Clairac

The history of Clairac is inseparable from that of its Benedictine abbey, which was internationally renowned in the Middle Ages. The abbey, as well as the village that was built around its walls, reached its peak in the 12th and 13th centuries. At that time there were 120 monks who worked in the fields as well as copying manuscripts. The abbot of Clairac was also the lord of the village and commanded two bastides, five priories and about fifty parishes. The monks also owned two mills on the Lot. The income generated by the abbey was considerable at the time.
But the most important inheritance was unexpected: the plum tree from Damascus, brought back from the Crusades, was in fact "entered", i.e. grafted, by them for the first time. They also discovered the process of sun-drying, inventing at once the "ente" plum and the Agen plum!