Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés
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| - | :"In September of [[1792]], the National Assembly legalized [[divorce]], contrary to Catholic doctrine. At the same time, the State took control of the birth, death, and marriage registers away from the Church. An ever increasing view that the Church was a counter-revolutionary force exacerbated the social and economic grievances and violence erupted in towns and cities across France. In [[Paris]], over a forty-eight hour period beginning on [[September 2]], 1792, as the [[Legislative Assembly (France)|Legislative Assembly]] (successor to the National Constituent Assembly) dissolved into chaos, three Church bishops and more than two hundred priests were massacred by angry mobs; this constituted part of what would become known as the [[September Massacres]]. Priests were among those drowned in the ''[[Noyades]]'' for [[treason]] under the direction of [[Jean-Baptiste Carrier]]; priests and nuns were among the mass executions at [[Lyon]], for [[separatism]], on the orders of [[Joseph Fouché]] and [[Collot d'Herbois]]. Hundreds more priests were imprisoned and made to suffer in abominable conditions in the port of [[Rochefort]]." | ||
| - | :''[[Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution]], [[Petit Souper a la Parisienne]]'' | + | The [[Benedictine]] '''Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés''', just beyond the outskirts of early medieval [[Paris]], was the burial place of [[Merovingian]] kings of [[Neustria]]. At that time, the [[Rive Gauche|Left Bank of Paris]] was prone to flooding from the Seine, so much of the land could not be built upon and the Abbey stood in the middle of fields, or ''prés'' in French, thereby explaining its appellation. |
| - | The '''September Massacres''' were a [[wave]] of [[mob violence]] which overtook [[Paris]] in late summer [[1792]], during the [[French Revolution]]. By the time it had subsided, half the [[prison]] population of Paris had been executed: some 1200 trapped prisoners, including many women and young boys. Sporadic violence, in particular against the [[Roman Catholic Church]], would continue throughout France for nearly a decade to come. | + | |
| - | == Overview == | + | |
| - | On [[September 2]] [[1792]], news reached Paris that the [[Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg|Duke of Brunswick]]'s [[Prussia]]n army had invaded France, that the fortress of [[Verdun]] had quickly fallen, that perhaps its own aristocratic officers had capitulated too easily, and that the Prussians were advancing quickly toward the [[capital]]. On [[July 25]] Brunswick had circulated his bombastic "[[Brunswick Manifesto]]" from [[Koblenz|Coblenz]]: his avowed aim was | + | |
| - | :"to put an end to the anarchy in the interior of France, to check the attacks upon the throne and the altar, to reestablish the legal power, to restore to the king the security and the liberty of which he is now deprived and to place him in a position to exercise once more the legitimate authority which belongs to him." | + | The Abbey was founded in the 6th century by the son of [[Clovis I]], [[Childebert I]] (ruled 511–558). Under royal patronage the Abbey became one of the richest in France; it housed an important [[scriptorium]] in the eleventh century and remained a center of intellectual life in the French Catholic church until it was disbanded during the [[French Revolution]]. An explosion of [[Potassium nitrate|saltpetre]] in storage levelled the Abbey and its cloisters, the statues in the portal were removed (''illustration'') and some destroyed, and in a fire in 1794 the library vanished in smoke. The abbey church remains as the '''''Église de Saint-Germain-des-Prés''''', Paris. |
| - | Additionally, the Manifesto threatened the French public with instant punishment should they resist the Imperial and Prussian armies, or the reinstatement of the monarchy. Such information fueled this first wave of mob hysteria of the Revolution. By the end of August rumours circulated that many in Paris - such as [[non-juror|non-juring priests]] - who secretly opposed the Revolution would support the [[First Coalition]] of foreign powers allied against it. Furthermore, Paris lacked extensive food stocks. | + | In 542, while making war in Spain, Childebert raised his siege of [[Saragossa]] when he heard that the inhabitants had placed themselves under the protection of the martyr [[Vincent of Saragossa|Saint Vincent]]. In gratitude the bishop of Saragossa presented him with the saint's [[Stole (vestment)|stole]]. When Childebert returned to Paris, he caused a church to be erected to house the relic, dedicated to the Holy Cross and Saint Vincent, placed where he could see it across the fields from the royal palace on the [[Île de la Cité]]. |
| - | The political situation in Paris on the eve of the September Massacres was dire. No individual or organised body could truly claim exclusive [[sovereignty]]. The monarchy and short-lived [[French Constitution of 1791|Constitution of 1791]] had been overthrown with the bloody [[10th of August (French Revolution)|''journée'' of 10 August 1792]], in which the [[Tuileries]] was stormed by the mob and the royal family fled for their lives. The [[Legislative Assembly (France)|Legislative Assembly]] had been left impotent after a large number of deputies had fled, and its successor, the [[National Convention]], had not yet met. To further complicate this matter, the [[Paris Commune (French Revolution)|insurrectionary Paris commune]] established 9 August 1792 incorporated some of the most radical revolutionary elements, including the ''[[sans-culottes]]'', and briefly contended for the role of ''de facto'' government of France. Lacking a sovereign power, the Parisians' fear, hatred, and prejudice proved to be the seeds of the September Massacres. | + | [[Image:Abbeysaintgermaindespres.jpg|thumb|200px|left|The Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the evening.]] |
| + | In 558, St. Vincent's church was completed and dedicated by [[Germain of Paris|Germain, Bishop of Paris]] on 23 December; on the very same day, Childebert died. Close by the church a monastery was erected. Its abbots had both spiritual and temporal jurisdiction over the suburbs of Saint-Germain (lasting till about the year 1670). The church was frequently plundered and set on fire by the Normans in the ninth century. It was rebuilt in 1014 and rededicated in 1163 by [[Pope Alexander III]] to Saint [[Germain of Paris]], the canonized [[Bishop of Paris]] and Childeric's chief counsellor. The great wall of Paris subsequently built during the reign of [[Philip II of France]] did not encompass the abbey, leaving the residents to fend for themselves. This also had the effect of splitting the Abbey's holdings into two. A new refectory was built for the monastery by [[Peter of Montereau]] in around 1239 - he was later the architect of the [[Sainte-Chapelle]]. | ||
| - | When news of the collapse of defenses at Verdun reached the Convention, they ordered the [[tocsin]] rung and alarm guns fired, which doubtless added to the sense of panic. An army of 60,000 was to be enlisted at the [[Champ de Mars]], the British ambassador reported; | + | The abbey church's west end tower was pierced by a portal, completed in the twelfth century, which collapsed in 1604 and was replaced in 1606 by the present classicising portal, by Marcel Le Roy.<ref>Philippe Plagnieux, "Le portail du XIIe siècle de Saint-Germain-des-Prés à Paris: état de la question et nouvelles recherches" ''Gesta'' '''28'''.1 (1989, pp. 21-29) p. 22</ref> Its choir, with its apsidal east end, provides an early example of [[flying buttress]]es. |
| - | :"A party at the instigation of some one or other declared they would not quit Paris, as long as the prisons were filled with Traitors (for they called those so, that were confined in the different Prisons and Churches), who might in the absence of such a number of Citizens rise and not only effect the release of His Majesty, but make an entire counterrevolution." | + | [[Image:Louvre childebert ml93.jpg|thumb|100px|Limestone sculpture of [[Childebert I|Childebert]], from the former refectory portal ([[Musée du Louvre|Louvre]])]] |
| + | It gave its name to the quarter of [[Saint-Germain-des-Prés]] that developed around the abbey. This area is also part of the [[Latin Quarter]], because the Abbey donated some of its lands along the [[Seine]]—the ''Pré aux Clercs'' ("fields of the scholars") for the erection of buildings to house the [[University of Paris]], where [[Latin (language)|Latin]] was the ''[[lingua franca]]'' among students who arrived from all over Europe and shared no other language. | ||
| - | The first attack occurred when twenty-four non-juring priests being transported to the prison of the [[Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés#Former_Configuration|Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés]] which had become a national prison of the revolutionary government. They were attacked by a mob that quickly killed them all as they were trying to escape into the prison, then mutilated the bodies, "with circumstances of barbarity too shocking to describe" according to the British diplomatic dispatch. Of 284 prisoners, 135 were killed, 27 were transferred, 86 were set free, and 36 had uncertain fates. On [[September 3]] and [[September 4]], crowds broke into other Paris [[prison]]s, where they [[murder]]ed the prisoners, who some feared were counter-revolutionaries who would aid the invading Prussians. | + | Until the late 17th century, the Abbey owned most of the land in the Left Bank west of the current [[Boulevard Saint-Michel]] and had administrative autonomy in it, most clearly for the part outside the walls of Paris. |
| - | Most notably, the crowds are said to have raped, killed and grotesquely mutilated the [[Marie-Louise, princesse de Lamballe|Princesse de Lamballe]], friend of [[Marie Antoinette]] and sister-in-law to the [[Louis Philip II, Duke of Orléans | Duc d'Orleans]]. It was said that her head was paraded atop a pike under the captive Queen's windows at the [[Temple (Paris)|Temple]]. Religious figures also figured prominently among the victims: the massacres occurred during a time of great and rising resentment against the [[Roman Catholic Church]], which eventually led to the temporary [[Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution|dechristianisation of France]]. Over a forty-eight hour period beginning on [[September 2]], [[1792]], as the [[Legislative Assembly (France)|French Legislative Assembly]] (successor to the [[National Constituent Assembly]]) dissolved into chaos, angry mobs massacred three [[bishop]]s, including the [[Archbishop of Arles]], and more than two hundred [[priest]]s. | + | [[Louis-César de Bourbon]], son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, was an abbot here. |
| - | [[Nicolas-Edme Restif de la Bretonne|Restif de la Bretonne]] saw the bodies piled high in front of the [[Châtelet]] and witnessed atrocities that he recorded in ''[[Les Nuits de Paris]]'' (1793). | + | In the 17th century the district of Saint-Germain was among the most desirable on the [[Left Bank]]. [[Marguerite de Valois]] pressured the abbot to donate abbey land to her, too. She built a palace on it, and set a fashionable tone for the area that lasted until the Saint-Honoré district north of the [[Champs-Élysées]] eclipsed it in the early eighteenth century. Her palace was located at the current numbers 2-10 rue de Seine. The gardens of the estate extended west to the current rue Bellechasse.<ref>''Saint-Germain-des-Prés et son faubourg'', p. 203, Dominique Leborgne, Editions Parigramme, Paris 2005, ISBN 284096189X</ref> |
| + | |||
| + | The tomb of philosopher [[René Descartes]] is located in one of the church's side chapels. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Burials== | ||
| + | * [[Germain of Paris]] | ||
| + | * [[William Egon of Fürstenberg]] | ||
| + | * [[Fredegund]] | ||
| + | * [[George Douglas, 1st Earl of Dumbarton]] | ||
| + | * [[William Douglas, 1st Marquess of Douglas]] | ||
| + | * [[Lord James Douglas]] | ||
| + | * [[William Douglas, 10th Earl of Angus]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Former configuration == | ||
| + | At its apogee, the Abbey extended to the area now bordered to the north by the (current) rue Jacob, to the East by the rue de l'Echaudee, to the south by the south side of the [[Boulevard Saint-Germain]] and the rue Gozlin, and to the west by the rue St.-Benoit.<ref>''Saint-Germain-des-Prés et son faubourg'', Dominique Leborgne, Editions Parigramme, Paris 2005, ISBN 284096189X</ref> | ||
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| + | From 1275 to 1636, the [[pillory]] of the Abbey was located in the current Place d'Acadie, better known to Parisians as the Mabillon due to the eponymous [[Paris Métro|Métro]] station located there. This square was therefore called the ''Place du Pilori'' and the current rue de Buci leading to it was called the ''rue du Pilori''.<ref>''Saint-Germain-des-Prés et son faubourg'', p. 125, Dominique Leborgne, Editions Parigramme, Paris 2005, ISBN 284096189X</ref> | ||
| + | |||
| + | The pillory was removed upon the rebuilding of the Abbey's prison in 1635 (a prison had stood there since the Middle Ages). It was located in what is now the Boulevard Saint-Germain, just west of the current Passage de la Petite Boucherie. In 1675 it was requisitioned for a military prison. The prison was known for its extremely poor condition, for example, in 1836, Benjamin Appert wrote :<ref>Benjamin Appert, ''Bagnes, prisons et criminels'', p. 205, Guilbert, 1836, vol. I</ref> | ||
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| + | {{cquote|The cells are abominable and so humid that the soldiers incarcerated there, often for minor offences, must subsequently go to the [[Val-de-Grâce]] hospital to recover from their imprisonment.}} | ||
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| + | The prison was the site of one of the [[September massacres]] of 1792 and was eventually destroyed to make way for the [[Boulevard Saint-Germain]].<ref>''Saint-Germain-des-Prés et son faubourg'', p. 62, Dominique Leborgne, Editions Parigramme, Paris 2005, ISBN 284096189X</ref> | ||
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Revision as of 14:49, 12 June 2010
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The Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, just beyond the outskirts of early medieval Paris, was the burial place of Merovingian kings of Neustria. At that time, the Left Bank of Paris was prone to flooding from the Seine, so much of the land could not be built upon and the Abbey stood in the middle of fields, or prés in French, thereby explaining its appellation.
The Abbey was founded in the 6th century by the son of Clovis I, Childebert I (ruled 511–558). Under royal patronage the Abbey became one of the richest in France; it housed an important scriptorium in the eleventh century and remained a center of intellectual life in the French Catholic church until it was disbanded during the French Revolution. An explosion of saltpetre in storage levelled the Abbey and its cloisters, the statues in the portal were removed (illustration) and some destroyed, and in a fire in 1794 the library vanished in smoke. The abbey church remains as the Église de Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris.
In 542, while making war in Spain, Childebert raised his siege of Saragossa when he heard that the inhabitants had placed themselves under the protection of the martyr Saint Vincent. In gratitude the bishop of Saragossa presented him with the saint's stole. When Childebert returned to Paris, he caused a church to be erected to house the relic, dedicated to the Holy Cross and Saint Vincent, placed where he could see it across the fields from the royal palace on the Île de la Cité.
In 558, St. Vincent's church was completed and dedicated by Germain, Bishop of Paris on 23 December; on the very same day, Childebert died. Close by the church a monastery was erected. Its abbots had both spiritual and temporal jurisdiction over the suburbs of Saint-Germain (lasting till about the year 1670). The church was frequently plundered and set on fire by the Normans in the ninth century. It was rebuilt in 1014 and rededicated in 1163 by Pope Alexander III to Saint Germain of Paris, the canonized Bishop of Paris and Childeric's chief counsellor. The great wall of Paris subsequently built during the reign of Philip II of France did not encompass the abbey, leaving the residents to fend for themselves. This also had the effect of splitting the Abbey's holdings into two. A new refectory was built for the monastery by Peter of Montereau in around 1239 - he was later the architect of the Sainte-Chapelle.
The abbey church's west end tower was pierced by a portal, completed in the twelfth century, which collapsed in 1604 and was replaced in 1606 by the present classicising portal, by Marcel Le Roy.<ref>Philippe Plagnieux, "Le portail du XIIe siècle de Saint-Germain-des-Prés à Paris: état de la question et nouvelles recherches" Gesta 28.1 (1989, pp. 21-29) p. 22</ref> Its choir, with its apsidal east end, provides an early example of flying buttresses.
It gave its name to the quarter of Saint-Germain-des-Prés that developed around the abbey. This area is also part of the Latin Quarter, because the Abbey donated some of its lands along the Seine—the Pré aux Clercs ("fields of the scholars") for the erection of buildings to house the University of Paris, where Latin was the lingua franca among students who arrived from all over Europe and shared no other language.
Until the late 17th century, the Abbey owned most of the land in the Left Bank west of the current Boulevard Saint-Michel and had administrative autonomy in it, most clearly for the part outside the walls of Paris.
Louis-César de Bourbon, son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, was an abbot here.
In the 17th century the district of Saint-Germain was among the most desirable on the Left Bank. Marguerite de Valois pressured the abbot to donate abbey land to her, too. She built a palace on it, and set a fashionable tone for the area that lasted until the Saint-Honoré district north of the Champs-Élysées eclipsed it in the early eighteenth century. Her palace was located at the current numbers 2-10 rue de Seine. The gardens of the estate extended west to the current rue Bellechasse.<ref>Saint-Germain-des-Prés et son faubourg, p. 203, Dominique Leborgne, Editions Parigramme, Paris 2005, ISBN 284096189X</ref>
The tomb of philosopher René Descartes is located in one of the church's side chapels.
Burials
- Germain of Paris
- William Egon of Fürstenberg
- Fredegund
- George Douglas, 1st Earl of Dumbarton
- William Douglas, 1st Marquess of Douglas
- Lord James Douglas
- William Douglas, 10th Earl of Angus
Former configuration
At its apogee, the Abbey extended to the area now bordered to the north by the (current) rue Jacob, to the East by the rue de l'Echaudee, to the south by the south side of the Boulevard Saint-Germain and the rue Gozlin, and to the west by the rue St.-Benoit.<ref>Saint-Germain-des-Prés et son faubourg, Dominique Leborgne, Editions Parigramme, Paris 2005, ISBN 284096189X</ref>
From 1275 to 1636, the pillory of the Abbey was located in the current Place d'Acadie, better known to Parisians as the Mabillon due to the eponymous Métro station located there. This square was therefore called the Place du Pilori and the current rue de Buci leading to it was called the rue du Pilori.<ref>Saint-Germain-des-Prés et son faubourg, p. 125, Dominique Leborgne, Editions Parigramme, Paris 2005, ISBN 284096189X</ref>
The pillory was removed upon the rebuilding of the Abbey's prison in 1635 (a prison had stood there since the Middle Ages). It was located in what is now the Boulevard Saint-Germain, just west of the current Passage de la Petite Boucherie. In 1675 it was requisitioned for a military prison. The prison was known for its extremely poor condition, for example, in 1836, Benjamin Appert wrote :<ref>Benjamin Appert, Bagnes, prisons et criminels, p. 205, Guilbert, 1836, vol. I</ref>
The prison was the site of one of the September massacres of 1792 and was eventually destroyed to make way for the Boulevard Saint-Germain.<ref>Saint-Germain-des-Prés et son faubourg, p. 62, Dominique Leborgne, Editions Parigramme, Paris 2005, ISBN 284096189X</ref>
