Abbaye Saint-Denis

“ The monks of Saint Denis, alarmed at such an innovation (which did not, however, affect their own goods and revenues) , composed a petition in the form of the factum that our advocates draw up in a suit. They exclaimed in this document “on the disrepute which this innovation would bring upon their ancient, respectable, and illustrious community. In suppressing the title of Abbot of Saint Denis,” they said further, “your Majesty, in reality, suppresses our abbey ”

“ J. Doublet, Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Denys, vol. i, ch. xxxi, xxxiv.
[112] Cf. vol. i, p. 182 (W.S.) .
[113] Thomassin, Registre Delphinal, in Trial, vol. iv, p. 304. See Du Cange, Glossaire under the word Auriflamme.
[114] J. Doublet, Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Denys, vol. i, ch. xxii. D. Michel Félibien, Histoire de l'abbaye royale de Saint-Denys en France, Paris, in folio, 1706, pp. 229, 320. Vallet de Viriville, Notice du manuscrit de P. Cochon, at the end of La chronique de la Pucelle, p. 360. Chronique de Du Guesclin, ed. Francisque-Michel, pp. 452 et seq. ”

“ He was in the hands of violent men, unlettered, unruly, of unbridled passions and degraded lusts, robbers, would-be murderers : such were the monks of Saint Gildas. Abailard had no command over them ; it was enough if he could preserve his personal safety. A single incident consoled him in this terrible period of his career. The convent of Argenteuil, where Heloissa lived as prioress, had ceased to exist. The abbat of Saint Denis had asserted on behalf of his house a legal claim upon it : he established his suit, and in 1128 the nuns were dispersed. ”

“ The portrait used to hang over the fireplace in the Community Hall. I will not tell you how it comes to be where it is now—it is a secret. She who tramples upon those crowns and scepters was Louise Adelaide de Chartres, second daughter of the Regent Philippe d’Orléans. She became Abbess here when eighteen, and died Abbess of Chelles. She was divinely beautiful and of ungovernable passions.... The suite of immense rooms that were hers in the main building of the Abbaye are never used. They are always shut up, and no one ever goes into them alone. ”

“ William the Conqueror had planned the erection of the abbey on a vast scale, intending to endow it with{80} sufficient land to maintain seven score monks. Several Benedictine monks were transported from Marmontier in Normandy, and one of their number, Gausbertus, elected abbot. Many privileges were granted to the abbey by its royal founder, including sanctuary; freedom from the Bishop’s jurisdiction, treasure trove, and to the abbot, the right to forgive any condemned thief he might meet going to execution. ”

“ How could it be so before the Pope and the Council had pronounced judgment concerning it? Men are free to believe in her or not to believe in her. But it is a subject of edification; and it behoves men to meditate upon it, not in a spirit of prejudice, persisting in doubt, but with an open mind and according to the Christian faith. Following the counsel of Gerson, kindly souls will believe that the Maid comes from God, just as they believe that the head of Saint Denys may be venerated by the faithful either in the Cathedral Church of Paris or in the abbey-church of Saint Denys in France. ”

“ Under Robert Bonus, in 1325, was established the Guild of the Brothers and Sisters of the Light of St. Mary in the Parish Church; and in 1370, Abbot Stephen Langdon showed his concern for the good of the town by appealing to the faithful to help in restoring the stone bridge over the rude waters of the Tavy. John Denyngton probably rebuilt much of the Abbey in the Perpendicular style then in vogue; and he certainly added to his own dignity and to that of his monastery by gaining the permission of Henry VI., in 1458, to apply to the Pope, Pius II., for the privilege of wearing the pontificalia. ”

“ Originally a Benedictine House, it was transferred in the twelfth century to the Templars, and in 1290, passed from them to the Minor Sisters of the Franciscan order. Marie de Valence, the foundress of Pembroke College, was a noted benefactress to Denny, and in her statutes solemnly enjoined on the scholars of the former institution "kindness" towards the recluses of the latter. The abbey is now a farm, but there are more remains of the monastic buildings here than almost anywhere else in the county. Much of the church is built into the farm house, and the refectory is in use as a barn. ”

“ There are four wards, and we have called them Blanche of Castille (the woman who really started the building of this place, the mother of Louis IX., the Founder, as he is called) , Queen Margaret of Scotland, Joan of Arc, and Millicent Fawcett. Now, don’t you think that is rather nice! The Abbaye itself is a wonderful place. It has beautiful architecture, and is placed [157] in delightful woods. One wants to spend hours exploring it, instead of which we have all been working like galley slaves getting the hospital in order. The equipment has come out practically all right. ”

“ He suffered martyrdom at the village of Catulliacus, the modern St Denis. His tomb was situated by the side of the Roman road, where rose the priory of St-Denis-de-l’Estrée, which existed until the 18th century. In the 5th century the clergy of the diocese of Paris built a basilica over the tomb. About 625 Dagobert, son of Lothair II., founded in honour of St Denis, at some distance from the basilica, the monastery where the greater number of the kings of France have been buried. The festival of St Denis is celebrated on the 9th of October. ”

“ Founded in Saxon times, it was re-established after{107} the Norman invasion and subsequently became a mitred abbey. The original church and monastery suffered greatly at the hands of the Danes in the 9th century, the “Abbot being slain at the altar where he was celebrating the Holy Communion and many of the monks being tortured and killed in the most cruel manner.” Shrines and monuments were specially singled out by the Danes for destruction, the sacred contents being irreverently scattered in all directions, and the costly memorials rifled. ”

“ Abbess brought about great changes in the convent. Upon that event Monsignor Zenoni, who had succeeded Monsignor Donato as Bishop of Padua, considered that the time was come to introduce a more strict administration in the convent and to revive among its inmates the spirit of Saint Benedict. With this object he forbade the nuns to elect their next Superior from among their number until the reformations that he considered necessary should have been brought about in their community. ”

“ Fire played havoc here as elsewhere, and we find Abbot Geoffrey lamenting over the intolerable ruin of his church. This was at the close of the twelfth century, and some reparation was affected, while, during the time of his successor, Hugh Grylle, prosperity dawned upon the Abbey, and the number of monks was soon after increased. Increased wealth tempted the rapacious, and the abbey had to withstand a siege. A noted abbot was Simon de Albo Monasterio, or Whitchurch, who did much for his monastery. He rebuilt the Lady Chapel, enlarged the chapter-house, and began the present choir. ”

“ Suger himself was in Rome at the time, discharging a mission from the king, and he tells us, in his autobiography, of the perplexity the dilemma caused him. However, before he reached France, the king had concluded that an abbot could be as useful as a prior in an accommodating age. In the sequel, St. Denis became more royal, and less abbatial than ever—until 1127. St. Bernard complained that it [p. 177] seemed to have become the ‘war office’ and the ‘ministry of justice’ of the kingdom.
Abélard now seems to have been taken in hand by a more astute admirer, Burchard, Bishop of Meaux. ”

“ One day when he was absorbed in this study he hit upon a document from which it seemed possible to prove that the convent of the Benedictine nuns at Argenteuil, two or three miles away, belonged to the monks of St. Denis. It was a complicated question, the nuns dating their possession from the time of Charlemagne. But when Suger became abbot of St. Denis himself, and eager to employ his political ability and influence in the service of the abbey, he recollected, along with others, the document relating to the nunnery. ”

“ Then he seeks service, and is seen knocking acorns from boughs, to feed his employer's swine; but, among the thousands of young men who must have come here directly from the schools, nine in every ten said that he was teaching letters to his employer's children or lecturing to the students of the Latin Quarter. At last he decides to return to his father,—possibly the Archbishop of Paris or the Abbot of Saint-Denis,—who receives him with open arms, and gives him a new robe, which to the ribald student would mean a church living—an abbey, perhaps Saint Gildas-de-Rhuys in Brittany, or elsewhere. ”

“ Although the Abbot was a lay magnate as well as a spiritual peer, it is remarkable how seldom the Monastery was involved in political and party strife. The current of life in the cloister but rarely mingled with the stream of national life. Occasionally a great noble, like Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Lincoln, might be the Abbot’s enemy, and try to do him hurt; more often the Abbey enjoyed the favour of nobles of all parties, of Yorkist as of Lancastrian kings, and in return offered indiscriminate hospitality. Such an attitude tended to deprive the Abbey of all political or party value. ”

“ Denis—the only church in Paris, and I think in France, called by that ancient name, which carries us back at once to the days of the Roman Empire, and in itself bears evidence to the antiquity of the spot as a place of worship. Around it, a squalid modern industrial town has slowly grown up; but the nucleus of the whole place, as the name itself shows, is the body and shrine of the martyred bishop, St. Denis. Among the numerous variants of his legend, the most accepted is that which makes the apostle of Paris have carried his head to this spot from Montmartre. ”

“ Let him always keep the place which he received on entering the monastery, except in his duties at the altar or in case the choice of the community and the will of the Abbot should promote him for the worthiness of his life. Yet he must understand that he is to observe the rules laid down by deans and Priors.
Should he presume to act otherwise, let him be judged not as a priest but as a rebel. And if he does not reform after repeated admonitions, let even the Bishop be brought in as a witness. ”

“ So closely are the ruins surrounded by houses that there is some difficulty in defining the original site of the abbey. The approach to the ruins is through a gateway of Perpendicular work, built probably about the end of the 14th century. The parapet is battlemented, and over the centre arch may be seen a canopied niche containing the figure of the Blessed Virgin, the patronal saint of the abbey. A few yards further on after turning slightly to the right one reaches the rest of the monastical remains, which consist only of the guest house, with its adjoining abbot’s or prior’s house. ”

“ The nunneries of Prez and Sopwell—cells of the Abbey—are stated to be little better than brothels. ‘The brethren of the Abbey, some of whom, as it is reported, are given over to all the evil things of the world, neglect the service of God altogether. They live with harlots and mistresses publicly and continuously within the precincts of the monastery and without.’
The Archbishop adds that he had warned the Abbot to cure these abuses before securing the papal commission. ”

“ And if possible let all the affairs of the monastery, as we have already arranged, be administered by deans according to the Abbot’s directions. Thus, with the duties being shared by several, no one person will become proud.
But if the circumstances of the place require it, or if the community asks for it with reason and with humility, and the Abbot judges it to be expedient, let the Abbot himself constitute as his Prior whomsoever he shall choose with the counsel of God-fearing brethren. ”

“ The Bishop, Thirleby, was ordered to make the abbot's house his palace; Abbot Benson, now Dean, took up his residence in humble quarters, and all the old glory of the monastery departed for ever, while Henry was quite £60,000 a year richer in our money. Those of the monks for whom no place could be found under the new system were pensioned off, and many of the buildings, such as the refectory and the smaller dormitory, no longer needed for the cowled figures who for so many generations had used them, were pulled down or put to fresh uses. ”

“ This is a very magnificent abbey.62 The abbot holds the same as a prince, and receives therefrom an income [Pg 119] of fifty thousand florins yearly, the present abbot being of the house of Estain. All the brethren are of gentle birth. The abbey was founded in 783 by Hildegarde, the wife of Charlemagne, who is buried there and honoured as a saint ”

“ Half a mile beyond this point, a pretty group of cottages marks where the way to Denny Abbey lies to the right across a cow-pasture. A field-gate whose posts are the battered fragments of some Perpendicular Gothic pillars from that ruined monastery, crowned incongruously with a pair of eighteenth-century stone urns, clearly identifies the spot. There has been a religious house of sorts on this spot since eight hundred years ago, and most of the remains are of the Norman period, when a settlement of [Pg 232] Black Monks from Ely settled here. ”