medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> From: Jim Bugslag <[log in to unmask]>
>>....Saint-Hilaire [of Chartres] is 12th-century in origin, this would be
substantially earlier than any example I know of in England. Surely the
cartulary of Saint-Pierre would be helpful in determining whether there was a
parish attached to the abbey church.
according to the best quick reference to Chartrain churches (Jacques Lacour,
_Chartres, églises et chapelles_. Chartres: Société archéologique
d'Eure-et-Loir, 1985, p. 135) the parish church of St. Hilaire next to the
Benedictine abbey of St. Peter's was built on land given by a knight in the
first half of the *10th* century.
the building was "reconstructed" at the end of the 15th c., and was "low but
as long as St. Peter's"; and demolished in 1804.
Lacour is not a medievalist as such, but was for many years the archiviste of
the Départemental archives (now retired).
a nice enough fellow, though a bit ideosyncratic, he primarily draws on the
sources in the archives for his information, and very documents from the few
early/high m.a. survive there.
i don't know on what basis he says that the church was "as long as St.
Peter's" --he apparently doesn't know the 1682 drawing of the abbey,
http://ariadne.org/cc/abbeys/st-peter/1682drawing.jpg
which seems to indicate that it was a much more modest structure (as one might
suppose). (that's St. Hilaire peeking out from behind the apse of St.
Peter's.)
for his "late 10th c." date he he is relying on the _Cartulaire de l'abbaye de
Saint-Père de Chartres_, Benjamin Guérard, ed. (Paris, 1840), p. 23.
i intended to consult my copy of this last night, but forgot ( }%-{[> ); but
this will be one of the earliest charters which were collected (or sometimes
"invented") by the monk Paul in the 1080s, when he "reconstructed" the
charters of the abbey after a disasterous fire.
thus, without seeing the charter itself, it is possible that it is a
fabrication by Paul, which might cast doubt on the existence of the church in
the early 10th c. --but, even so, clearly it existed in Paul's time: the last
quarter of the 11th c.
Paul's charter has it that a "knight" owned the land *right next to* the abbey
church, which is rather odd and might weigh in favor of this charter being of
dubious authenticity.
however, in the course of the later 9th and 10th centuries the abbey had been
sacked by the norsemen and largely fallen into secular hands --secular canons
were installed by Bishop Aganon around 930-- so the ownership of land near the
church by a layman may have been a real possibility.
i will try my very, very best to consult the charter this evening.
promise.
c
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