Notre Dame de Morienval

The Abbey of Notre Dame de Morienval (Our Lady of Morienval) or the Church of St. Denis (French: Abbaye Notre-Dame de Morienval, Église Saint-Denis) is a former Benedictine church located in Morienval, Oise Department, northern France. Since the abolition of the nunnery in 1745, the abbey has functioned as the parish church for Morienval. The few convent buildings not demolished after the French Revolution are privately owned and are not open to the public.[1]

Morienval Abbey
French: Abbaye Notre-Dame de Morienval
Église Saint-Denis de Morienval
Facade of Our Lady of Morienval, 2012
Morienval Abbey
Location in France
49°17′53″N 2°55′20″E
LocationMorienval, Oise Department
CountryFrance
DenominationRoman Catholic
Religious orderOrder of Saint Benedict
History
Foundedc. 860
DedicationVirgin Mary, St. Denis
Administration
ParishSaint-Pierre in the Autumn Valley
DioceseRoman Catholic Diocese of Soissons
Official nameÉglise abbatiale de bénédictines Notre-Dame
TypeÉglise
CriteriaAbbey (1840)
Ancient Cross (1924)
Building and Grounds (1984)
Designated1840, 1924, 1984[1]
Reference no.IA60001565

History

Though the cartulary for the original Benedictine abbey of Morienval survives,[2] it does not list any act or deed marking its beginning. There do not exist any Papal bulls or other archival material that give the date of the abbey's foundation. The oldest document in the cartulary is a charter from 930, during the reign of King Charles the Simple, that confirmed a donation made to the abbey by Charles the Bald in the 840s. The charter also refers to the abbey as "the brothers of Sainte-Marie de Morienval", indicating a male religious institution that had vanished by 1161, and that the abbey had been destroyed by fire in 895, likely by the Vikings. Charles the Simple and Queen Ermentrude of Orléans maintained a residence at Morienval they frequently spent time at, which may have led to them establishing the abbey.[3][4][5][6]

Architectural history

There is scant archival material detailing Morienval Abbey's construction. As such, the building of the abbey is a process that has had to be tracked by archaeological analysis conducted between 1855 and 1900 by Émile Boeswillwald and Paul Selmersheim. Unfortunately, little of the observations made by these digs can be substantiated because of construction directed by Selmersheim later. Three general periods have been delineated for the construction of the abbey between 1050 and 1135. This is followed by periods of renovation and restoration from 1608 to 1690, 1878, and from 1900 to 1903. Numerous small additions or alterations have been made to the abbey throughout its history.[7][8][9]

Middle Ages

In 920, the year of Charles the Simple's letter confirming the abbey, Morienval Abbey's abbot was a layman, the future King Robert I of France. Robert I must have received the abbey as a good, leading historian Eugène Lefèvre-Pontalis to conclude that the property abbey had for some time before been taken by various lords. This was the case for many ecclesiastical institutions until the restitution movement inspired by the Gregorian Reform. Another of Morienval's abbots had been, with Hugh the Abbot, the guardian of Robert the Strong's children after his death.[10][11]

Architecture
Plan of the church as it appeared in the mid-12th century

The abbey church, now dedicated to Saint Denis, was built according to a roughly symmetrical cruciform plan that has generally remained unchanged, except for the addition of the Early Gothic chapel. The church stands on a northeast-southwest orientation, irregular for a church. Its layout consists of a one-bay narthex at the base, a three-bay nave with two aisles in the middle, a single-bay transept with attached bays flanking the choir that were the bases to a pair of rectangular towers, one bay long and connected to a semicircular apse of the same length, and an ambulatory four bays long. There is an imbalance in the nave's aisles, though they are of the same length.[12][13][14]


Notes

    Citations
    1. Base Mérimée: #IA60001565
    2. Peigné-Delacourt 1876, pp. 1–76.
    3. Charpentier & Daugy 2008, pp. 171–73.
    4. Lebée & 2003-2004, pp. 4–5.
    5. Lefèvre-Pontalis 1897, pp. 192–93.
    6. Prache 1983, p. 87.
    7. Lebée & 2003-2004, pp. 6–7, 10.
    8. Lefèvre-Pontalis 1897, pp. 193–94.
    9. Prache 1983, pp. 87–88.
    10. Lebée & 2003-2004, pp. 6, 21.
    11. Lefèvre-Pontalis 1897, p. 193.
    12. Lefèvre-Pontalis 1897, p. 195.
    13. Lebée & 2003-2004, p. 6.
    14. Prache 1983, p. 88.

    References

    French language

    Books

    • Charpentier, Florence; Daugy, Xavier (September 2008). Sur le chemin des abbayes de Picardie : Histoire des abbayes picardes des origines à nos jours. Encrage Edition. ISBN 978-2-911576-83-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
    • Lefèvre-Pontalis, Eugène (1897). L'Architecture religieuse dans l'ancien diocèse de Soissons au XIe et au XIIe siècle. Vol. 1. Plon. ASIN B001C5UNUY.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
    • Peigné-Delacourt, Achille, ed. (1876). Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Morienval. Comité archéologique de Senlis. ISBN 2012527728. Retrieved 14 August 2011.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
    • Prache, Anne (1983). Île-de-France romane. Nuit des temps. Vol. 60. Zodiaque. ISBN 2736901053.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

    Journals

    • Lebée, Dominique (2003–2004). "Histoire de l'abbaye royale Notre-Dame de Morienval et de sa paroisse jusqu'à la Révolution". Bulletin du GEMOB. ISSN 0224-0475.
    • Lefèvre-Pontalis, Eugène (1906). A. Picard; H. Delesques (eds.). "Église de Morienval". Congrès Archéologique de France: Séances Générales Tenues en 1905 à Beauvais. Retrieved 28 September 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
    • Lefèvre-Pontalis, Eugène (1907). A. Picard; H. Delesques (eds.). "Discussion sur les voûtes du chevet de Morienval". Bulletin Monumental. 71. ISSN 0007-473X. Retrieved 1 December 2012.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
    • Lefèvre-Pontalis, Eugène (1908). A. Picard; H. Delesques (eds.). "Le Plan primitif de l'église de Morienval". Bulletin Monumental. 72: 477–483. doi:10.3406/bulmo.1908.11465. ISSN 0007-473X. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
    • Lefèvre-Pontalis, Eugène (1908). A. Picard; H. Delesques (eds.). "Les Voûtes d'ogives de Morienval". Bulletin Monumental. 72. ISSN 0007-473X. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
    • Prache, Anne; Johnson, Danielle (1997). "L'architecture et la sculpture de l'église de Morienval". Groupe d'étude des monuments et œuvres d'art de l'Oise et du Beauvaisis - L'Art roman dans l'Oise et ses environs (actes du colloque organisé à Beauvais les 7 & 8 octobre 1995). ISSN 0224-0475.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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