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Origin and history

Notre-Dame de Jumièges Abbey, founded around 654 by Saint Philibert on a royal estate, is one of the oldest and largest Benedictine abbeys in Normandy. She first applied the rule of Saint Colomban before adopting that of St Benedict, becoming a major intellectual and spiritual centre in Neustria. Saint Philibert built three churches and monastic buildings, attracting up to 900 monks and 1,500 servants at its peak. The Vikings destroyed it in 841, forcing the monks into exile with their relics.

The rebirth of the abbey began under William Longue-Épée in the 10th century, with a gradual restoration by Benedictine monks of Poitiers. Father Robert Champart rebuilt the monastery between 1040 and 1052, and the abbey church was consecrated in 1067 in the presence of William the Conqueror. The Romanesque choir was replaced by a Gothic choir in the 13th century, reflecting the prosperity of the abbey, which then had a rich library of 400 manuscripts and an active scriptorium. The wars of Religion and the trading abbots, however, weakened its influence.

In the 17th century, Maurists tried to restore discipline and study, but the abbey declined irreparably. Sold as a national property in 1795, it was partly demolished as a stone quarry. In the 19th century, private owners such as Nicolas Casimir Caumont and the Lepel-Cointet family saved the ruins, which became a romantic symbol. Ranked a historic monument in 1862, then declassified and partially reclassified in 1918 and 1947, the abbey is now owned by the Seine-Maritime department and open to the public.

The Abbey of Jumièges was a place of power and knowledge, sheltering prestigious relics such as those of Valentine's Day of Terni and Saint Bathilde. His time span was on land in Normandy, England (lost after the Hundred Years' War), and Poitou, with rights to the Seine and mills. The intellectual life there was intense, especially thanks to its monastic school and library, which counted up to 10,000 volumes before the Revolution. Personalities such as Guillaume de Jumièges, author of the Gesta Normannorum ducum, or Agnes Sorel, mistress of Charles VII who died at the abbey in 1450, are associated.

Architecturally, the abbey blends Romanesque and Gothic styles, with a 88-metre-long abbey church, a western to western massif façade (Westwerk), and a flamboyant 16th-century Gothic cloister, now extinct. The capitular hall, with a vault on cross of warheads among the oldest in France, and vaulted cellars testify to its importance. The current ruins, surrounded by a three-hectare park, offer a glimpse of its past grandeur, while recent excavations, such as that of 2023, continue to reveal its history.

The abbey was also a place of legends, like that of the Enerves of Jumièges, linked to the tombs of Duke Tassilon of Bavaria and his son, exiled by Charlemagne. His coat of arms, Azure with the gold cross, containing four silver keys, and his medieval seals illustrate his prestige. Today, the site houses a stone museum and exhibitions, perpetuating its cultural role in the region of Les Boucles de la Seine Normande.

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