Nizelles Abbey

Nizelles Abbey
Nizelles Abbey
	Abbaye de Nizelles
	Some remains of the abbey farm
	Nizelles Abbey Location of Nizelles Abbey in Belgium
General information
Coordinates	50°39′53″N4°18′52″E / 50.66472°N 4.31444°E

Last updated April 28, 2019

Nizelles Abbey (French : Abbaye de Nizelles) was an abbey of Cistercian monks located in Ophain-Bois-Seigneur-Isaac in Braine-l'Alleud, Walloon Brabant, Belgium, on the francophone side of the language frontier, and a short distance to the south of Brussels.

French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) has largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.

The Cistercians, officially the Order of Cistercians, are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. They are also known as Bernardines, after the highly influential St. Bernard of Clairvaux ; or as White Monks, in reference to the colour of the "cuccula" or white choir robe worn by the Cistercians over their habits, as opposed to the black cuccula worn by Benedictine monks.

Braine-l'Alleud is a Walloon municipality in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant, about 20 kilometres south of Brussels. The Braine-l'Alleud municipality includes the former municipalities of Braine-l'Alleud proper, Ophain-Bois-Seigneur-Isaac, and Lillois-Witterzée. It also includes the hamlet of Sart-Moulin, the inverted name of which inspired Hergé’s Moulinsart castle. The famous Lion of Waterloo where the eponymous battle took place is in the territory of Braine-l'Alleud. Bordering Flanders, the town is home to a minority of Dutch speakers.

It was founded in 1441, which makes it one of the last Cistercian foundations in the Southern Netherlands, and it was closed down in 1783 under a decree from the "Enlightenment Emperor", Joseph II, probably as part of his wider programme of closing down as "unnecessary" monasteries in the Habsburg lands identified as "purely contemplative".^[1]

The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, was the part of the Low Countries largely controlled by Spain (1556–1714), later Austria (1714–1794), and occupied then annexed by France (1794–1815). The region also included a number of smaller states that were never ruled by Spain or Austria: the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, the Imperial Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy, the County of Bouillon, the County of Horne and the Princely Abbey of Thorn. The Southern Netherlands were part of the Holy Roman Empire until the whole area was annexed by Revolutionary France.

Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor Francis I, and the brother of Marie Antoinette. He was thus the first ruler in the Austrian dominions of the House of Lorraine, styled Habsburg-Lorraine. Joseph was a proponent of enlightened absolutism; however, his commitment to modernizing reforms subsequently engendered significant opposition, which resulted in failure to fully implement his programmes. He has been ranked, with Catherine the Great of Russia and Frederick the Great of Prussia, as one of the three great Enlightenment monarchs. His policies are now known as Josephinism. He died with no sons and was succeeded by his younger brother, Leopold II.

Less than twenty years ago it was extensively restored: it has been relaunched as a high-end conference centre.^[2]

Origins

The abbey originated as a little college set up by the monks from Moulins-Warnant Abbey (fr ) to educate younger members of the local nobility. Over the years a succession of donations from grateful former pupils, backed up by generous financial support from Christine de Franckenberg, abbess over the canonesses at nearby Nivelles, made it possible for the little priory at Nizelles to be expanded into an abbey.

A canoness is a member of a religious community of women living a simple life. Many communities observe the monastic Rule of St. Augustine. The name corresponds to the male equivalent, a canon. The origin and Rule are common to both. As with the canons, there are two types: canonesses regular, who follow the Augustinian Rule, and secular canonesses, who follow no monastic Rule of Life.

Nivelles Municipality in French Community, Belgium

Nivelles is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. The Nivelles municipality includes the old communes of Baulers, Bornival, Thines, and Monstreux.

A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns, or monasteries of monks or nuns. Houses of canons regular and canonesses regular also use this term, the alternative being "canonry".

A new church was consecrated in 1441 by John of Burgundy, Bishop of Cambrai. The first abbot, Jean de Mons, received benediction from the bishop in the presence of Gérard de Louvain, the abbot of Villers. The act recognising the new foundation nevertheless stipulated that it should continue to be a daughter house of Moulins-Warnant Abbey.

Villers Abbey is an ancient Cistercian abbey located in the town of Villers-la-Ville, in the Walloon Brabant province of Wallonia (Belgium), one piece of the Wallonia's Major Heritage. Founded in 1146, the abbey was abandoned in 1796. Most of the site has since fallen into ruins.

Fifteenth to seventeenth centuries: troubled times

Unfortunately the generous benefactress died the next year, in 1442, and the money stopped flowing. There followed more than three centuries during which the abbey finances were never on an entirely secure footing. Privations became part of the monks' daily routine. Indebtedness was compounded by natural and political catastrophes. There was a destructive fire in the winter of 1502/03. The abbey was torched again in 1577 after being pillaged by French soldiers participating in the religious wars of the period. There was a third destructive fire at the start of the 17th century. On several occasions during the three centuries prior to 1782 plans were drawn up at Cîteaux Abbey (the Cistercian mother house) to decree the closure of Nizelles: nevertheless each time the place was burned down it somehow proved possible sufficiently to rebuild or restore the abbey.^[1]

The French Wars of Religion were a prolonged period of war and popular unrest between Roman Catholics and Huguenots in the Kingdom of France between 1562 and 1598. It is estimated that three million people perished in this period from violence, famine, or disease in what is considered the second deadliest religious war in European history.

Cîteaux Abbey is a Roman Catholic abbey located in Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux, south of Dijon, France. Today it belongs to the Trappists, or Cistercians of the Strict Observance (OCSO). Cîteaux, formerly spelled Cisteaux, is the mother house of the Cistercian order.

The opening years of the 17th century found the abbey in a condition of particular ruin and devastation. It was saved by Cambron Abbey. On 4 December 1601 Robert d’Ostelart, abbot of Cambron, sent over three of his monks, including one named Jean d’Assignies, to re-establish Nizelles. The Nizelles annals of the time record that initially they had to eat their meals standing up, and because there was no table they had to turn over the barrel in which they had brought over some provisions from Cambron and eat their meals off that.^[3] In 1602 the three monks at Nizelles were joined by Bernard de Montgaillard who was sent by the chapter at Cîteaux to serve as abbot. Personally austere, and experienced as a monk, Bernard proved an energetic administrator: born in 1562, by the time he came to Nizelles he was already well known to the secular authorities locally. He obtained for the abbey the protection of Archduke Albert, then governor of the Spanish Netherlands (approximately modern-day Belgium) and of Albert's duchess, Isabella. As abbot, Bernard contributed much to restoring the fortunes of Nizelles, although the abbey never returned to its 1442 prosperity. The rebuilding he instigated came to an abrupt halt in 1605 when the Cistercian authorities redeployed him to Orval Abbey.^[1]

Eighty years later Nizelles was nevertheless evidently still worth fighting over. A dispute arose as to whether it was still a daughter house of Moulins-Warnant, based on the situation in 1442 when it was founded, or whether it was now a daughter house of Cambron, which had picked up the pieces at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1682 the dispute was settled in favour of Moulins-Warnant.

Eighteenth century: decline and closure

During the 18th century Nizelles underwent a succession of internal conflicts. Relations were strained between abbots (some of whom held their positions only on a commendatory basis) and the monastic community. The monks complained about the lifestyles and administrative approaches of their abbots and the abbots complained about the insubordination of the monks:

Guillaume Fortamps, the 22nd abbot, was imposed on the monks. He was suspected of Jansenism.
Under Pierre Van Hamme and Antoine Ghiselin, the 23rd and 24th abbots, discipline became famously lax and devotional studies were neglected. Ghiselin was forced to resign in 1771 and left the abbey: it is possible that he was expelled. In 1765 there were only 15 monks at Nizelles
Placide Desellis was the 25th and final abbot. He restored order to the abbey finances. Importantly, he wrote and bequeathed a chronicle of the abbey covering the entire period 1439 - 1779, entitled: "The Annals of Nizelles Abbey".^[1]^[3]

The decree of 18 March 1783 by which Joseph II, the archetypal enlightened despot, closed down monasteries identified as "unnecessary", was the death knell for the abbey at Nizelles. The abbey was deconstructed and divided into two farms (Upper Nizelles farm and Lower Nizelles farm), one of which occupied the monastic buildings.^[1]

In 1787 monks returned to Nizelles during the Brabant Revolution when the Habsburgs were briefly removed from power in the Southern Netherlands, but the return of monks to Nizelles and (at this stage) the removal of the Habsburgs proved temporary. With the impact of the French Revolution, one of the monastic farms was sold. The abbey church was converted for use as a grain store: it was later largely destroyed by fire, in 1845.^[1]

Secular resurrection

The abbey ruins were acquired by the Count Éric d'Humilly de Chevilly in December 1999. He restored the old buildings which became the focus of a private business. The abbey is currently available to be hired out for family celebrations and corporate events.^[2]

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References

1 2 3 4 5 6 René Pede; et al. (10 October 2007). "L'ABBAYE CISTERCIENNE DE NIZELLES". ORNAMENTA. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
1 2 "L'abbaye de Nizelles ... À 20min de Bruxelles,dans le Brabant Wallon" . Retrieved 7 June 2015.
1 2 Placide Desellis : Les annales de l’abbaye de Nizelles…, 1779

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[historyperabbeyrestaurant-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 René Pede; et al. (10 October 2007). "L'ABBAYE CISTERCIENNE DE NIZELLES". ORNAMENTA. Retrieved 7 June 2015.

[abbeyrestaurantwebsite-2] 1 2 "L'abbaye de Nizelles ... À 20min de Bruxelles,dans le Brabant Wallon" . Retrieved 7 June 2015.

[Placide-3] 1 2 Placide Desellis : Les annales de l’abbaye de Nizelles…, 1779

Nizelles Abbey
Abbaye de Nizelles
Some remains of the abbey farm
Nizelles Abbey Location of Nizelles Abbey in Belgium
General information
Coordinates	50°39′53″N4°18′52″E / 50.66472°N 4.31444°E / 50.66472; 4.31444