Notre-Dame (Argenteuil)

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Former Notre-Dame Abbey in Argenteuil

Notre-Dame was a Benedictine monastery in Argenteuil in the Val-d'Oise department .

history

Argenteuil was an important domain of the royal fiscus during the Merovingian and Carolingian times . Here founded Ermenricus, a confidante of King Chlothar III. , and his wife Mumana between 650 and 675 a priory for women, which was subordinated to the Abbey of Saint-Denis

Charlemagne hands his daughter Theodrada the sacred tunic of Argenteuil, leaded glass window in the parish church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Dammartin-en-Goële (Seine-et-Marne department)

Later, Charlemagne received Argenteuil as an independent monastery from Saint-Denis for one of his daughters with Fastrada , Theodrada , who became head of the community before 814. Charlemagne is also credited with the gift of the famous relic , the unsewn holy tunic or holy robe of Argenteuil , which was given as the garment of Jesus, woven by the Blessed Mother herself. This linen robe, which was made in 1156 by Hugo von Amiens, Archbishop of Rouen , was first mentioned, dates from the 1st or 2nd century and made the Argenteuil Monastery an important place of pilgrimage from the 15th century. This relic has stood the test of time and is now in the Saint-Denys Basilica of Argenteuil.

Argenteuil was almost completely destroyed by the Normans , and here it was Queen Adelheid of Aquitaine who, as the widow of Hugo Capet and mother Roberts the Pious , took care of the reconstruction at the beginning of the 11th century.

A century later, in 1119, after the scandal about her relationship with Petrus Abelardus , Heloisa withdrew to Argenteuil, where she became Abelard's prioress through influence. This - or perhaps their very presence - was enough to cause such an uproar that Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis endeavored to dissolve the Convention. In 1129, under the direction of the legate Mathieu d'Albane, who had been prior of Saint-Martin-des-Champs , a council was held in Paris in the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the presence of Louis the Fat and his son Philip , on which reforms were negotiated in several monasteries, including Argenteuil, on the grounds that Heloisa was more concerned with her own penance than with running the community, so that the nuns left to their own devices led a little monastic life. The nuns were expelled, some withdrew to Notre-Dame de Malenoue, others followed Heloisa to the oratory Le Paraclet , which Abelard had recently abandoned and has now been given to the expelled nuns. The convent of Argenteuil was from now on nothing more than a simple priory under the name "Humilité Notre-Dame d'Argenteuil" dependent on Saint-Denis.

Sucker’s reforms made Argenteuil a strictly monastic but also prosperous monastery. However, this situation did not last forever. Argenteuil was particularly affected by the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). The takeover of the monastery by Kommendatarabte caused further economic decline, among which the Cardinal Pierre du Cambout de Coislin (1636-1706), who was prior of Argenteuil at the age of seven, and the church historian Claude Fleury (1640-1723), who was prior in 1706 , stick out. It was then under Cambout de Coislin (who was represented as a minor by his uncle Pierre Séguier , Chancellor of France ) that Argenteuil joined the Congrégation de Saint-Maur ( Mauriner ) in 1646 .

By patent letters from 1788, the Argenteuil priory was finally united with the Discalced Carmelites of Charenton-le-Pont .

The existing structure dates from the 11th or 12th century, i.e. from the end of the women's monastery. During the revolution , the already partially dilapidated monastery was sold as national property and then used as a quarry until the end of the 19th century. Only the Saint-Jean Baptiste chapel , which is located on the monastery grounds ( Monument historique since 1945), is still preserved after restoration.

Excavations from 1989 onwards brought further remains of the monastery to light. On November 14, 1996, the finds were classified as Monument historique .

literature

Web links

Commons : Notre-Dame d'Argenteuil  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Fossier; Favier gives the year 660, Fisquet around 655 with royal permission 665, the Ministry of Culture (see website) mentions a document from the year 697 as the first mention
  2. ↑ Fisquet; according to the fossier, Saint-Denis "seems to have had no jurisdiction over A. before the 12th century"
  3. ↑ Favier