Corbie Abbey is a former

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery in

Corbie Corbie (; ; Picard:''Corbin'') is a commune of the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography The small town is situated up river from Amiens, in the département of Somme and is the main town of the canton of Corbie. ...

Picardy Picardy (; Picard language, Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former regions of France, administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained it ...

, France, dedicated to

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

. It was founded by

Balthild Balthild ( 626 – 30 January 680) (; , 'bold sword' or 'bold spear), also spelled Bathilda, Bauthieult or Baudour, was queen consort of Neustria and Burgundy by marriage to Clovis II, the King of Neustria and Burgundy (639–658), and regent d ...

, the widow of

Clovis II Clovis II (633 – 657) was King of the Franks in Neustria and Burgundy, having succeeded his father Dagobert I in 639. His brother Sigebert III had been King of Austrasia since 634. He was initially under the regency of his mother Nanth ...

, who had monks sent from

Luxeuil Luxeuil-les-Bains () is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Saône Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté west of Mulhouse in eastern France. History Luxeuil (sometimes rendered Lux ...

. The Abbey of Corbie became celebrated both for its library and the scriptorium.

Foundation

It was founded in 661 under the

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

royal patronage of

, widow of

, and her son

Clotaire III Chlothar III (also spelled ''Chlotar'', ''Clothar'', ''Clotaire'', ''Chlotochar'', or ''Hlothar''; 652–673) was King of the Franks, ruling in Neustria and Burgundy from 657 to his death. He also briefly ruled Austrasia. He was the eldest son of ...

. The first monks came from

Luxeuil Abbey Luxeuil Abbey (), the ''Abbaye Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul'', was one of the oldest and best-known monasteries in Franche-Comté, located in what is now the département of Haute-Saône in Franche-Comté, France. History Columbanus The abbey was f ...

, which had been founded by Saint

Columbanus Saint Columbanus (; 543 – 23 November 615) was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries after 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil Abbey in present-day France and Bobbio Abbey in presen ...

in 590, and the Irish respect for classical learning fostered there was carried forward at Corbie. Theodefrid was the first abbot. The rule of the founders was based on the

Benedictine rule The ''Rule of Saint Benedict'' () is a book of precepts written in Latin by St. Benedict of Nursia (c. AD 480–550) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. The spirit of Saint Benedict's Rule is summed up in the motto of th ...

, as Columbanus had modified it. Its

scriptorium A scriptorium () was a writing room in medieval European monasteries for the copying and illuminating of manuscripts by scribes. The term has perhaps been over-used—only some monasteries had special rooms set aside for scribes. Often they ...

came to be one of the centres of work of manuscript illumination when the art was still fairly new in western Europe. The clear and legible hand known as

Carolingian minuscule Carolingian minuscule or Caroline minuscule is a script which developed as a calligraphic standard in the medieval European period so that the Latin alphabet of Jerome's Vulgate Bible could be easily recognized by the literate class from one ...

was also developed at the

at Corbie, as well as a distinctive style of illumination. In this early

period, the work of Corbie was innovative in that it showed pictures of people, for example,

Saint Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian priest, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known for his translation of the Bible ...

. Dr. Tino Licht of

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

discovered a manuscript from Corbie Abbey written in the Caroline minuscule that predates

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

's rule. According to Dr. Licht, "They were trying it out. In the Middle Ages a script like this ...was developed as part of the living tradition of a scriptorium. In the 8th century Corbie was something akin to a laboratory for new scripts." Besides gifts of estates to support the abbey, many exemptions were granted to the abbots, to free them from interference from local bishops: the exemptions were confirmed in 855 by

Pope Benedict III Pope Benedict III (; died 17 April 858) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 29 September 855 to his death on 17 April 858. Early career Little is known of Benedict's life before his papacy. His father was named Peter. Bene ...

. The abbots ranked as

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

s and had the privilege of a

mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...

Medieval period

Corbie continued its intimate links with the royal house of the Carolingians. In 774

Desiderius Desiderius, also known as Daufer or Dauferius (born – died ), was king of the Lombards in northern Italy, ruling from 756 to 774. The Frankish king of renown, Charlemagne, married Desiderius's daughter and subsequently conquered his realm. De ...

, last

King of the Lombards The kings of the Lombards or ''reges Langobardorum'' (singular ''rex Langobardorum'') were the monarchs of the Lombard people from the early 6th century until the Lombardic identity became lost in the 9th and 10th centuries. After 774, the kings ...

, was exiled here after his defeat by

. From 850 to 854 Charles, the future Archbishop of Mainz, was confined here. Members of the Carolingian house sometimes served as abbots; the ninth abbot was Saint Adalard, one of Charlemagne's cousins. Under Adalard, the monastic school of Corbie attained great celebrity, and about the same time it sent forth a colony to found the Abbey of Corvey in Saxony. In the ninth century Corbie was larger than St. Martin's Abbey at Tours, or Saint Denis at Paris. At its height, it housed 300 monks. Three of Corbie's scholars were Ratramnus (died ''c''. 868), Radbertus Paschasius (died 865) and Hadoard. Saint Gerald of Sauve-Majeure was born in Corbie and became a child oblate at the Abbey, where he then became a monk and served as cellarer. He later went on to found Grande-Sauve Abbey. In 1137 a fire destroyed the monastic buildings but they were rebuilt on a larger scale. Saint Colette of Corbie's father worked as a carpenter at the Abbey. After her parents died, in 1402 she joined the Third Order of St. Francis,Farmer, David (ed.) ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'', Oxford University Press (1997), p. 108 and became a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

under the direction of the Abbot of Corbie, and lived near the abbey church. She later founded the

Colettine Poor Clares The Colettine Poor Clares are a reform branch of the Order of St. Clare, founded by Clare of Assisi in Italy in 1211. They follow the interpretation of the Rule of St. Clare established in 1410 by Saint Colette, originally a French hermit and mem ...

. Commendatory abbots were introduced in 1550, amongst those that held the benefice was

Cardinal Mazarin Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Lou ...

. The somewhat drooping fortunes of the abbey were revived in 1618, when it was one of the first to be incorporated into the new

Congregation of Saint Maur The Congregation of St. Maur, often known as the Maurists, were a congregation of French Benedictines, established in 1621, and known for their high level of scholarship. The congregation and its members were named after Saint Maurus (died 565), a ...

. At its suppression in 1790 the buildings were partly demolished, but the church remains to this day, with its imposing portal and western towers.

Library

Corbie was renowned for its library, which was assembled from as far as Italy, and for its

. The contents of its library are known from catalogues of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In addition to its

patristic Patristics, also known as Patrology, is a branch of theological studies focused on the writings and teachings of the Church Fathers, between the 1st to 8th centuries CE. Scholars analyze texts from both orthodox and heretical authors. Patristics em ...

writings, it is recognized as an important center for the transmission of the works of Antiquity to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. An inventory (of perhaps the 11th century) lists the church history of Hegesippus, now lost, among other extraordinary treasures. Among students of

Tertullian Tertullian (; ; 155 – 220 AD) was a prolific Early Christianity, early Christian author from Roman Carthage, Carthage in the Africa (Roman province), Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive co ...

, the library is of interest as it contained a number of unique copies of Tertullian's works, the so-called ''corpus Corbiense'' and included some of his unorthodox

Montanist Montanism (), known by its adherents as the New Revelation, was an early Christian movement of the mid-to-late 2nd century, later referred to by the name of its founder, Montanus. Montanism held views about the basic tenets of Christian theo ...

treatises, as well as two works by

Novatian Novatian ( Greek: , , ) was a scholar, priest, and theologian. He is considered by the Catholic Church to have been an antipope between 251 and 258. Some Greek authors give his name as Novatus, who was an African presbyter. He was a noted theo ...

issued pseudepigraphically under Tertullian's name. The origin of this group of non-orthodox texts has not satisfactorily been identified. Among students of medieval architecture and engineering, such as are preserved in the notebooks of

Villard de Honnecourt Villard de Honnecourt (''Wilars dehonecort'', ''Vilars de Honecourt'') was a 13th-century artist from Picardy in northern France. He is known to history only through a surviving portfolio or "sketchbook" containing about 250 drawings and designs ...

, Corbie is of interest as the center of renewed interest in geometry and surveying techniques, both theoretical and practical, as they had been transmitted from

Euclid Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...

through the ''Geometria'' of

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...

and works by

Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Christian Roman statesman, a renowned scholar and writer who served in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senato ...

(Zenner). In 1638,

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

ordered the transfer of 400 manuscripts transferred to the library of the monastery of

Saint-Germain-des-Prés Saint-Germain-des-Prés () is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the nor ...

in Paris. During the French Revolution, the library was closed and the last of the monks dispersed: 300 manuscripts still at Corbie were moved to

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

, 15 km to the west. Those at St-Germain des Prés were released on the market, and many rare

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

s were obtained by Russian diplomat Peter P. Dubrovsky and sent to

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. Other Corbie manuscripts are at the ''

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a p ...

''. Over two hundred manuscripts from the great library at Corbie are known to survive.

Modern times

Jean Mabillon Dom Jean Mabillon , (; 23 November 1632 – 27 December 1707) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics. Early life Mabillon w ...

, the father of

paleography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic disciplin ...

, had been a monk at Corbie. The village of Corbie grew up round Corbie Abbey and was close to the fighting during the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...

. Between 22 April and 10 May 1918, Corbie was heavily shelled by the Germans and the church sustained many direct hits.

Burials

* Radbertus Paschasius *Saint Martin of Arades (died 726) *

(died here)

List of abbots

This list is drawn from the ''Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie Ecclesiastique''. ;Regular abbots ;Commendatory abbots *1522-1550 : Cardinal Philippe I de La Chambre *1550-1556 : Sébastien II de La Chambre *1556-1558 : Cardinal Louis de Bourbon-Vendôme *1558-1580 : cardinal Charles de Bourbon *1580-1603 : cardinal Louis II de Lorraine *1603-1623 : cardinal Louis III de Lorraine *1623-1643 : Henri II de Lorraine-Guise *1643-1645 : cardinal

Jules Mazarin Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the Chief minister o ...

*1645-1647 : Camille Pamphili *1647-1661 : cardinal

(again) *1661-1669 : Vacance *1669-1693 : Philippe II de Savoie-Carignan *1693-1713 : cardinal Toussaint de Forbin-Janson *1713-1742 : cardinal

Melchior de Polignac Melchior Cardinal de Polignac (11 October 1661 – 20 November 1742) was a French diplomat, Cardinal and Neo-Latin poet. Second son of Armand XVI, marquis de Polignac and Marquis Chalancon (1608–1692), Governor of Puy; and Jacqueline de Beauvo ...

*1742-1755 :

Jean-François Boyer Jean-François Boyer (12 March 1675 in Paris – 20 August 1755 in Versailles), was a French bishop, best known for having been a vehement opponent of Jansenism and the Philosophe school. Life Boyer was a preacher, and the bishop of Mire ...

*1755-1788 : cardinal Paul de Luynes *1788-1792 : cardinal Étienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne

Notes

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20051013035929/http://www.ch-corbie.fr/html/body_grandes_heures.htm Les grandes heures de Corbie timeline (in French and English)
Merovingian minuscule, 7th-8th centuries, as used at Corbie

(Paschasius Radbert)

{{Authority control Benedictine monasteries in France Carolingian architecture Libraries in Hauts-de-France Christian monasteries established in the 7th century Irish monastic foundations in continental Europe Merovingian architecture Buildings and structures in Somme (department) Churches in Somme (department) Organizations based in Hauts-de-France 7th-century churches in France