SAINT-AMAND-LES-EAUX, ABBEY OF

Former Benedictine abbey in Saint-Amand (Nord), France, 20 miles southeast of Lille; formerly known as Elnone. It was founded by St. amandus before 639 and may be the oldest abbey in Flanders. It was richly endowed by the Merovingian kings, but experienced difficult times during the Carolingian era as a result of secularization of church property and the norman invasions (881, 884). Prosperity increased from the 11th through the 13th century. This was followed by an era of economic crisis prolonged by the Hundred Years' War and extravagant spending by unworthy abbots during the 15th century. In the 16th century, the abbey, and the whole area generally, suffered from religious uprisings (1566–76). During the 17th century Abbot Nicolas Dubois (1621–73) planned and carried out an integrated reconstruction of the abbey, making it a showplace of the Low Countries. During the 18th century it was often ruled by commendatory abbots of the high nobility; it was suppressed during the French Revolution. Only the interesting church tower and entrance lodge remain today. The abbey had been an intellectual center; during the 9th century it produced the theologians, Milo and hucbald; during the 12th century, painters of miniatures; of these Sawalo was the most famous.

Bibliography: h. platelle, Le Temporel de l' abbaye de Saint-Amand (Paris 1963); La Justice seigneuriale de l'abbaye de Saint-Amand (Louvain 1965).

[h. platelle]