Saint-Hilaire-de-Poitiers

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St-Hilaire in Poitiers
St-Hilaire in Poitiers
St-Hilaire in Poitiers, reliquary in the crypt

Saint-Hilaire-de-Poitiers was a monastery founded before 511 in Poitiers, France . Its central part is now the Basilica of St. Hilaire-le-Grand de Poitiers . It has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage “ Camino de Santiago in France” since 1998 .

At the same place - at that time outside the city - there was a Gallo-Roman necropolis in the 4th century . Hilary of Poitiers had an oratory built here around 370, which he dedicated to two Roman martyrs from 362/363, John and Paul , and in which, according to tradition, he was also buried according to 367/368.

Already in 412 the oratory was destroyed by the Vandals , 453 by the Huns , the monastery built afterwards in 732 by the Arabs and in 863 and 865 by the Vikings , but it was rebuilt again and again.

In 450 the monks who lived at Hilary's tomb fled the invasion of the Visigoths and founded the Abbey of Saint-Maixent on their way .

Venantius Fortunatus , Bishop of Poitiers , reports around 570 that a light in the basilica led the Frankish king Clovis I in 507 , immediately after a prayer in the church, to the battle of Vouillé against the Visigoths and their king Alaric II. as a result of which the southwest of Gaul came under his rule. In his Church History of the Franks around 575, Gregor von Tours reported about a ball of fire in this context.

A few years later, the monastery was rebuilt through donations from Clovis. Mosaics from this building were discovered during excavations in the nave in 1856 .

A document from the year 732 , in which Pippin the Younger confirmed his privileges to the monastery, is the oldest surviving document from the abbey.

In the 9th century , the relics of St. Hilary of Poitiers, which had already suffered from the destruction and fires, were brought to Le Puy-en-Velay to protect against expected further attacks by the Vikings . They were not rediscovered there until 1655 , but only the left humerus was returned. The reliquary is located in the church crypt.

From 935, the Counts of Poitou and Dukes of Aquitaine were lay abbots of Saint-Hilaire, a privilege that passed to the French crown in 1204 .

11th century snake spear or sheet mask ?

According to the Chronicle of Saint-Maixent, Emma of Normandy , † 1052, daughter of Duke Richard I and widow of the Anglo-Scandinavian King Canute the Great , had part of the monastery church built, which was directed by Agnes of Burgundy , † 1068 , the third wife of the Aquitaine Duke Wilhelm V († 1030) was completed: today's - Romanesque - Basilica of St. Hilaire-le-Grand. One of their advisors will have been Fulbert von Chartres , who was thesaurarius (treasurer, chamberlain) of the monastery from 1022 until his death in 1028/29. The new building was consecrated on November 1, 1049 (the date is disputed).

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Commons : Saint-Hilaire-de-Poitiers  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 46 ° 34 ′ 38 "  N , 0 ° 19 ′ 58"  E