Avenay Abbey
The Abbey of Saint Pierre d'Avenay in the town of Avenay-Val-d'Or in Epernay was founded in 660 by St. Bertha von Avenay. The monastery was completely demolished during the revolution .
According to the relatively late tradition, Bertha von Avenay came from a noble family in Champagne. She married Gumbertus, a brother of Archbishop Nivard of Reims and allegedly brother-in-law of King Childerich II. The couple separated by mutual agreement in order to pursue religious goals. Gombert went to the sea as a monk, where he died a martyr. Bertha founded the monastery - although it is unclear whether the nuns followed the strict Columban rule or the more moderate Benedictine rule - in which she herself was murdered around 690 by the sons from her husband's first marriage, presumably because they believed too much of the family property for the monastery and the poor was raised. Bertha was buried in Avenay, Gombert was transferred there in 950. The couple rested for a long time in a shared sarcophagus (which still existed in the 18th century) until they were reburied in two silver coffins.
Some abbesses
- Bertha, * probably 830; † after May 7, 852, probably 877, daughter of Emperor Lothar I and Irmingard of Tours , became abbess of Avenay before 847, and was probably also abbess of Faremoutiers .
- Guillemette de Joinville, probably daughter of Gottfried III. of Joinville († 1188), Abbess of Avenay
- Françoise de La Marck (* 1547), daughter of Robert IV. De La Marck , Duke of Bouillon, Abbess of Avenay
- Benedicta of Mantua (* 1614), daughter of Carlo I. Gonzaga , Duke of Nevers and Rethel, Abbess of Avenay
literature
- Antoine Louis Paris, Histoire de l'abbaye d'Avenay, 2 volumes (1879)