Jumièges Abbey

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The former Jumièges Abbey today

The Jumièges Abbey (Latin: Monasterium Gemeticensis ) in Jumièges in the Seine-Maritime department was a Benedictine abbey and one of the largest monasteries in France until the Wars of Religion . The few parts that have survived to this day consist of ruins that have been opened to the public.

history

View of the abbey before the destruction

The abbey was founded by St. Philibert , the son of a Frankish count from Gascony , around 654 on a royal domain donated by Clovis II and Balthild . The foundation can also be seen in connection with the expansion of the monastery structure in Normandy by Audoenus von Rouen . As a result, the monastery was able to secure possessions from the Scheldt region to the Loire . Politically, the abbey was linked to the rising Carolingians , and so its founder came into opposition to the neustrian greats and had to live in exile until the end of his life. The development of the monastery was also shaped by the competition with the neighboring Fontenelle , which is particularly evident in a long-standing legal dispute over the forest north of Jumièges, which in turn borders on Fontenelle to the south. Hugo von Rouen , Karl Martell's nephew , became abbot of Jumièges and Fontenelle in 724 . In 788, Tassilo III, deposed by Charlemagne, was . , Duke of Bavaria, and one of his sons imprisoned here.

On May 24, 841 the monastery was burned down by the Vikings , whereupon the Benedictine monks gave up the abbey for ten years. One of the fled monks came to St. Gallen , and an antiphonary he had brought with him inspired Notker Balbulus to write his sequences.

The reconstruction took place at the initiative of Duke William I of Normandy by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Cyprien in Poitiers . By 934 it was restored to such an extent that it could accommodate 12 monks.

The abbot Robert Champart had the monastery rebuilt from 1040 to 1052, and on July 1, 1067 the abbey church was consecrated by the Archbishop of Rouen in the presence of William the Conqueror . The church's choir was restored around 1267-1270.

In 1431 the abbot Nicolas Le Roux was actively involved in the trial of Joan of Arc .

During the Wars of Religion, the abbey was looted again. When the Huguenots , who had already devastated Rouen , Dieppe , Le Havre and Caudebec , appeared in front of the abbey, the monks who knew about Caudebec had left the monastery. On May 8, 1562, the Jumièges Abbey was sacked again. On July 28, 1563, King Charles IX took. the devastation in sight. He allowed the monks to sell land to meet their basic needs, after which they sold the Norville reign for 10,220 livres to Charles de Cossé, Count of Brissac . Only 17 monks returned to the abbey.

In 1947 the monastery became the property of the state.

architecture

The monastery churches

Portal of the Notre-Dame Abbey
Today's interior view of the ruin
Floor plan of the former Notre-Dame Abbey, 1040-1067

Close together, separated by a 12th-century chapter house, are the ruins of two church buildings on the former monastery grounds: St. Pierre and Notre-Dame. St. Pierre is the older building and dates from pre-Romanesque to late Gothic times, but the Notre-Dame Abbey is undoubtedly more important, it is considered a "fundamental work of Norman architecture" and testifies to its developmental significance for the prehistory of Gothic architecture.

  • The Notre-Dame Abbey

In 1040 Abbot Robert began to replace a Carolingian church with the new building, which is now in ruins but still largely recognizable. The choir was completed in 1052, and the nave was completed when it was consecrated in 1067 in the presence of Wilhelm the Conqueror. It had an open roof in the central nave , the side aisles were closed with groin vaults . The floor plan shows the planned structure: From the square of the transept is Jochfolge of the nave designed columns and pillars in exchange mark each halved dimensions of the aisles. These continued in the former ambulatory of the relay choir , which was demolished with large parts of the transept and crossing. The formerly mighty, square, lighted crossing tower is a common motif of early Norman architecture. The elevation of the central nave wall is also systematic. Arcades , galleries and windows are axially related to one another, which is not yet a matter of course in the architecture of the time. Semicircular pillar templates emphasize the boundaries of the space squares. "We already encountered this way of thinking in terms of spatial compartments in Speyer and will continue to prove to be an important element of 11th century architecture, which is particularly well developed in Normandy and is one of the roots for the development of the Gothic." Gothic ahead also shows the emphasized verticality, which today's visitor is aware of due to the shaft-like steepness of the room despite the lack of a roof. The double tower facade is also new in Normandy . It is still like a westwork in its block-like unity and smoothness. In Caen this will be further developed a little later, around 1080. In these Norman buildings one sees the most important impetus for the facade structure of the high Gothic cathedrals.

From 1267 to 1270, the Romanesque choir was replaced by a Gothic one, and the transverse structure was simultaneously Gothicized. There is a striking contrast between the elegance and boldness of the first structure and the visible uncertainties of the second. Apparently they hesitated for a long time before deciding to become Gothic.

Between 1688 and 1692, false rib vaults were installed. On this occasion the supports were also covered.

The French Revolution had fatal consequences for the monastery. In 1795 the demolition of the convent buildings and the destruction of the roofs began. In 1802 the new owner of Jumièges had the choir blown up, after which the church served as a quarry until 1824. The Lepel-Cointet family bought the abbey in 1852 and began securing the remains. The romanticism and Victor Hugo , who spoke of "the most beautiful ruin in France", ensured that the church achieved great fame.

The church was 88 m long and 25 m high, the west towers reach 46 m in height.

  • The Petruskirche ( Saint-Pierre )

is a 10th century building. The west facade, the adjoining arcades and gallery openings of the nave were preserved from him. Only remnants of the Gothic renovations of the 14th century can be seen in the area.

The cloister

The late Gothic cloister was partially destroyed and partially preserved because the British ambassador Lord Stuart de Rothesay bought a grand piano and had it rebuilt in his Highcliffe Castle near Christchurch . In the middle we can still see the 500-year-old yew tree, as in Muckross Monastery in Ireland .

Art historical evaluation

Ernst Adam emphasizes that one can speak of construction schools in France since the second half of the 11th century. Normandy emerged as the earliest independent art area through the development of an architectural style that was initially unique to this landscape, but then had an impact on southern Italy and Sicily and above all on England through the Norman conquests. At the turn of the millennium, intensive building activity began in Normandy. The dukes and the nobility compete in the foundation of monasteries. In all episcopal cities, new cathedrals of mostly huge dimensions are being built. Little of it has survived. The oldest still standing large building, the abbey church at Bernay does not differ in principle from Vignory or St-Remi in Reims. Only in the abbey church in Jumièges does the independent Norman language appear fully.

The gatehouse

The most striking architectural elements of the building are the double tower facade, a mighty square crossing tower, rectangular templates as reinforcement of the outer walls, wall structuring by semicircular services, flying buttresses and open roof trusses in the central nave, beams supported by half-columns in the arcade arches and groin vaults between belt arches in the side aisles. These are the elements that are characteristic of Norman architecture from Jumièges on. Individual sections determine the structure, the walls recede, almost appearing as filling between a framework. This is where Jumièges differs from all previous French buildings.

The gatehouse dates from the 14th century, but was enlarged considerably in the 19th century.

  • Jumieges Abbey Detail 06.jpg
  • Jumieges Abbey Detail 01.jpg
  • Jumieges Abbey Detail 02.jpg
  • Jumieges Abbey Detail 03.jpg

Branches

List of Abbots

Other personalities

In the time of the Carolingian , from 788 , Tassilo III was. , Duke of Bavaria , imprisoned in the abbey.

Wilhelm von Jumièges , monk in Jumièges, wrote his Gesta Normannorum ducum here around 1070 .

The abbey also has its own annals : Annales Gemmeticenses ( Annals of Jumièges ), written at the beginning of the 12th century .

Agnès Sorel died nearby, her heart was buried in the abbey, her body was taken to Loches .

In the 17th century the abbey was again an important intellectual center. Among the monks who worked here were:

  • Dom Thomas Dufour, expert on oriental languages, author of a Hebrew grammar ;
  • Dom Jean Garet, editor of the works of Cassiodor ;
  • Dom Massuet, editor of the works of Irenaeus of Lyons ;
  • Dom Boudier, writer and general of the order;
  • Dom Le Nourry, author of Apparatus ad Bibliothecam Maximam Patrum , with an analysis of the religious writers of the 2nd to 4th centuries .

anecdote

Jumièges Abbey was the setting for Arsène Lupin's adventure, The Countess of Cagliostro .

literature

  • Charles Antoine Deshayes: Histoire de l'abbaye royale de Jumièges. Rouen, Baudry, 1829
  • Henry Decaëns: Jumièges. German edition, Éditions Ouest-France, 1989. Caisse nationale des monuments historiques. Minister of Culture.
  • Reinhard Liess : The early Romanesque church building of the 11th century in Normandy. Analyzes and monographs of the main buildings. Munich, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1967.
  • Ernst Adam: Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque. Frankfurt 1968, p. 103.
  • Marcel Durliat : Romanesque Art. Freiburg-Basel-Vienna 1983, p. 490.
  • Alain Perceval: Aerial image France. Zurich / Freiburg 1979, Fig. 104.
  • Werner Schäfke : Normandy. Cologne [1981] 7th edition 1990. (DuMont Art Travel Guide), p. 107 Fig. 20–23 FT-21.
  • Hervé Kergall: Gothic cathedrals and art treasures in France. Eltville 1990. Fig. 171
  • Under the sky of France. Aerial photos of a unique cultural landscape. Photographs by Daniel Philippe. Text and text selection by Claire Julliard (1991). Cologne 1992, p. 51

Web links

Commons : Jumièges Abbey  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adam, p. 108
  2. ^ Adam, p. 110.
  3. ^ Adam, p. 110f.

Coordinates: 49 ° 25 '54.7 "  N , 0 ° 49' 8.8"  E