of Montgomery and favourite of Duke Robert I - the abbey never got these lands back. He also gave his uncle Onfroy de Vieilles important lands in Saint-Évroult and Beaumont-le-Roger previously owned by Bernay Abbey. Vitalis of Creuilly became abbot around 1055. He had been a monk at Fécamp and thanks to him Bernay was granted autonomy and full abbey status. He was a confidant of John of Fécamp, who also gave him the task of Saint-Gabriel-Brécy Priory around 1058. Vitalis remained at Bernay until he was made abbot of Westminster Abbey in 1076 by William I of England after the Norman conquest of England - he died there in 1082. He carried out considerable building works at Bernay and the conquest also brought Bernay three priories in Suffolk and Northamptonshire. Vital was replaced by his brother Osbern. The abbey archives are lost and so the next period of the abbey's history is unclear. The monks certainly profited from their town's prosperity after it became a textile and financial centre in the 12th century. In 1249 a major fire destroyed part of the monastery, reducing it from 35 to 15 monks. In the 15th century the abbey church's north nave aisle and apse were rebuilt in the Gothic style. In 1563, Gaspard II de Coligny sacked the abbey and looted its treasures and archives and it was further damaged by the rural Gauthier uprising in 1589. It was then left almost deserted until 1618, when the cloister was rebuilt. From 1628 it was taken on by the Mauristes, who began major building works in 1686. The refectory dates to 1694. The works also demolished the church's two westernmost bays and two eastern apse chapels. A new classical façade replaced the church's original one and most of the capitals in the nave were plastered in stucco. The central tower was also heavily reworked. Only nine monks were left in the abbey by 1790, when it was suppressed. It was then re-used as a town hall, tribunal, prison and then as a Sous-Préfecture. The north transept disappeared in 1810 and four years later the abbey church became a wheat market before being subdivided between several different users. The apse was demolished in 1827 and the central tower was also razed at an unknown date. The abbey church was in a very bad state by 1963, when a restoration commenced by the town