Faremoutiers Abbey (french: Abbaye Notre-Dame de Faremoutiers) was an important Merovingian

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') , found ...

nunnery (re-established in the 20th century) in the present Seine-et-Marne department of France. It formed an important link between the Merovingian Frankish Empire and the southern

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

kingdoms of Kent and East Anglia.

History

The abbey was founded around 620 by

Burgundofara Burgundofara (died 643 or 655), also Saint Fara or Fare, was the founder and first Abbess of the Abbey of Faremoutiers. Life Her family is knowns as the Faronids, named after her brother Saint Faro. Her name may mean: 'She who moves the Burgundi ...

(Saint Fara), the first abbess. She had been consecrated to God, while yet a child, by

Columbanus Columbanus ( ga, Columbán; 543 – 21 November 615) was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries after 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil Abbey in present-day France and Bobbio Abbey in p ...

. With the approval of Bishop Gundoald of Meaux, Burgundofara established an abbey on her father's lands.

Eustace of Luxeuil Eustace of Luxeuil (c. 560 – c. 626), also known as Eustasius, was the second abbot of Luxeuil from 611. He succeeded his teacher Columbanus, to whom he had been a favorite disciple and monk. He had been the head of the monastic school. Life ...

supplied monks as chaplains and to assist in building the monastery."Abbey Notre-Dame and Saint-Pierre at Faremoutiers", Service des moniales
/ref> It was a

double monastery A double monastery (also dual monastery or double house) is a monastery combining separate communities of monks and of nuns, joined in one institution to share one church and other facilities. The practice is believed to have started in the East a ...

, the first in France, with communities of both monks and nuns. The main buildings and the abbey church were in the middle of a large enclosure; the monastery of the brothers was located outside of it. It was established to follow the strict Rule of Saint Columbanus. The site, an estate belonging to Fara's family, originally known as Evoriacum, was renamed Faremoutiers ("Fara's monastery") in her honour. The modern village of

Faremoutiers Faremoutiers () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. History Originally named ''Evoriacum'', Faremoutiers was renamed in honour of Saint Fara, who founded the Abbey of Faremoutiers ...

grew up around the abbey."Histoire de l'Abbaye", Abbaye de Faremoutiers
/ref> Jonas of Bobbio, biographer of Columbanus stayed at Faremoutiers in 633. Three women of the royal house of East Anglia entered the Abbey of Faremoutiers: Sæthryth, the step-daughter of

King Anna King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ti ...

, Anna's daughter Æthelburh, and his grand-daughter by his daughter Seaxburh, Eorcengota (†660), daughter of Eorcenberht of Kent. Queen Balthild of Chelles was an important benefactress of the monastery,Crook, John. ''English Medieval Shrines'', Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2011, p. 58
as was

Erchinoald Erchinoald (also ''Erkinoald'' and, in French, ''Erchenout'') succeeded Aega as the mayor of the palace of Neustria in 641 and succeeded Flaochad in Burgundy in 642 and remained such until his death in 658. Family According to Fredegar, he was a ...

, mayor of the palace of Neustria. In the 9th century, as all French abbeys were commanded to do by

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aqui ...

, it changed to the

Rule of Saint Benedict The ''Rule of Saint Benedict'' ( la, Regula Sancti Benedicti) is a book of precepts written in Latin in 516 by St Benedict of Nursia ( AD 480–550) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. The spirit of Saint Benedict's Ru ...

. In 887, the Abbey was sacked by the Normans. The monasteries became increasingly populated by young women from the nobility, and the Carolingian royal family. As the rules were relaxed, a period of decadence followed. Faremoutiers thus declined into the hands of the local lords and mutated into a place of receptions and maintenance of men-at-arms. Around 1094

Philip I of France Philip I (23 May 1052 – 29 July 1108), called the Amorous, was King of the Franks from 1060 to 1108. His reign, like that of most of the early Capetians, was extraordinarily long for the time. The monarchy began a modest recovery from the low it ...

wrote the abbot of Marmoutier and "...asked him to reform the monastery of Faremoutiers because of the nuns' dissolute lifestyle". In 1140 the monastery was destroyed by fire, but rebuilt in 1145. In 1445, at the end of the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Planta ...

, it was pillaged by soldiers. In the 16th and 17th centuries the abbey enjoyed royal favour, and saw a number of abbesses appointed by the crown. In 1683, at the request of Louis XIV, architect

Jules Hardouin-Mansart Jules Hardouin-Mansart (; 16 April 1646 – 11 May 1708) was a French Baroque architect and builder whose major work included the Place des Victoires (1684–1690); Place Vendôme (1690); the domed chapel of Les Invalides (1690), and the Grand ...

took charge of the reconstruction of the main building of the Abbey. Anna Gonzague de Clèves-Nevers, daughter of

Charles I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua Charles Gonzaga ( it, Carlo I Gonzaga) (6 May 1580 – 22 September 1637) was Duke of Mantua and Duke of Montferrat from 1627 until his death. He was also Charles III Duke of Nevers and Rethel, as well as Prince of Arche and Charleville. Biogra ...

, was educated at Faremoutiers. The abbey was later tainted by Jansenism, and in the 18th century suffered from an exhausting lawsuit with the

bishop of Meaux The Roman Catholic Diocese of Meaux (Latin: ''Dioecesis Meldensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Meaux'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the entire department of Seine-et-Marne. It was suff ...

and continuing economic problems. It was suppressed during the French Revolution, and the forty-three nuns were dispersed at the end of 1792. Most rejoined their families. Until 1796 the premises were used as a barracks and thereafter as a quarry.

Re-foundation

In 1923 Benedictine nuns from the ''Abbaye Saint-Nicolas de Verneuil'' settled in Amillis before founding in 1931 a small community on the site of Faremoutier abbey, which remains to this day. The Abbey of Faremoutiers now belongs to the Benedictine Congregation of Mont-Olivet. Since 1980, the monastery has operated as an EHPAD, i.e. a Residential care home for senior citizens, primarily elderly nuns from different monasteries throughout France.

List of abbesses of Faremoutiers

or Saint Fara (c. 620–643x655) * Saint Sæthryth (d. before 664), stepdaughter of King Anna of East AngliaFox, Yaniv. ''Power and Religion in Merovingian Gaul: Columbanian Monasticism and the Formation of the Frankish Aristocracy'', Cambridge University Press, 2014, p. 212
* Saint Æthelburg (died c. 664), daughter of King

Anna of East Anglia Anna (or Onna; killed 653 or 654) was king of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. He was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles, and one of the three sons of Eni who ruled the kingdom of East Angl ...

* Ruothild (840-852), daughter of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Em ...

* Bertrade de Germanie (852-877), daughter of

Louis the German Louis the German (c. 806/810 – 28 August 876), also known as Louis II of Germany and Louis II of East Francia, was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 843 to 876 AD. Grandson of emperor Charlemagne and the third son of Louis the Pi ...

* Judith (died 977) * Avelina (10th century) * Hildegarde (10th century) * Risende (1137-1146) * Emma (1146-1154) * Lucienne de La Chapelle (1154-1212) * Marguerite I (1212-1215) * Hersende de Touquin (1215-1219) * Eustachie (1219-1240) * Julienne de Grez de Nesle-en-Brie (1240-1252) * Sibylle (1252-1272) * Avoie (1272-1289) * Marguerite II de Mons (1289-1290) * Marguerite III de Chevry (1290-1312) * Marguerite IV de Mons (1312-1341) * Mathilde de Joinville de La Malmaison (1341-1346) * Jeanne I de Noyers (1346-1363) * Marguerite V de Lully d’Ancre (1363-1383) * Marguerite VI de Noyers (1383-1409) * Jeanne II de Châteauvillain (1409-1417) * Denise du Sollier (1417-1434) * Jeanne III Rapillard (1434-1439) * Isabelle I de Mory (1439-1454) * Jeanne IV de Bautot (1454-1490) * Jeanne V Chrestienne d’Harcourt-Beuvron (1490-1511) * Madeleine de Valois-Orléans-Angoulême (1511-1515), daughter of

Charles, Count of Angoulême Charles of Orléans (1459 – 1 January 1496) () was the Count of Angoulême from 1467 until his death. He succeeded his father, John, and was initially under the regency of his mother, Marguerite de Rohan, assisted by Jean I de La Rochefoucauld, ...

* Marie I Cornu (1515-1518) * Jeanne VI Joly (1518-1531) * Marie II Baudry (1531-1555) * Antoinette de Lorraine-Guise (1555-1563), daughter of

Claude, Duke of Guise Claude de Lorraine, Duke of Guise (20 October 1496 – 12 April 1550) was a French aristocrat and general. He became the first Duke of Guise in 1528. He was a highly effective general for the French crown. His children and grandchildren were to ...

* Françoise Guillard (1563-1567) * Marie III Violle (1567-1573) * Louise I de Bourbon-Montpensier (1573-1586), daughter of

Louis, Duke of Montpensier Louis de Bourbon, Duc de Montpensier (10 June 1513 – 23 September 1582) was the second Duke of Montpensier, a French Prince of the Blood, military commander and governor. He began his military career during the Italian Wars, and in 1557 was ...

* Isabelle II de Chauvigny (1586-1593) * Anne de La Châtre de Maisonfort (1593-1605) * Françoise I de La Châtre de Maisonfort (1605-1643) * Jeanne VII Anne de Plas (1643-1677) * Marie IV Thérèse-Constance du Blé d’Uxelles (1677-1685) * Marie V Anne-Généreuse-Constance de Beringhen d’Armainvilliers (1685-1721) * Louise II Charlotte-Eugènie-Victoire de Beringhen d’Armainvilliers (1721-1726) * Olympe-Félicité-Sophie-Fare de Beringhen d’Armainvilliers (1726-1743) * Françoise II Catherine Molé de Champlâtreux (1743-1745) * Marie Renée de Maupeou (1745-1759) * Charlotte-Julie Lenormant des Forts d’Etiolles (1759-1775) * Claude de Durfort de Léobard (1775-1791)

References

Sources

* de Fontaine de Resbecq, Eugène: ''Histoire de Faremoutiers'' (1991). * Guerout, Jean: ''Faremoutiers''. In: ''Lexikon des Mittelalters'' (LexMA). Band 4, Artemis & Winkler, München/Zürich 1989. * Riché, Pierre, ''Dictionnaire des Francs: Les temps Mérovingiens.'' Eds. Bartillat, 1996.

External links

Abbey website
{{Authority control Carolingian architecture