Saint-Amand Abbey (Abbaye de Saint-Amand), once known as Elno, Elnon or Elnone Abbey, is a former Benedictine abbey in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, Nord, France.
Saint-Amand Abbey (Abbaye de Saint-Amand), once known as Elno, Elnon or Elnone Abbey, is a former Benedictine abbey in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, Nord, France.
The abbey was founded around 633-639 [1] [2] in what was once a great tract of uninhabited land in the Vicoigne Forest between the Scarpe and the brook called the Elnon , from which the monastery took its first name, Elnon or Elnone Abbey. The founder was Saint Amand of Maastricht, under the patronage of Dagobert I. The name of the saint eventually became applied both to the abbey and the village that grew up round it. [3] The abbot from about 652 was Jonatus. [4]
Apart from its considerable effect on the landscape, the abbey became a major centre of study during the Carolingian Renaissance. Notable members of the community included the 9th-century writer Milo of Saint-Amand, author of a metrical dictionary of Latin long and short syllables [5] as well as a Life of Saint Amand, and his nephew, Hucbald of Saint-Amand, a noted music theorist and composer.
The abbey was totally destroyed by the Normans at the end of the 9th century. Although rebuilt, it was frequently destroyed by fire and the incidents of war, and was not completely restored until the 17th century, to an ambitious and much-admired plan implemented by Abbot Nicolas du Bois. In 1616-1617 Peter Paul Rubens painted a new high altarpiece for the monastery church, the Saint Stephen Triptych . [6]
In 1672, Dom Mabillon discovered that, at the end of a manuscript of works of Gregory Nazianzen, there is a praise poem of the late 9th century in Old German, the Ludwigslied , which commemorates the victory of the Frankish army of Louis III over the Vikings on 3 August 881 at the Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu. The same manuscript, now held at the municipal library of Valenciennes, was found to contain one of the earliest literary texts in vernacular French, the poem called Sequence of Saint Eulalia . The Annales sancti Amandi , a set of annals of the Frankish kingdom, also originate from Saint-Amand. [7]
The abbey was declared national property in 1789, and mostly demolished between 1797 and 1820. [8] The former courthouse (échevinage) and the exuberantly decorated church tower, which now accommodates a faience museum, survive and can still be visited.
Amandus, commonly called Saint Amand, was a bishop of Tongeren-Maastricht and one of the great Christian missionaries of Flanders. He is venerated as a saint, particularly in France and Belgium.
The Sequence of Saint Eulalia, also known as the Canticle of Saint Eulalia is the earliest surviving piece of French hagiography and one of the earliest extant texts in the vernacular langues d'oïl. It dates from around 880.
Saint-Amand-les-Eaux is a commune in the Nord department, northern France. It lies on the river Scarpe, 12 km northwest of Valenciennes. In French, the town people are named Amandinois (m), Amandinoise (f).
The Abbey of Saint-Victor is a former abbey that was founded during the late Roman period in Marseille in the south of France, named after the local soldier saint and martyr, Victor of Marseilles.
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Saint Germanus of Granfelden was the first abbot of Moutier-Grandval Abbey. He is venerated as a martyr saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
Saint-Amand-de-Coly is a former commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Coly-Saint-Amand.
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Jonatus or Jonath was a Christian monk. He was a monk at the monastery of Elnone under Abbot Amandus. He served as the first abbot of the monastery of Marchiennes from 641, according to the Annals of Marchiennes. This monastery had been founded as a male community by Amandus, but Jonatus introduced nuns. This took place not long after he became abbot, according to the Chronicle of Marchiennes. The first nun was Rictrude.