Le Bec Abbey

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The Abbey Le Bec , also Notre Dame du Bec-Hellouin , in today's Le Bec-Hellouin ( Département Eure , France ) was a Benedictine abbey in Normandy ( Diocese Évreux ) until it was destroyed in the French Revolution (1789–1799 ). Since 1948 it has been an intact Abbey of the Olivetans , a branch of the Benedictines.

South side of the abbey, abbey church and monks cells seen from the direction of Le Bec-Hellouin.

history

founding

South side

The monastery was founded in 1034 by Herluin von Brionne (* around 995, † 1078) near Bonneville . The Bishop of Lisieux gave Herluin the tonsure in 1035 , gave him the title of abbot in the sense of the Regula Benedicti (Benedictine monastic rule) and consecrated a small chapel in Bonneville. The chapel has not been preserved. In 1039 the monastery was relocated to the valley at the confluence of Risle and Bec in Pont-Authou due to lack of water . In 1041 a new church was consecrated by Archbishop Mauger of Rouen . The monastery stayed in this swampy place for almost 20 years. Around 1060 the monastery moved to Le Bec-Hellouin because of floods at the old location. In 1077 Lanfrank von Bec (* around 1010; † 1089) consecrated the new abbey church there.

Le Bec-Hellouin means something like "the brook of Herluin". Bec as a Norman word has the same Indo-European root as the New High German Bach (see there).

Monastery school

Lanfrank von Bec in an 18th century painting

Lanfrank von Bec became a monk in the abbey in 1042 and prior in 1045 . He founded the well-known school of the abbey, which was headed from 1063 by his pupil and second abbot of Bec Anselm of Canterbury (* around 1033; † 1109). Numerous bishops and abbots (including Theobald von Bec (* around 1090; † 1161) and Gilbertus Crispinus (* around 1046; † 1117)) came from this monastery, which was richly endowed by English and French kings. Other well-known theologians (for example Ivo von Chartres (* around 1040; † 1115) and Pope Alexander II (* 1010 or 1015; † 1073)) studied at the monastery school where the seven liberal arts were taught.

In the grammar and rhetoric lessons ( Trivium ) Lanfrank included the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, in particular the Psalms and the Epistles of Paul , and thus established the introduction of grammatical and rhetorical questions and methods into biblical exegesis .

After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror (* around 1027; † 1087) needed trustworthy men to consolidate his claim to rule in England. William the Conqueror established Lanfrank von Bec as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070 and donated lands in England and Normandy to Le Bec Abbey.

12th to 18th centuries

Saint-Nicolas tower, to the left of the tower the old pottery, to the right the monks' cells

In the course of time the abbey had properties in 165 localities and 22 priories were under its control . In 1167, Empress Mathilde of England was buried in the abbey church, and in 1263 the village church and abbey were ravaged by fire. During the Hundred Years War , the abbey was sacked by English troops in 1417. During the Huguenot Wars in 1563 it was captured by Protestant troops. In later times the monastery could no longer build on the fame, influence and religious renewal of the first two centuries of its existence. The original buildings are no longer preserved; they were replaced by new buildings in the 17th and 18th centuries. The 17th century cloister is one of the first in France to be built in the classical style. It was built on the originally destroyed cloister and still contains a richly decorated Gothic gate.

The square bell tower Saint-Nicolas dominates the buildings. It was built in the 15th century in the Anglo-Norman style, destroyed, and rebuilt in the 17th century by Guillaume de la Tremblaye (1644–1715), an architect and monk. The ten bells that housed the tower were dismantled during the French Revolution. 201 steps lead to the tower, from which you have a good view of the valley.

List of the Abbots of Le Bec from 1034 to 1790

New beginning

Plan of the abbey from 2009

Throughout the 19th century up to the Second World War (1939–1945) the abbey was used by the military as a horse stable, with great damage to the buildings. The walls of the abbey church were removed from 1810 and used as building material for other purposes. It was not until 1948 that the Olivetan monks (once assembled by Emmanuel André ) (under Abbot Paul Grammont ) succeeded in restoring the abbey and breathing Benedictine life back into it with government assistance through the Center des monuments nationaux . They laid out an English landscape garden around the building and today they make ceramic objects that they sell on site.

literature

  • Jean de La Varende : L'abbaye du Bec-Hellouin . Photographies de Michel Brieux. Edition of the Ateliers du Bec, Bec 1989.
  • Hans Wolter : Bec (Le Bec Hellouin) . In: LTHK 2 II, Col. 90.
  • Dawson Turner (1775-1858): Account of a tour in Normandy . undertaken ... for the purpose of investigating the architectural antiquities of the duchy, with observations on its history, on the country and on its inhabitants ... Band 2 . J. and A. Arch, London 1820, pp. 105-114 ( on Gallica ). (English)

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ L'abbaye vivante du Bec-Hellouin (French)
  2. ^ A b Édouard Charton: Le Magasin pittoresque . tape 18 . Paris 1850, p. 344 ( on Gallica ).
  3. ↑ Klaus Reinhardt:  Lanfranc. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 4, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-038-7 , Sp. 1074-1076.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  4. ^ Daniel Delattre, Emmanuel Delattre: L'Eure, les 675 communes . Editions Delattre, Grandvilliers 2000, pp. 28 f . (French)
  5. ↑ Guillaume de La Tremblaye. In: arch INFORM .
  6. ↑ Yves Montron: A La Decouverte De L'Eure . Editions Charles Corlet, Condé-sur-Noireau 1997, ISBN 2-85480-616-6 , pp. 87 . (French)
  7. ↑ a b Hervé Rotrou-Langrenay: Brionne et ses environs . Editions Alan Sutton, Joué-lès-Tours 1996, ISBN 2-910444-71-6 , p. 68 f . (French)
  8. ^ A b A. Blanchard, M. Delafenêtre, Lisa Pascual: Jardins en Normandie . Your. Connaissance des Jardins, Caen 2001, ISBN 2-912454-07-7 , pp. 36 . (French)
  9. ↑ Abbaye du Bec Hellouin, Center des monuments nationaux (English)

Coordinates: 49 ° 13 ′ 43 ″  N , 0 ° 43 ′ 18 ″  E