 In the 14th century, the reputation and the prosperity of Ardorel started declining, especially when the commendatory regime was set up.In 1586, during the French Wars of Religion, a relative of the abbot of Ardorel who secretly converted to Calvinism slipped inside the monastery and opened the doors for spadassins to slaughter the monks and throw their corpses into a well.A few survivors, who had left the monastery earlier, resumed monastic life in a grange in Lempaut owned by Ardorel.