St. Michael's Abbey, Antwerp
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

St Michael's Abbey in
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
was a
Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
abbey founded in 1124 by Norbert of Xanten and laid waste during the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1807 a semaphore station was installed in the tower of the church. The buildings were demolished in 1831. The abbey has been described as "one of the key churches and most significant monuments in Antwerp from its foundation in the 12th century to its destruction in the nineteenth."


History

Until 1124 a collegiate church dedicated to Saint Michael and served by 12 secular canons was the only parish church in Antwerp. In 1124 the chapter was reformed by
St Norbert St. Norbert (french: Saint-Norbert) is a bilingual (French and English) neighbourhood and the southernmost suburb of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. While outside the Perimeter Highway (the orbital road that surrounds most of Winnipeg), it is ...
as a Premonstratensian abbey. The abbey buildings stood between what are now the streets ''Kloosterstraat'' and ''Sint-Michielskaai'', and ''Sint-Jansvliet'' in the north and the ''Scheldestraat'' (''Kronenbrugstraat'') in the south. The abbey obtained large tracts of land in and around Antwerp, such as the lordships of Kiel and Beerschot, the land of Haringrode and Zurenborg, and as late as 1674
Berendrecht Berendrecht () is a neighbourhood and former village in Antwerp province in Belgium. Its name means "dike of the bear", according to the area's dialect, or "dike of a man called Bear", or "passage by the marsh". But ''drecht'' or ''tricht'' means ...
and
Zandvliet Zandvliet () is a former Belgian town forming part of the Antwerp district of Berendrecht-Zandvliet-Lillo. The place dates back to 1135 when it was known as ''Santflit'', meaning "a navigable passage through sand". In 1622 the Spaniard Ambrogio ...
, which helped shape the ultimate territory of Antwerp. The abbey was partly destroyed by the French army during the War of the First Coalition in 1796. Many of the buildings were demolished to create military barracks and a naval arsenal with shipyards and slipways. In 1807 the tower of the abbey church was equipped with a
semaphore Semaphore (; ) is the use of an apparatus to create a visual signal transmitted over distance. A semaphore can be performed with devices including: fire, lights, flags, sunlight, and moving arms. Semaphores can be used for telegraphy when arra ...
. In 1831 the French barracks were bombarded by the Dutch garrison Commander
David Hendrik Chassé David Hendrik, Baron Chassé (Tiel, 18 March 1765 – Breda, 2 May 1849) was a Dutch soldier who fought both for and against Napoleon. He commanded the Third Netherlands Division that intervened at a crucial moment in the Battle of Waterloo. In ...
, whose troops were holding the Citadel of Antwerp.


Art

Isabella of Bourbon (1436-1465), second wife of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and the mother of Mary of Burgundy, heiress of Burgundy, died in the abbey in 1465 and was buried in the abbey church. In 1476 a monumental tomb was erected in her memory. It was decorated with 24 bronze statuettes of
pleurants Pleurants or weepers (the English meaning of ''pleurants'') are anonymous sculpted figures representing mourners, used to decorate elaborate tomb monuments, mostly in the late Middle Ages in Western Europe. Typically they are relatively small, ...
standing in niches, known as 'weepers' or 'mourners', with a bronze effigy of Isabella herself surmounted on it. The remnants of the pleurants are now kept in the
Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
(Amsterdam) and in
M - Museum Leuven M, or m, is the thirteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''em'' (pronounced ), plural ''ems''. History Th ...
. The rest of the tomb, with the statue of Isabella, is now in
Antwerp Cathedral The Cathedral of Our Lady ( nl, Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Antwerp, Belgium. Today's see of the Diocese of Antwerp started in 1352 and, although the first stage of construction was ended in 1521, has never been ...
. Nothing more of the tomb furnishings survives. In the 17th century the monastery was well known as a patron of the arts, commissioning works from major Antwerp painters such as Peter Paul Rubens,
Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...
and
Jacob Jordaens Jacob (Jacques) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and tapestry designer known for his history paintings, genre scenes and portraits. After Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, he was the leading Fle ...
. Around 1624 Rubens delivered a monumental altarpiece for the abbey church, ''
The Adoration of the Magi The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the Biblical Magi, three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by fol ...
''. It was stolen during the French occupation and after 1815 was returned to the
Royal Museum of Fine Arts (Antwerp) The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp ( Dutch: ''Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen'', ''KMSKA'') is a museum in Antwerp, Belgium, founded in 1810, that houses a collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings from the fourteenth ...
. The floor with many tombstones was transferred to the Cathedral of Our Lady, that had lost its floor during the French occupation. The 18th century communion bench and the confessional are now in the Church of St Gertrude in Bergen op Zoom (Netherlands).


Abbots

List to 1709 from
Jean François Foppens Jean François Foppens, sometimes Latinized Johannes Franciscus Foppens (1689–1761), was a Belgian ecclesiastical historian, and literary biographer and bibliographer. He is best known for his ''Bibliotheca belgica, sive virorum in Belgio vita s ...
, ''Historia episcopatus Antverpiensis'' (Joannes Franciscus Broncart, Liège, 1717), pp. 147-150. #Waltmannus, 1124–1138 #Emelinus, died 1161 #Alardus, died 1162 #Thibaldus, resigned 1171 #Richardus, resigned 1188 #Waltherus de Stripe, died 1192 #Elias, died 1199 #Giselbertus, died 1205 #Hugo, died 1208 #Arnoldus de Erps, translated 1219 #Hermannus, died 1230 #Sigerius, died 1230 #Eggerius, died 1244 #Gerardus de Lira, died 1258 #Joannes de Lira, died 1272 #Aegidius de Biervliet, died 1286 #Henricus de Mechlinia, died 1300 #Godefridus de Waerloos, died 1328 #Guilielmus de Cabeliau, died 1341 #Guilielmus Lympiaes, died 1353 #Martinus Loys, died 1372 #Guilielmus Brulocht, died 1390 #Petrus Breem, died 1413 #Arnoldus (c. 1415) #Olardus Terlinck, died 1452 #Joannes Fierkens, died 1476 #Andreas Aechtenryt, died 1478 #Joannes Robyns, died 1486 #Joannes de Weerdt, died 1499 : Post Tenebra espere Lucem. #Jacobus Elsacker, died 1505 #Jacobus Embrechts, died 1514 #Stephanus a Thenis, died 1518 #Cornelis de Mera, died 1538 #Gregorius de Dagis, died 1562 #Cornelius Emerici, died 1563 #Guilielmus de Greve, died 1581 #Emericus Andreae, died 1590 #Dionysius Feyten, died 1612 #Christianus Michaelius, died 1614 #
Matthæus Yrsselius Matthæus Yrsselius or Irsselius, the Latinized form of Mattheus van Iersel (1541–1629), was abbot of St. Michael's Abbey, Antwerp, from 1614 until his death. He was remembered as a patron of the arts and sciences. Patronage In 1624 he commissi ...
, died 1629 # Johannes Chrysostomus vander Sterre, died 1652: Luce et ardens. # Norbert van Couwerven, died 1661: Vince. # Macarius Simeomo, STL, died 1676: Vigila. #Hermannus vander Poorten, died 1680: Virtus acressit in Umbra. #Gerardus Knyff, died 1686: Ad astra per Arghem. #
Joannes Chrysostomus Teniers Joannes Chrysostomus Teniers, the religious name of Joannes Jacobus Teniers,P.J. Hanicq, ''Catalogus omnium primorum in generali et solemni philosophiæ et artium promotione: ab origine celeberrimæ Universitatis Lovaniensis'', Université cathol ...
, died 1709: Tene Quod Bene. #John Baptiste Vermoelen: Premende Coronant. #Frans Ignace de Lams: Mansuete. #Joseph Jacob vander Boven: de sursum. #Jean Chrisosthpme Sammels: Dulciter et Velociter. #Jacob Thomas: Procede Fideliter. #Anthony Vaerendonck: Crescite in Gratia. #Marcell de Vos: Gaute et suaviter. #Guilhem Fracis Rosa: Per Crucem ad Astras. #Auguste Pooters: Lucere et Ardere Protectum. Final Abbot ordained in 1790. Died 1816 in Antwerp.


Burials

A number of notable people were buried in the church, including: *
Philip I Rubens Philip Rubens (1574–1611), was a Flemish antiquarian, librarian and philologist from the Low Countries. He was the older brother of the prominent Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens.Peter Paul Rubens *
Maria Pypelinckx Maria Pypelinckx (20 March 1538 – 19 October 1608) was a writer from the Southern Netherlands, best known today as the mother of the painter Peter Paul Rubens. Early life Pypelinckx was born in Kuringen, now a part of Hasselt, as the daughter ...
* Isabella Brant and her parents, Joannes Brant and Claire de Moy *
Abraham Ortelius Abraham Ortelius (; also Ortels, Orthellius, Wortels; 4 or 14 April 152728 June 1598) was a Brabantian cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer, conventionally recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas, the ''Theatrum Orbis Terraru ...
* Michiel Cnobbaert


References


External links


A seventeenth-century view of St Michael's Abbey
available on Google Books. {{coord, 51.2150, N, 4.3932, E, source:wikidata, display=title Christian monasteries in Antwerp Province Premonstratensian monasteries in Belgium Buildings and structures demolished in 1831 1795 disestablishments in Europe 18th-century disestablishments in the Southern Netherlands Demolished buildings and structures in Belgium Former buildings and structures in Belgium History of Antwerp