Saint-Vincent de Laon Abbey
Saint-Vincent in Laon was founded as a cemetery church around 580, first mentioned as an abbey in the 10th century and dissolved during the revolution . The last remaining intact building of the abbey burned down in June 2008.
history
In 513, Bishop Remigius of Reims designated a promontory in the southwest of Table Mountain of Laon as a cemetery for the city. At the same time, he stipulated that the Christophorus Church built here would be the second seat of the Laon diocese - and thus also the burial place of the bishops. Around 590, Queen Brunichild had a basilica built, and a little later monks settled there who were subject to the strict Columban rule, without there being any mention of an abbey.
In 882 the church was looted and burned down by the Normans and the monks were driven out. A few years later, Bishop Dido had the church rebuilt and again settled a dozen monks here. But as early as 892 Saint-Vincent was plundered again, and now it took more than a generation before another attempt to rebuild the monastery was made. In 925 Bishop Adelhelm took advantage of King Rudolf's visit and obtained privileges from him for the new church to be built. The chronicler Aimion von Fleury reports that King Louis IV was anointed king in the abbey in 936 by Archbishop Artold of Reims . A little later, the church outside of the city was plundered again by Hugo the Great during his unsuccessful siege of Laon in the fight against Ludwig IV.
Bishop Rorico, an illegitimate son of Charles III. and half-brother of Ludwig IV, had twelve Benedictine monks come from Fleury Abbey , who were subject to the more moderate Benedictine rule . In order to secure his decision, he had it confirmed in 961 by a regional council (at which the first talk was of an abbey) and in 975, shortly before his death, by his nephew, King Lothar .
On September 26, 987, the privileges granted by his predecessors were confirmed as king by King Hugo Capet in his second document. In 1072 Bishop Elinand consecrated a new monastery church, in 1082 Abbot Adalbero had the abbey surrounded with a wall , also to separate the monastery district from the city that had meanwhile grown up to the abbey. In 1145 the church caught fire in a storm, the reconstruction did not begin until 1175 and could not be completed until 1305, as the construction was strongly reminiscent of the cathedral of Laon and with a length of 90 meters and a width of 45 meters, with four Rosettes and 135 windows turned out to be exceptionally large. On the other hand, Pope Alexander III. the abbey was directly subordinate to the Holy See in 1171 , thereby emphasizing its importance.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, Saint-Vincent also suffered from the Hunter Years War , in 1359 the abbey was burned down by the English, whereby the valuable library with more than 20,000 manuscripts was almost completely lost. Only 257 manuscripts were saved, fifty of which are now in the Laon City Library and a few more in the Royal Library of Belgium . In 1520 Abbot Jean Charpentier had the facade of the church renovated and the vaults of the nave rebuilt. He was the last regular abbot of Saint-Vincent, after him the abbey was subjected to the system of commendate abbots.
In 1594 King Henry IV set up his general quarters in the abbey during the siege of Laon. In order to increase the range of his guns, he had some of them placed on the vaults of the church, which were then exposed to strong vibrations. As a result of the next siege of Laon, that of 1618, the nave and the bell tower collapsed. The church was not rebuilt for the time being, so that from now on services took place inside the church, but in the open air. Reconstruction only began in 1640, which ended in 1771 with the completion of the three-gabled abbot's palace.
During the Revolution , Saint-Vincent was also dissolved and devastated, after which it served as a feed store, military hospital and prison before the buildings were sold in 1796. The buyer financed his purchase costs by selling the stones from which the abbey was built; In 1810 he became insolvent and the abbey passed into other hands. In 1854 the Bishop of Soissons bought the property to set up a home for old priests. The abbey grounds were confiscated by the state in 1876 and sold to the army in 1877, who set up an arsenal here.
Of the Saint-Vincent Abbey, only the abbot's palace, completed in 1771, remains today. On June 14, 2008, the building probably burned down after an arson attack.
literature
- Extraits de la Chronique attribuée à Jean Desnouelles, abbé de Saint-Vincent de Laon, in: Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France 21 (1840)
- Maximilien Melleville: Histoire de la ville de Laon et de ses institutions - L'abbaye Saint-Vincent de Laon . 1846, online .
- Dom Robert Wyard: Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Vincent de Laon . 1858, online
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 33 ′ 23 " N , 3 ° 37 ′ 1" E