell which bits have been reconstructed

Moving right along, seeing the town

Interestingly, the abbey church was destroyed in the
Revolution, but the parish church was untouched; only
five monks were left in the abbey by then, and the (secular;
i.e., corrupt) abbot; in the Revolution, the Second Estate
[the Church] was hated just as much as the First Estate
[the nobility]

Some old paint remains

Sic transit, Gloria...a setting for the film Chocolate; now for sale

Stuff like this is part of the charm of these villages

One of the town portals...

Alas, the walls and towers did not keep the English
out in the Hundred Years War