Lucedio Abbey (Italian: Abbazia di Santa Maria di Lucedio) is a 12th-century former Cistercian foundation near Trino, which is now in the province of Vercelli, north-west Italy. It played an important role in the development of rice production in the region.
The abbey was founded in 1124, when Renier I of Montferrat provided an extensive tract of marsh, heath and woodland known as Locez, on whose agricultural development the future prosperity of Lucedio would depend.
As the second daughter-house of La Ferté Abbey (after Tiglieto Abbey, in the Ligurian Apennines), this was one of the earliest Cistercian monasteries in Italy. Lucedio contributed in its turn to the expansion of the Cistercian Order by giving birth to three daughter-houses over the next eighty years: Santa Maria di Castagnola Abbey in Chiaravalle (1147) in the Marche, Rivalta Scrivia (1180) near Tortona and Acqualunga (1204) near Pavia.
The Abbey's political ties to the Aleramici of Montferrat were shown in 1202 when its abbot, Peter II, accompanied the Marquess Boniface, grandson of Renier, on the notorious Fourth Crusade. After the sack of Constantinople in 1204 Boniface, as leader of the crusade, had expectations of being appointed the first emperor of the new Latin Empire. Abbot Peter was among the electors and is presumed to have been among the two or three who voted for Boniface. The crown, however, went to Baldwin, Count of Flanders who had the support of the Venetians.
Thwarted in this ambition, Boniface and his crusaders conquered Thessalonica and was installed by Baldwin as king of the Crusader state the Kingdom of Thessalonica, albeit under authority of Constantinople. Peter became Bishop of Ivrea (and later Patriarch of Antioch) and his long-time associate Ogliero (who was later beatified by the Church) took his place as Abbot of Lucedio in 1205. The abbey then housed fifty monks. In 1214 two further daughter-houses of Lucedio were founded in the Crusader states: Saint George de Jubino in the Principality of Antioch and Chortaïton in Thessalonica.
The abbey managed its agricultural assets employing the grange system and was effective in developing the productivity of the land, notably introducing the cultivation of rice to this damp riverside area in the fifteenth century. Today the Vercelli region is one of the most important areas of rice production in Italy.
From 1457, by an act of Pope Callixtus III, Lucedio was placed under commendatorial control, losing prestige and autonomy.
The abbey was secularized in 1784, the remaining monks being transferred to a Jesuit college in Castelnuovo Scrivia. The buildings and their lands have passed through various hands in subsequent years, including those of Napoleon Bonaparte, who gave it to Camillo Borghese in exchange for a large quantity of artworks which are now housed in the Louvre. Today the abbey buildings are incorporated into a rice farm.
The original church dated to the founding of the monastery, and had become in danger of collapse. It was rebuilt between 1767 and 1770 in a baroque style, designed by the monk architect Valente de Giovanni. Its striking medieval bell-tower however remains intact: a rectangular base from 1150 to 1175 supporting an octagonal structure from perhaps a hundred years later. After the closure of the abbey, this became the town's parish church. It underwent extensive restoration work in the first decade of the 21st century.
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The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid Sultanate. However, a sequence of economic and political events culminated in the Crusader army's 1202 siege of Zara and the 1204 sack of Constantinople, rather than the conquest of Egypt as originally planned. This led to the Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae or the partition of the Byzantine Empire by the Crusaders and their Venetian allies leading to a period known as Frankokratia, or "Rule of the Franks" in Greek.
Boniface I, usually known as Boniface of Montferrat, was the ninth Marquis of Montferrat, a leader of the Fourth Crusade (1201–04) and the king of Thessalonica.
The Kingdom of Thessalonica was a short-lived Crusader State founded after the Fourth Crusade over conquered Byzantine lands in today's territory of Northern Greece and Thessaly.
Rainier or Renier, son of William IV, Marquis of Montferrat, was the sixth ruler of the state of Montferrat in north-west Italy from about 1100 to his death, and the first such to be identified in contemporary documents as Margrave of Montferrat.
Maria of Antioch was a Byzantine empress by marriage to Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, and regent during the minority of her son porphyrogennetos Alexios II Komnenos from 1180 until 1182.
Renier of Montferrat (1162–1183) was the fifth son of William V of Montferrat and Judith of Babenberg. He became son-in-law of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos and Caesar in 1180, and was later murdered in a Byzantine power-struggle.
William V of Montferrat also known regnally as William III of Montferrat while also referred to as William the Old or William the Elder, in order to distinguish him from his eldest son, William Longsword, was seventh Marquis of Montferrat from 1135 to his death in 1191. William was the only son of Marquis Renier I and his wife Gisela, a daughter of Count William I of Burgundy and widow of Count Humbert II of Savoy. It seems likely, given that he was still fit enough to participate in battle in 1187, that William was one of his parents' youngest children.
William I of Champlitte (1160s-1209) was a French knight who joined the Fourth Crusade and became the first prince of Achaea (1205–1209).
La Ferté Abbey was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1113 in La Ferté-sur-Grosne in the present commune of Saint-Ambreuil, Saône-et-Loire, France, the first of the four great daughter-houses of Cîteaux Abbey. It was dissolved in 1791.
Margaret of Hungary was a Byzantine Empress by marriage to Isaac II Angelos and Queen of Thessalonica by marriage to Boniface of Montferrat. She was regent of Thessalonica during the minority of her son Demetrius of Montferrat in 1207–1216.
Othon de la Roche, also Otho de la Roche, was a Burgundian nobleman of the De la Roche family from La Roche-sur-l'Ognon. He joined the Fourth Crusade and became the first Frankish Lord of Athens in 1204. In addition to Athens, he acquired Thebes by around 1211.
Novalesa Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, Italy. It was founded in 726, and dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Andrew.
Tiglieto Abbey is a monastery in Tiglieto, Liguria, northern Italy. It was the first Cistercian abbey to be founded in Italy, and also the first outside France.
The sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Crusaders sacked and destroyed most of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the city, the Latin Empire was established and Baldwin of Flanders crowned as Emperor Baldwin I of Constantinople in Hagia Sophia.
Berthold II von Katzenelnbogen was a German nobleman of the family of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen and a participant in the Fourth Crusade (1202–04), who became lord of Velestino (c.1205–17) and regent of the Kingdom of Thessalonica (c.1217) in Frankish Greece. He was a patron of poets and in politics a Ghibelline.
The Abbey of Santa Maria Casanova was a Cistercian monastery located in Villa Celiera, Province of Pescara, Italy. Only a lone tower of the abbey now remains.
The Abbey of Santi Vito e Salvo was a Cistercian monastery located in San Salvo, Province of Chieti, Italy.
Fontevivo Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in Fontevivo, Province of Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, about 15 kilometres west of Parma on the Via Emilia towards Fidenza.
Martin was the abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Pairis in Alsace, then part of the German kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire. Martin played a supporting role on the Fourth Crusade. He was a major source for the Historia Constantinopolitana, a history of the Fourth Crusade written by the monk Gunther of Pairis. Gunther's Historia serves as both a eulogy on the life of Martin and also an account of the translation of relics Martin brought to Pairis from the crusade. Gunther describes Martin as pleasant-looking, affable, eloquent, humble and wise.
Peter was an Italian Cistercian monk and prelate. He was the abbot of Rivalta from 1180 until 1185, abbot of Lucedio from 1185 until 1205, abbot of La Ferté from 1205 until 1206, bishop of Ivrea from 1206 until 1208 and patriarch of Antioch from 1209 until his death. He is known as Peter of Magnano, Peter of Lucedio or Peter of Ivrea.
