For what it is worth, the English Benedictine archives from Cambrai and
Douai are (mostly?) in L'Archive du Nord at Lille. But I have never been to
look, and I don not know how these relate toi the Départments of the area.
Anselm Cramer OSB
Ampleforth Abbey, York
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Crockett <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 14 October 1999 16:39
Subject: archives in france
>Dear Nancy,
>
>Though the specifics of your query are, well, specific, the general idea of
>how to navigate through the thicket of French archives might be of
>more general interest, so I thought I'd answer on list.
>
>I'm certainly no expert on the matter and Amiens is quite a ways out of
>my bailiwick *and* (as an additional qualification) I know nothing whatever
>about the particular place (Poligny), but from what you write I would
venture
>to parse your references thusly:
>
>(1)"A Poligny, archives du monastere Sainte Claire": [some] documents
>concering the [former?] monastery of Ste Claire are [now] kept at Poligny;
>
>(b)"A Poligny, monastere, archives du couvent des clarisses d'Amiens
(ferme)
>deposées a Poligny": [some] documents concering the [former?] convent des
>clarisses of Amiens [the site of which is now a farm??] are [now] kept at
>Poligny;
>
>(iii)"Monastere de Poligny: archives d'Amiens": documents concering the
>monastery of Poligny, are to be found in the archives départementales in
>Amiens [probably they will all be together in a "_fonds de l'abbaye de
>Poligny_" or somesuchlike].
>
>
>The only thing which troubles me about these conjectures is the fact
>that, *in principle*, all ecclesiastical property--including
>institutional archives--was declared public property early in the
Revolution
>and, eventually, the documents which did not serve as cannon wadding during
>the 25 years of the Napoleonic wars found their way into the fine system of
>public archives, which includes the Archives
>Nationales in Paris and the various "public record offices" (_archives
>départementales_) set up in the _chef-lieu_ of each _département_, in place
>and up and running before 1860 (I think).
>
>So I don't quite understand how it could be that the monastery of
>Poligny--even if it is still a going concern (or, like Fleury, re-purchased
>from the State and re-seeded with monks)--could be in possession of its
>pre-revolutionary archives.
>
>But, certainly each place is unique, so anything is *possible*.
>
>Perhaps Philip Rusche's suggestion of _The World of Learning_ (which I do
not
>know--thanks Philip!) will be of some help here.
>
>As far as the departemental archives are concerned, *in principle* there
are
>published catalogues (_inventaires sommaires_) of the holdings of all
>departemental archives in France; these were published over time, most
being
>completed before the first world war, but there are still volumes comming
out,
>in loveable glacial French fashion, and the catalogues of some _fonds_ in
some
>archives are even still in manuscript (or ficiers) and may only be
consulted
>at the archives itself.
>
>I don't believe the latter will be the case for Poligny, however, and you
>might could get a peek at what the holdings in the AD are if you can find a
>copy of the appropriate _Inventaire sommaire_, which looks like it will be
>this (according to the Library of Congress):
>
>_Inventaire sommaire des Archives départementales antérieures à 1790.
Somme._
>Amiens, 1883-1920 [v. 6, 1910]; 6 v. in 5.
>
>I can't tell from the catalogue which volume it will be--or if it has
>even been published--but, since Poligny is/was a monastery, you will
probably
>want the "Series H", which contains the documents from the "regular
clergy";
>"Series G" has the "secular clergy" documents.
>
>In most départements I've seen, these two series contain most of the
documents
>in the archives and the catalogues for them were the first published.
>
>The bad news is that these _inventaires sommaires_ are tough little guys to
>find this side of the water (or in France either, though I *think*
>that each archives has a complete set for all of France--at least there was
>one in Chartres), and I'd bet dollars to donuts that there's narry a one in
>all of Utah.
>
>Unless the Mormon genealogical interest extends to this level (just
possible,
>now that I think of it: the *complete* post-revolutionary baptismal records
>for many dioceses have been microfilmed by the church,
>I know).
>
>And they are all in very tall format ("in-folio"), so photocopying is
tricky.
>
>Bon chance, alors!
>
>Best from here,
>
>Christopher
>
>
>
>Nancy Warren <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>I am doing some work on St. Colette of Corbie and her political connections
>with the House of Burgundy, and I'm a bit confused about what's where in
>French archives. I've been reading Elisabeth Lopez'z
>book Culture et saintete on St. Colette, and she lists manuscripts in her
>bibliography with locations as follows (please forgive the absence of
>accents):
>-A Poligny, archives du monastere Sainte Claire
>-A Poligny, monastere, archives du couvent des clarisses d'Amiens (ferme)
>deposees a Poligny
>-Monastere de Poligny: archives d'Amiens
>Being uncertain about French bibliographic conventions and never having
>worked in French archives, I would really appreciate it if someone could
>clarify what these references mean. Do they refer to different locations
>in Poligny (and if so, how might I contact them)? Is the last reference to
a
>manuscript in Poligny or in Amiens? Any help will be greatly
>appreciated, and replies off-list are fine, since I doubt this is a topic
>of broad interest. Thanks in advance.
>
>Nancy Warren
>Assistant Professor
>Department of English
>Utah State University
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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