| Saint-Philibert de Noirmoutier Abbey | |
|---|---|
 The crypt. | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Catholic church |
| District | Noirmoutier-en-l'Île |
| Province | Vendée |
| Region | Pays de la Loire |
| Location | |
| Country | France |
| Architecture | |
| Destroyed | 18th century |
Saint-Philibert de Noirmoutier Abbey is a monastery founded in 674 on Noirmoutier by Philibert de Tournus, who died there on August 20, 684.
Philibert, or Philbert (also spelled Filibert, according to the old Latin spelling, the Ph - Greek spelling - being later and no doubt due to contact with the first name Philippe: the church's stained-glass windows bear the F spelling and not the Ph) in conflict with Ébroïn, mayor of the Neustrian palace, had to leave the Jumièges abbey he had founded near Rouen. He was welcomed by the bishop of Poitiers, Ansoald, whom he helped to evangelize his diocese, and then withdrew with a few monks from Jumièges to the island of Her, now the Noirmoutier. On July 1, 677, Ansoald gave the monks his villa at Deas and other lands that would enable the development of the abbey.
First called Herio, then Hermoutier, the monastery took the name Noirmoutier from the color of the Benedictine monks who lived there. The monastery made its living from salt marshes [1] and farming, and traded with the mainland via its port. The abbey flourished until it was destroyed by the Saracens in 732. [2] In 799, a Scandinavian fleet attacked and plundered the monastery. [3]
Noirmoutier Abbey was re-established in 804 by Louis the Pious, King of Aquitaine. It was pillaged several times between 814 and 819 by the Normans. [4] The monks built a new abbey at Déas, on the shores of Lac de Grand-Lieu, after obtaining authorization from Louis the Pious, now Emperor, to divert the Boulogne river [5] in 819. Noirmoutier was again sacked by the Vikings in 824, [6] 830 and 835, and the abbey was finally burnt down in 846. The island became a base for Viking operations on the Loire. [7]
On June 7, 836, the monks left the island for Déas, carrying the hunt containing the body of Saint Philibert. Driven out again by the Vikings in 847, they took refuge at the Cunault-sur-Loire priory, which had been given to them as a retreat in 845. They took the relics of St. Philbert there in 857, but had to flee again to the Normans in 862, to Messais in Poitou, on an estate donated by Charles the Bald. By 870, they were in Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule in Auvergne, arriving in Tournus, in the Mâconnais region, in 875 after a long peregrination with the relics of their holy founder. [5] Here, they founded the Saint-Philibert de Tournus abbey. The Noirmoutier monastery was reduced to a priory under the Tournus abbey around the year 1000.
In 1172, a community of Cistercian monks settled on Ile du Pilier, then obtained a charter from Lord Pierre IV de Beauvoir to establish themselves in Noirmoutier in 1205. To the north of the island, the monks built the Abbey de la Blanche, named after the color of their vestments. The abbey, part of the Luçon diocese, remained in existence until the French Revolution of 1789. [8]
The only remains of the old buildings are the Merovingian crypt beneath the Saint-Philbert parish church in Noirmoutier-en-l'Île.
(non-exhaustive list)
The following is a list of the 255 communes of the Vendée department of France.
Noirmoutier-en-l'Île, commonly referred to as Noirmoutier, is a commune located in the northern part of the island of Noirmoutier, just off the coast of the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France.
Noirmoutier is a tidal island off the Atlantic coast of France in the Vendée department (85).
The Church of St. Philibert, Tournus is a medieval church, the main surviving building of a former Benedictine abbey, the Abbey of St. Philibert, in Tournus, Saône-et-Loire, France. It is of national importance as an example of Romanesque architecture.
Jumièges Abbey was a Benedictine monastery, situated in the commune of Jumièges in the Seine-Maritime département, in Normandy, France.
Philibert of Jumièges was an abbot and monastic founder, particularly associated with Jumièges Abbey.
The Château de Noirmoutier is a castle on the Île de Noirmoutier in the Vendée département of France. It dominates the town of Noirmoutier-en-l'Île with its almost 20-metre-high (66 ft) keep. The castle is very well preserved and a fine example of 12th-century medieval architecture.
Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France.
The Île Barbe is an island situated in the middle of the Saône, in the 9th arrondissement de Lyon, the quartier Saint-Rambert-l'Île-Barbe. Its name comes from the Latin insula barbara, "Barbarians' Island", suggesting that it was one of the last locales to be occupied.
Lac de Grand-Lieu is a lake located to the southwest of Nantes, in the Loire-Atlantique, France, and almost entirely in Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu. At an elevation of 5 m (16 ft), its surface area is 62.92 km2 (24.29 sq mi), making it the largest lake in France in winter, but second after Lac du Bourget in summer.
The Abbey of Saint-Florent, Saumur, also Saint-Florent-lès-Saumur or Saint-Florent-le-Jeune, was a Benedictine abbey in Anjou founded in the 11th century near Saumur, France. It was the successor of the Abbey of Saint-Florent-le-Vieil which was abandoned by its monks during raids of the Vikings.
Ermentar of Noirmoutier, also called Ermentarius Tornusiensis, was a monk and historian of the abbey of Saint-Philibert de Tournus. He wrote a vivid prose chronicle, De translationibus et miraculis sancti Filiberti, recounting the disruption of his community by Viking raids and its transfer from the Breton island of Noirmoutier to several locations in France before it was finally settled at Tournus in 875. It is framed around the transfer of the relics of the abbey's patron, Saint Philibert of Jumièges, and the miracles he performed on the abbey's behalf.
Romanesque architecture appeared in France at the end of the 10th century, with the development of feudal society and the rise and spread of monastic orders, particularly the Benedictines, which built many important abbeys and monasteries in the style. It continued to dominate religious architecture until the appearance of French Gothic architecture in the Île-de-France between about 1140 and 1150.
Saint Aichardus was a Frankish Benedictine monk and abbot known for his austerity. He became abbot of Jumièges Abbey, a major religious center that was home to 900 monks. His feast day is 15 September.
The Bay of Bourgneuf is a bay situated on the French Atlantic coast, at the border of the Loire-Atlantique and Vendée departments. In the Middle Ages the bay was known as the baie de Bretagne or baye de Bretagne.
The 1799 Vendée earthquake or Bouin earthquake was a magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck the Vendée area of western France on 25 January 1799 with aftershocks on the following days. Its epicenter was located at a depth of 24 km in the Bay of Bourgneuf at the level of the island of Bouin. Shocks of intensity VII–VIII were felt throughout the west of France.
Ansoald was the bishop of Poitiers from 676 until about 696.
The Church of Saint-Philibert de Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu is an abbey founded in the 9th century by Benedictine monks and located in Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu, France. All that remains is the abbey church and a few buildings around it.