Almenêches Abbey

Almenêches Abbey (French: Abbaye d'Almenêches) was a Benedictine nunnery[1] at Almenêches in Orne, Normandy, France. It was founded in the 6th century, but had been abandoned by the 10th century.[2] Roger of Montgomery refounded it sometime between 1063 and 1066.[3]

Church of Almenêches Abbey

History

During the Anglo-Norman civil war (1202–04), upon hearing the abbey was being used by Duke Robert Curthose as a stable,[3] Robert of Bellême burned it down.[4] The abbess, Bellême's sister Emma, fled with her sister nuns; they were temporarily accommodated in surrounding houses or at the Abbey of Saint-Evroul.[3] The following year Emma had the abbey at Almenêches rebuilt.[3] It subsequently suffered another fire under Abbess Matilda, Emma's successor,[3] and a third one after 1308.[2]

Episcopal visit

In 1260, Archbishop Eudes Rigaud noted the refectory was not in use; the nuns ate in groups of twos and threes in private rooms.[5] He ordered them to cease this activity and eat in the refectory.[5] Eudes also noted that the nuns ran up debts in the town and that some of the nuns even had children.[6] The nuns also failed to live a communal life, did not attend Matins or Compline, and allowed seculars to visit the nunnery.[6] Eudes admits to finding the nunnery in disarray, explaining he did not have the time to fix every problem he encountered.[7] Instead, Eudes ordered their bishop to instruct their abbess on the proper life for the nuns.[7]

Closure

In 1736, the community was transferred to Argentan Abbey.[2] During the French Revolution the Abbey church was then used to manufacture saltpeter.[8] Restoration of the church was carried out between 1864 and 1887 by architect Ruprich-Robert.[9]

In 1948 the church was listed as a Monument historique.[10]

References
  1. Johnson 1991, p. 269.
  2. Hicks 2007, p. 193.
  3. Hicks 2007, p. 129.
  4. Green 1999, p. 113.
  5. Johnson 1991, p. 193-194.
  6. Power 1922, p. 666.
  7. Davis 2006, p. 53-54.
  8. "Abbatiale Sainte-Opportune". Sauvegarde de l’Art Français.
  9. "Eglise". www.pop.culture.gouv.fr.
  10. "Eglise à Almenêches - PA00110713". monumentum.fr.

Sources
  • Green, Judith A. (1999). Harper-Bill, Christopher (ed.). "Robert Curthose Reassessed". Anglo-Norman Studies XXII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference. The Boydell Press.
  • Hicks, Leonie V. (2007). Religious Life in Normandy, 1050-1300: Space, Gender and Social Pressure. The Boydell Press.
  • Johnson, Penelope D. (1991). Equal in Monastic Profession: Religious Women in Medieval France. University of Chicago Press.
  • Power, Eileen (1922). Medieval English Nunneries, C. 1275 to 1535. Cambridge University Press.
  • Davis, Adam Jeffrey (2006). The Holy Bureaucrat: Eudes Rigaud and Religious Reform in Thirteenth-century Normandy. Cornell University Press.53-54

48.69741°N 0.11096°E / 48.69741; 0.11096

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