St. Michael's Abbey, Antwerp
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St Michael's Abbey in
Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
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 in the Catholic Chur ...
abbey founded in 1124 by
Norbert of Xanten Norbert of Xanten, O. Praem (c. 1080 – 6 June 1134), also known as Norbert Gennep, was a German Catholic bishop who was the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, Archbishop of Magdeburg, founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons regular, and is ...
and laid waste during the
French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...
. 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 In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...
dedicated to
Saint Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...
and served by 12 secular canons was the only parish church in Antwerp. In 1124 the chapter was reformed by St Norbert 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 and Zandvliet, which helped shape the ultimate territory of Antwerp. The abbey was partly destroyed by the French army during the
War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition () was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797, initially against the Constitutional Cabinet of Louis XVI, constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French First Republic, Frenc ...
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, whose troops were holding the Citadel of Antwerp.


Art

Isabella of Bourbon (1436-1465), second wife of
Charles the Bold Charles Martin (10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), called the Bold, was the last duke of Burgundy from the House of Valois-Burgundy, ruling from 1467 to 1477. He was the only surviving legitimate son of Philip the Good and his third wife, ...
,
Duke of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy () was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by the Crown lands of France, French crown in 1477, and later by members of the House of Habsburg, including Holy Roman E ...
, and the mother of
Mary of Burgundy Mary of Burgundy (; ; 13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled the Burgundian lands, comprising the Duchy of Burgundy, Duchy and Free County of Burgundy, County of Burgundy a ...
, 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 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 S ...
(Amsterdam) and in M - Museum Leuven. The rest of the tomb, with the statue of Isabella, is now in Antwerp Cathedral. 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 Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...
,
Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy. The seventh child of ...
and
Jacob Jordaens Jacques (Jacob) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678Jacques Jordaens
in the Netherlands Institute for Ar ...
. Around 1624 Rubens delivered a monumental altarpiece for the abbey church, ''
The Adoration of the Magi ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
''. It was stolen during the French occupation and after 1815 was returned to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts (Antwerp). The Baroque altar itself, without the Rubens painting, was salvaged for use in
Zundert Zundert () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and town in the south of the Netherlands bordering Belgium, in the province of North Brabant. Zundert is the birthplace of Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter Vincent va ...
(Netherlands) and is now in the Church of St Trudo there. 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 Bergen op Zoom (; called ''Berrege'' in the Brabantian dialect, local dialect) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in southwestern Netherlands. It is located in the Province ...
(Netherlands).


Abbots

List to 1709 from Jean François Foppens, ''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 commis ...
, 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, 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, brother of
Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...
* Maria Pypelinckx *
Isabella Brant Isabella Brant (or Brandt; 1591 – 15 July 1626) was the first wife of the Flemish baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens, who painted several portraits of her. Family She was the eldest daughter of Jan Brant, an important city official in Antw ...
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 cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer from Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands. He is recognized as the creator of the list of atlases, first modern ...
* Michiel Cnobbaert


References


External links


A seventeenth-century view of St Michael's Abbey
available on
Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...
. {{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