![Marmoutier](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Marmoutier.jpg)
Marmoutier Abbey — also known as the Abbey of Marmoutier or Marmoutiers — was an early
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
outside
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...
,
Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it ...
,
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 ...
. In its later days it followed the
Benedictine order
, 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 ...
as an influential monastery with many dependencies.
History
The abbey was founded by Saint
Martin of Tours
Martin of Tours ( la, Sanctus Martinus Turonensis; 316/336 – 8 November 397), also known as Martin the Merciful, was the third bishop of Tours. He has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints in France, heralded as the ...
(316-397), in 372, after he had been made
Bishop of Tours
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tours (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Turonensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Tours'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The archdiocese has roots that go back to the 3rd cent ...
in 371. Martin's biographer,
Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus (; c. 363 – c. 425) was a Christian writer and native of Aquitania in modern-day France. He is known for his chronicle of sacred history, as well as his biography of Saint Martin of Tours.
Life
Almost all that we know of Se ...
(''c.'' 363–''c.'' 425), affirms that Martin withdrew from the press of attention in the city to live in Marmoutier (Majus Monasterium), the monastery he founded several miles from Tours on the opposite shore of the river
Loire
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...
.
Sulpicius described the severe restrictions of the life of Martin among the cave-dwelling cenobites who gathered around him, a rare view of a monastic community that preceded the Benedictine rule:
According to the French chronicler St. Denis, the Muslims in 732 had made the decision to attack and destroy the monastery.
In 853 the abbey was pillaged and destroyed by
Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...
, who killed over 100 monks. In 982 the abbey, which had fallen into some disorders, was restored by
Majolus of Cluny
Majolus of Cluny (Maieul, Mayeul, Mayeule) (c. 906 – May 11, 994) was the fourth abbot of Cluny. Majolus was very active in reforming individual communities of monks and canons; first, as a personal commission, requested and authorized by the E ...
, Abbot of Cluny, at the instance of Eudes I, Count of Blois and of Tours, who died a monk at Marmoutier. During the years shortly after 1000 AD, the abbey grew considerably, becoming one of the richest in Europe.
[Goyau, Georges. "Archdiocese of Tours." The Catholic Encyclopedia]
Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 24 June 2019
In the wake of the Norman Conquest the abbey acquired patronage of churches in England. In 1096
Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II ( la, Urbanus II; – 29 July 1099), otherwise known as Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 March 1088 to his death. He is best known for convening th ...
consecrated its new chapel, and preached the
First Crusade
The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ru ...
.
Pope Calixtus II
Pope Callixtus II or Callistus II ( – 13 December 1124), born Guy of Burgundy, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 February 1119 to his death in 1124. His pontificate was shaped by the Investiture Controversy, ...
preached crusade again in 1119, convincing Count
Foulques V d'Anjou to take part and leading to his subsequent role as
King of Jerusalem
The King of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader states, Crusader state founded in Jerusalem by the Latin Church, Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade, when the city was Siege of Jerusalem (1099), conqu ...
. In 1162
Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland ( it, Rolando), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181.
A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a con ...
, who came to reside in Tours after being chased from
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
by
Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...
, consecrated the monastery's new Chapel Saint Benoit.
The abbey eventually grew too small for its inhabitants, and was completely rebuilt at the start of the thirteenth century under the leadership of Abbot Hugues des Roches. Work was periodically interrupted by violent attacks made by the counts of Blois on the monks of Marmoutier. In 1253
Louis IX
Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...
took the abbey under his protection.
[ In the following century its abbot ]Gérard du Puy Gérard du Puy (died 14 February 1389) was a French cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and cardinal-nephew of Pope Gregory XI.
Papal legate
In 1372, du Puy, already abbot of Marmoutier ( it, abate di Monmaggiore) with the diocese of Tours, Fra ...
became cardinal-nephew
A cardinal-nephew ( la, cardinalis nepos; it, cardinale nipote; es, valido de su tío; pt, cardeal-sobrinho; french: prince de fortune)Signorotto and Visceglia, 2002, p. 114. Modern French scholarly literature uses the term "cardinal-neveu'". ...
to the last of the Avignon popes, Gregory XI
Pope Gregory XI ( la, Gregorius, born Pierre Roger de Beaufort; c. 1329 – 27 March 1378) was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1370 to his death in March 1378. He was the seventh and last Avignon pope and the most recent French pop ...
. In 1562 the abbey was again pillaged, this time by Huguenot Protestants at the start of the Wars of Religion
A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war ( la, sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to wh ...
. Again however it recovered. English diarist John Evelyn
John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society.
John Evelyn's diary, or memo ...
visited the abbey, and recorded this entry for June 6, 1644:
The abbey was disestablished in 1799 during the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, and within a few decades the bulk of its buildings had been demolished.
American writer Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
visited the abbey in 1883, being guided through the various buildings by "a chatty nun", as described in his book ''A Little Tour in France
''A Little Tour in France'' is a book of travel writing by American writer Henry James. Published under the title ''En Province'' in 1883–1884 as a serial in ''The Atlantic Monthly'', the book recounts a six-week tour James made of many provinci ...
''.
The former abbey grounds are now the location of a Catholic private school, the Institution Marmoutier.
References
Sources
* Sulpitius Severus ''On the Life of St. Martin''. Translation and Notes by Alexander Roberts. In ''A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church'', New York, 1894
available online
* John Evelyn, '' Diary and Correspondence'': Volume 1, ed. William Bray, London: George Bell and Sons, 1882. Chapter 5.
*
France Balade online article
*
*
{{Authority control
370s establishments
4th-century establishments in Roman Gaul
Benedictine monasteries in France
Buildings and structures in Indre-et-Loire
Christian monasteries established in the 4th century
Monasteries destroyed during the French Revolution
1799 disestablishments in France