Crespin Abbey (french: Abbaye de Crespin) was a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery in the commune of Crespin in the department of Nord,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, founded around 648 by the reformed brigand Landelin of Crespin, also the first abbot, and dissolved in 1802.

Foundation

Landelin was born of a noble family, but became the leader of a band of brigands. After his conversion to Christianity he became active as a missionary in the north of France. The traditional story is that he then withdrew with two disciples into the forest of the

County of Hainault The County of Hainaut (french: Comté de Hainaut; nl, Graafschap Henegouwen; la, comitatus hanoniensis), sometimes spelled Hainault, was a territorial lordship within the medieval Holy Roman Empire that straddled what is now the border of Be ...

between

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

and

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...

, where he built a wooden cell on the bank of the

Haine The Haine (, ; ; ; pcd, Héne; wa, Hinne) is a river in southern Belgium ( Hainaut) and northern France ( Nord), right tributary of the river Scheldt. The Haine gave its name to the County of Hainaut, and the present province of Hainaut. Its ...

, which flows into the

Scheldt The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corr ...

Condé-sur-l'Escaut Condé-sur-l'Escaut (, literally ''Condé on the Escaut''; pcd, Condé-su-l'Escaut) is a commune of the Nord department in northern France. It lies on the border with Belgium. The population as of 1999 was 10,527. Residents of the area are kno ...

. The owner of the forest took their clothes in compensation for the branches they had sawn off without his permission, and was struck lame: only when he returned the clothes did Landelin heal him. It is also said that after praying Landelin struck the ground with his staff, whereupon a strong spring appeared, the curling waves of which ( la, crispantibus undis) caused him to name the spot "Crispinium" (Crespin). The reputation of the three hermits and the stories of these miracles attracted increasing numbers of disciples, for whom Landelin had a chapel built, which became the centre of the Benedictine abbey, dedicated to

Saint Peter Saint Peter; he, שמעון בר יונה, Šimʿōn bar Yōnāh; ar, سِمعَان بُطرُس, translit=Simʿa̅n Buṭrus; grc-gre, Πέτρος, Petros; cop, Ⲡⲉⲧⲣⲟⲥ, Petros; lat, Petrus; ar, شمعون الصفـا, Sham'un ...

. Landelin was its first abbot. He died there, probably in 686, and was buried in the abbey church. From Crespin, Landelin founded

Aulne Abbey Aulne Abbey was a Cistercian monastery located in Wallonia between Thuin and Landelies on the Sambre in the Bishopric of Liège in Belgium, now a Walloon Heritage Site. History It was originally founded as a Benedictine monastery in 656 on the b ...

on the banks of the

Sambre The Sambre (; nl, Samber, ) is a river in northern France and in Wallonia, Belgium. It is a left-bank tributary of the Meuse, which it joins in the Wallonian capital Namur. The source of the Sambre is near Le Nouvion-en-Thiérache, in the Aisne ...

in 656.Ott, Michael. "Aulne Abbey." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 16 (Index). New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1914 He is also credited with founding

Lobbes Abbey Lobbes Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Wallonia in the municipality of Lobbes, Hainaut, Belgium. The abbey played an important role in the religious, political and religious life of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, especially around the year ...

in about 650, and the priory at Wallers-Trélon (now Wallers-en-Fagne) in 657.

History

The monastery flourished at first, because of its reputation for miracles at the intercession of Landelin, but in the 9th century found itself in increasing danger of being plundered or destroyed by the marauding

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

s. Landelin's

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

were therefore moved, apparently in 836, to Boke in

Delbrück Delbrück () is a town in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the district Paderborn. History The first document mentioning the town dates to 1219. In 1410, the town was destroyed by fire during a conflict between the bisho ...

near

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

.From Boke they were moved in 1104 to Flechtdorf Abbey near

Korbach Korbach (pronunciation: ˈkoːɐˌbax), officially the Hanseatic City of Korbach (German: Hansestadt Korbach), is the district seat of Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse, Germany. It is over a thousand years old and is located on the German Tim ...

in northern

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

. In 870 the abbey was indeed destroyed by the Vikings. Although it was quickly rebuilt, it was not immediately re-dedicated as a monastery, but housed a community of secular priests, and was not re-occupied by the Benedictines until 1080. In 1095 Sigard of

Chocques Chocques () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Chocques is a farming village by the banks of the river Clarence, some west of Béthune and southwest of Lille, at the junction of the ...

donated a mill and some land near Angre to the Abbey for the soul of

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

.Nieus, Jean-François. "Sigard's Belt", ''Knighthood and Society in the High Middle Ages'', (David Crouch, Jeroen Deploige, ed.) Leuven University Press, 2020, p.136
From 1080 to 1802, when the abbey was dissolved in the Napoleonic period, there were altogether 48 abbots of Crespin. After its dissolution the abbey was sold off and destroyed.

Present day

Of the abbey church, first built in 673, only a few ruins remain. Of the other structures on the site only the abbot's house still stands, with a few ancillary buildings.

Notes

References

Sources

* Helvétius, Anne-Marie, 1986: ''L'abbaye de Crespin des origines au milieu du XIIIe siècle''. Université libre de Bruxelles: Brussels. * Helvétius, Anne-Marie, 1988: "Les sainteurs de l'abbaye de Crespin, du Xe au XIIIe siècle", in ''Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire'', vol. LXVI. * Tönsmeyer, Hans D, 1986: ''Der heilige Landelin von Crespin. 836-1986. Festschrift zur Feier der 1150-jährigen Wiederkehr der Übertragung seiner Reliquien nach Boke.'' Pamphlet. , . * Trelcat, Émile, 1923: ''Histoire de l'abbaye de Crespin, Ordre de Saint Benoît''. Arthur Savaète: Paris.

External links

Histoire de Crespin

Landelinus, in ''Vollständiges Heiligen-Lexikon'', Augsburg 1869

Crespin municipal website, with photos of the site of the abbey

{{Authority control Benedictine monasteries in France Buildings and structures in Nord (French department) Christian monasteries established in the 7th century 1802 disestablishments in France 670s establishments 7th-century establishments in Francia 7th-century churches in France