Montier-en-Der Abbey

The Abbey Montier -en-Der (Haute -Marne, France) was at first a Benedictine, later a Cluniac abbey was dissolved during the French Revolution. Buildings and facilities were used as French state domain State Stud since 1806.

Abbey

The abbey was founded in the year 670, in an oak forest on the banks of the river voire (Canton Montier -en-Der ) of Bercharius, abbot at the Benedictine skin Villers. Later Bercharius was canonized. The facility is located on the border of Champagne north of Burgundy and west of Upper Lorraine. Because of the discovery of a diptych is believed that the abbey was built on the site of a villa urbana or villa rustica.

The place in the Diocese of Châlons was initially the Gallo-Roman name Puteolus (small source). The is the Gallic name for oak; from monasterium in Dervo was later Montier -en-Der.

The 8th century was a high point of monastic communities. As the name of the abbey in the 9th century reappears she was Carolingian royal demesne. Louis the Pious they appropriated the Bishop of Reims. It was up to her monastic renewal 827, led by Ebo of Rheims, supervised by canons.

At the end of the 10th century, the primitive buildings were replaced. Abbot Adso ( 960-92 ) had the ruined church building constructed in stone; it was inaugurated in 998. The strictly Romanesque nave contrasts with the Gothic choir, which is illuminated by stained glass windows from the 16th century. The Abbey Church retained its wooden roof from the 16th century. The Gothic choir dates from the 12th and 13th centuries.

The documents and source collection of Montier -en-Der from the 1120er years, the peak of influence and wealth of the monastery, situated for exploring the medieval history of the West Frankish Empire the basic source dar. Among the genuine documents are also counterfeit, but which in turn also provide information about the intentions of their authors.

The documents contain information to popes, kings and counties to manorial structures, the obligations of farm workers and tenants and reform efforts of monasticism.

During the Wars of Religion oversaw Montier -en-Der twelve priories and the abbey formed the backbone of the strategy of Charles de Lorraine - Guise, who reigned over twenty villages nearby.

Elfenbeindiptychon

Several wings of a Elfenbeindiptychons (height: 29.9 cm), The Panel Symmachorum was used as part of a shrine of Bercharius in a monastery in Montier -en-Der in the 7th century. He is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Inv. No. 212-1865. The plaque is the inscription Symmachorum located. Attributes are oak and altar belonging to the Jupiter cult.

The panel Nicomachorum is now in the Musée national du Moyen Âge in Paris. The plaque is the inscription Nicomachorum. The woman is a priestess of Ceres dar. The high aufgeschürzte chiton leaves her right breast free. Their attributes are pine, cymbals and the round altar that belong to Kybelekult.

The diptychs were dedicated to Quintus Aurelius Symmachus ( a non-Christian senator, consul and prefect in late antique Rome, regarded as the greatest Latin orator of his time ) and Virius Nicomachus Flavianus ( a late ancient Roman writer, politician and friend of Symmachus ).