Somme __NOTOC__
Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places
*Somme (department), a department of France
*Somme, Queensland, Australia
*Canal de la Somme, a canal in France
*Somme (river), a river in France
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Somme'' (book), a ...
department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
in
Hauts-de-France
Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...
The commune is situated northeast of Abbeville, on the D925 and D32 crossroads.
Abbey
Saint-Riquier (originally ''Centula'' or ''Centulum'') gained fame for its abbey, founded about 625 by Riquier (Richarius), son of the governor of the town, when the town was within
Austrasia
Austrasia was a territory which formed the north-eastern section of the Merovingian Kingdom of the Franks during the 6th to 8th centuries. It was centred on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers, and was the original territory of the F ...
in the MerovingianKingdom. It was enriched by King Dagobert I and prospered in the early 9th century Carolingian Empire under the abbacy of Angilbert, son-in-law of Charlemagne. In the year 881 Northmen burned the abbey and destroyed much of what was Centula.
The monastery was rebuilt in the Middle Ages on a smaller scale. The abbey was part of the diocese of Amiens in Ponthieu. The early counts of Ponthieu originally were styled ''advocatus'' of the abbey of Saint Riquier and "castellan" of Abbeville. The counts of Ponthieu enrolled their younger sons who were going into religious vocations at the abbey. Count Enguerrand I placed his sons, Fulk, later abbot of
Forest-l'Abbaye
Forest-l'Abbaye () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Geography
The commune is situated on the D105 road, on the edge of the forest of Crécy, north of Abbeville.
History
There was a station on the ...
bishop of Amiens
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Amiens (Latin: ''Dioecesis Ambianensis''; French: ''Diocèse d'Amiens'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the department of Somme, of which the city of Ami ...
, in Saint Riquier for their education. Their teacher was abbot Enguerrand "the Wise" (d. 9 December 1045), under whose rule Saint Riquier enjoyed its "golden age." The abbey held estates in Norfolk, England.
Today's 18th century buildings are occupied by an ecclesiastical seminary. The present church, built in the 13th and 14th centuries, is a magnificent example of Flamboyant Gothic architecture, and has a richly sculptured front on the west, surmounted by a square tower. In the interior the fine vaulting, the Renaissance font and carved stalls, and the frescoes in the treasury are especially noteworthy. Among other valuable relics, the treasury possesses a copper cross said to be the work of Saint Eloi (Eligius).
In 1536 Saint-Riquier repulsed an attack by the Germans, during its defense the women especially distinguishing themselves. In 1544 it was burned by the English, an event that marks the beginning of its decline.
Other sites
The bell-tower of Saint-Riquier was inscribed on the UNESCOWorld Heritage List in 2005 because of its architecture and testimony to the rise of municipal power in the area during the late Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque periods.
Population
Twin towns
* :
Stutensee
Stutensee is a town in northern Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
It was founded in 1975 by the voluntary connection of the four villages of Blankenloch (with Büchig), Friedrichstal, Spöck and Staffort. In the meantime it h ...
-Friedrichstal, Germany, since 1982.
See also
*
Communes of the Somme department
The following is a list of the 772 communes of the Somme department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):Carmen de Hastingae Proelio'' of Guy Bishop of Amiens, edited by Catherine Morton and Hope Muntz, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1972.
* The ''Carmen de Hastingae Proelio'' of Guy Bishop of Amiens, edited and translated by Frank Barlow, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1999.
* 'Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition, 1911.
*The Carolingian Renaissance, Hubert, Porcher, and Volbach, Braziller, New York, 1970.