The Carolingian abbey church of Saint-Philibert
Once upon a time, during the period some like to call “the Dark Ages”, while historians rather name it “early Middle Ages”, a monk named Philibert, who had come from the Burgundy town of Tournus to preach in southern Brittany and Vendée, founded a monastery on an island just off the French Atlantic seaboard, not far from the estuary of River Loire. The year was 674 and the island came to be known as Noirmoutier, meaning “Black Monastery”, from the color of the robes the monks wore.
Philibert passed away in 684 and the monks kept on living on the island until, from around Year 800, Viking raids on coastal areas made it untenable to remain —indeed, not everywhere was there peace in the kingdom of freshly crowned Emperor Charlemagne... Shortly after the foundation of the abbey 150 years before, land had been given to the monks by a local lord in an inland place called Déas, and there the monks began construction of a new and large abbey church in 815. In 836, they placed within the new church the sarcophagus containing the remains of Philibert, who had in the meantime been canonized.
Alas! peace in those times was a fragile thing, and soon more and more daring Viking raids forced the monks to flee again in 847, first to the abbey of Cunault on the banks of the Loire, and finally to that of Tournus in Burgundy, their founder’s home town, where at last they found solace and shelter. They had brought with them the bones of Saint Philibert but left the heavy sarcophagus in the deserted abbey church of Déas, and there the bones were transported back again when a group of monks returned in the early 900s, after the signature of the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in 911, which bestowed Normandy upon the Vikings, giving them a place to settle and bringing their raiding and pillaging activities to an end.
The monastic life in Déas, which had become a priory of Tournus, began again. In the early 1100s, the place was renamed Saint-Philbert- [without the first “i”] de-Grand-Lieu.
The abbey church went through the Wars of Religion and the French Revolution without too much damage, then was used as a place to store hay, and even as chicken market in the 19th century. Its walls were then lowered as their top part had been too damaged. It was finally listed as a Historic Landmark in 1896 and restoration began.
The church as we see it today is mostly Carolingian, and is famous among Mediævalists for its square pillars that look like no other and are instantly recognizable.
The back of the church is polluted by late 18th century utilitarian buildings (vestry and the like). Because of “The One Hundred Years Old Rule”, we are obliged to keep those warts that prevent us from seeing the original shape and proportions of the Carolingian apse. This is yet another example when one thinks the rule should have reasonable exceptions...
The Carolingian abbey church of Saint-Philibert
Once upon a time, during the period some like to call “the Dark Ages”, while historians rather name it “early Middle Ages”, a monk named Philibert, who had come from the Burgundy town of Tournus to preach in southern Brittany and Vendée, founded a monastery on an island just off the French Atlantic seaboard, not far from the estuary of River Loire. The year was 674 and the island came to be known as Noirmoutier, meaning “Black Monastery”, from the color of the robes the monks wore.
Philibert passed away in 684 and the monks kept on living on the island until, from around Year 800, Viking raids on coastal areas made it untenable to remain —indeed, not everywhere was there peace in the kingdom of freshly crowned Emperor Charlemagne... Shortly after the foundation of the abbey 150 years before, land had been given to the monks by a local lord in an inland place called Déas, and there the monks began construction of a new and large abbey church in 815. In 836, they placed within the new church the sarcophagus containing the remains of Philibert, who had in the meantime been canonized.
Alas! peace in those times was a fragile thing, and soon more and more daring Viking raids forced the monks to flee again in 847, first to the abbey of Cunault on the banks of the Loire, and finally to that of Tournus in Burgundy, their founder’s home town, where at last they found solace and shelter. They had brought with them the bones of Saint Philibert but left the heavy sarcophagus in the deserted abbey church of Déas, and there the bones were transported back again when a group of monks returned in the early 900s, after the signature of the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in 911, which bestowed Normandy upon the Vikings, giving them a place to settle and bringing their raiding and pillaging activities to an end.
The monastic life in Déas, which had become a priory of Tournus, began again. In the early 1100s, the place was renamed Saint-Philbert- [without the first “i”] de-Grand-Lieu.
The abbey church went through the Wars of Religion and the French Revolution without too much damage, then was used as a place to store hay, and even as chicken market in the 19th century. Its walls were then lowered as their top part had been too damaged. It was finally listed as a Historic Landmark in 1896 and restoration began.
The church as we see it today is mostly Carolingian, and is famous among Mediævalists for its square pillars that look like no other and are instantly recognizable.
The back of the church is polluted by late 18th century utilitarian buildings (vestry and the like). Because of “The One Hundred Years Old Rule”, we are obliged to keep those warts that prevent us from seeing the original shape and proportions of the Carolingian apse. This is yet another example when one thinks the rule should have reasonable exceptions...