medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Marjorie!
Some years ago, I started to collect all the information concerning the
former location of the Paraclete, available in Germany (from the 12th c.
until today: A's documents, charters, obituaries, cartulary, maps, cadastres
and cadastre plans, satellite photos, descriptions, gravures etc.) After an
examination of this material, it was possible to exclude some former
hypotheses about the burial site and to formulate some new. Nevertheless the
results are preliminary. I hope to get the chance, in a year or two, to
verify or to modify my hypotheses by conducting a survey of the area.
As regards H & A's grave, there are two monuments at the Paraclete today:
1. An obelisk above a little crypt, built up by General Payol and his wife,
after 1821. General Payol had found here a (broken) sarcophagus, taken for
the first grave of H and A. It is more probable that this crypt was attached
at the (flat) choir of the abbey church (Cisterciensian style, without an
apsis), and it probably was the second grave of H and A. Charrier thought
that this was the last grave of A and H, but the last burial monument can be
located in a short distance of the crypt, in the abbey church (crossing of
the nave) .
2. A small memorial chapel, also built by General Payol and his family in
the middle of the 19th c. It covers the entrance of the large nave's crypt.
I don't know if it is accessible, at the moment. Until World War II, the
family Walckenaer organized, together with the inhabitants of Quincey, the
procession of Corpus Christi Day, which ended here. There is no connection
with H and A.
According to some clues in the "Livre de sépulture du Paraclet" and some
paintings of Lazare Bruandet, H & A's first burial site was situated in the
east-northeast side of the abbey's square. It was called the little
monastery, "le petit moustier", some kind of enclosure. It was situated on
the place of A's first oratory and included the burial chapel of H and A,
near the first cemetery on the left side of the river Ardusson (later, the
cemetery was on the right side). The ground was elevated in the 19th
century.
I am not informed about its exact location, but I believe that
archaeologists should start digging here.
It's a great luck: In June 2001, many documents about the Paraclete - hidden
in the archives now, especially some gravures about the destruction of P in
FR - are opened to an interested public (exposition at the Bibl. Mun.
Troyes). I will be there.
You will find a description of all the sources concerning the Paraclete
within my web site, including many pictures (large file, about 600 kb; you
need a modern Java browser, e.g. IE5.0 or Netscape6.0. No Netscape 4.x!)
www.abaelard.de/abaelard/065parat.htm
All the best
Werner
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