Saint-Martin of Tournai, Abbey
SAINT-MARTIN OF TOURNAI, ABBEY
Former benedictine monastery in Tournai, Belgium. It was founded in 1092 by Odo of Cambrai and several of his disciples as a monastery of canons regular of st. augustine, but it soon adopted the Benedictine customs of cluny. The abbey was renowned during the Middle Ages for the activity of its scriptorium. Famous men of the abbey besides Odo included Heriman, author of a very important Liber de restauratione (c. 1142–47), and Abbot Giles Li Muisis, chronicler and poet (1272–1352). The abbey was suppressed during the French Revolution, and today its remains house Tournai's city hall and form a city park.
Bibliography: u. berliÈre, Monasticon belge (Bruges 1890–) v.1. a. d'herbomez, Chartes de l'abbaye de Saint-Martin de Tournai, 2 v. (Brussels 1898–1901). a. d'haenens, L'Abbaye Saint-Martin de Tournai 1290 à 1350: Origines, évolution et dénouement d'une crise (Louvain 1961); Un Prélat bourgeois: Gilles Li Muisis, abbé de St-Martin de Tournai, chroniqueur et poète (Brussels 1966); ed., Comptes et documents de l'abbaye de Saint-Martin de Tournai sous l'administration des gardiens royaux, 1312–1355 (Brussels 1962).
[a. d'haenens]