Orignated as a male Benedictine house, but was depopulated as a result of the saracen invasuions of the 10th c. In the 11th and early 12th centuries it is referred to as a church that had been given to the abbey of S. Salvatore (dioc. Torino). It is referred to as a monastery again in the late 12th century, and women appear some time between 1146 and 1197. The women lived in S. Martinano until the 1200's, when they occupied the new monastery of S. Maria.
Prioresses: Remota (1200-08); Agnese (1229-38); Gordia (1245-47). Abbesses: Anna (1252-54); Ota (1259); Sibilla Grossa (1265-69); Galliana (1267-73); Giordana (1272-73); Luarghenta (1274-82); Margherita di Bardonecchia (1288-90); Agnese (1293-99)
Innocent III, 22 January 1207.
S. Chiara (Torino), 1601
S. Salvatore (male) (Torino)
Countess Margherita, wife of Tommaso I of Savoia (count of Morianne) takes the monastery under her protection and gave 20 soldi annually from 1197 to 1223.
Very wealthy, peaking in 13th c., declining 14th - 15th c.
extensive landholdings
banking operations
June 30, 1197: Peter di Brione cedes a field to the nuns of S. Martiniano.
Cistercian elements include a T-shaped floor plan, but where the cistercian apses are rectangular, the apses of this monastery are semi-circular (Lombard style). The only other noticable Cistercian element is the location, in the country, suitable for agriculture.
Torino, Archivio di Stato, Sala 14, Materie Ecclesiastiche monache, Briore, cistercensi, 2 da no., 1166-1602.
