Crespin Monastery

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The former monastery of Crespin in the northern French municipality of Crespin in the northern department was probably founded around the year 670 by the later canonized Landelin von Crespin († around 686), who was also his first abbot and died there.

founding

Landelin, a former mugger of aristocratic descent, who proselytized in northern Franconia after his conversion , had previously founded the abbeys in Lobbes (around 650), Aulne (656) and Wallers (Waslere) (657). According to tradition, he later moved with two students to the forest in Hainaut between Valenciennes and Mons and built a wooden cell there on the banks of the groves that flows into the Scheldt at Condé-sur-l'Escaut . When the owner of the forest tried to rob them of their clothes as the price for the unauthorized sawing of branches, he was paralyzed; Landelin only healed him after his clothes had been surrendered. After his prayer, a strong spring is said to have emerged at the point where he struck his staff on the earth, whose rippling waves ( crispantibus undis ) caused him to name the place "Crispinium" (Crespin). The call of the three hermits and the stories about these miracles increasingly attracted new students, so Landelin had a chapel built, which became the nucleus of the Benedictine monastery dedicated to the apostle Peter . Landelin became his first abbot. He died there, probably in 686, and was buried in the monastery church.

history

The monastery initially flourished, because it had the reputation of having many miracles there because of Landelin's intercession, but in the 9th century it was increasingly in danger of being plundered or even destroyed by Vikings on their raids. To counter this danger, Landelin's relics were probably transferred to Boke near Paderborn in 836 . In fact, the abbey was destroyed by the Vikings in 870. After it was soon rebuilt, it was initially not re-consecrated as a monastery, but occupied by world priests. It was only given back to the Benedictines in 1080. From 1080 to 1802, when the monastery was dissolved during the Napoleonic era, a total of 48 abbots were in office in Crespin. After the dissolution, the monastery property was sold or plundered.

Current condition

Only remnants of the abbey church, which was probably built around 673, remain today. Of the rest of the monastery complex, only the abbot's former house, which now houses rental apartments, and a few outbuildings remain.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The information at the time of foundation varies in the literature; in some places it is dated as early as 640, which is highly improbable in view of Landelin's life dates and the founding dates of the three other monasteries he had founded earlier. However, the information about Landolin's year of birth - from 605 to 637 - also diverges widely, with a point in time around 625 or earlier being the most likely.
  2. ↑ From there they came in 1104 to the Flechtdorf monastery near Korbach in northern Hesse.

literature

  • Hans D. Tönsmeyer: The holy Landelin of Crespin. 836-1986. Festschrift to celebrate the 1150th anniversary of the transfer of his relics to Boke. Paperback, 1986. ISBN 3980031357 , ISBN 978-3980031356 .
  • Anne-Marie Helvétius: L'abbaye de Crespin des origines au milieu du XIIIe siècle , Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels 1986.
  • Anne-Marie Helvétius: Les sainteurs de l'abbaye de Crespin, du Xe au XIIIe siècle , in Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire , Volume LXVI, 1988.
  • Émile Trelcat: Histoire de l'abbaye de Crespin, Ordre de Saint Benoît , Arthur Savaète, Paris 1923. OCLC 80818219

Web links

Coordinates: 50 ° 25 ′ 21.36 "  N , 3 ° 39 ′ 51.03"  E