Abbey with the Men

The abbey with the Men is one of the two large Abbaye S, with the Abbaye with the Ladies, founded by William the Conqueror with Caen.

The abbey church Saint-Etienne

The church was built between 1065 and 1077. The conquest of England, in 1066, while bringing additional means, but also the presence of stone quarries with open sky in the vicinity, explain the speed of this construction. It was dedicated the September 13rd 1077. The chronicler Guillaume of Poitiers describes the foundation of the abbey by William the Conqueror:

“ to establish it abbot of the monastery of Caen, it was necessary for him to use, so to speak, of a pious constraint; because Lanfranc refused there less by love for humility, than by fear of a too high row. Then, it (William the Conqueror) enriches this monastery by fields, of money, Or and various ornaments; it made it build with bank charges, of a size and a beauty accessible, and not very worthy of the happy Etienne martyr, by the Relique S with which it was to be honoured and to which it was to be devoted. ”

In 1562 and 1563, during the wars of religion, the church is plundered then abandoned: the turn-lantern collapses in 1566, destroying the vaults of the chorus. The chorus, in ruins, failed to be shaven on decision of the Parliament of Rouen. A monk of the abbey, Jean de Baillehache, obtained the cancellation of this decision and undertook the rebuilding of the chorus and the restoration of the abbey one. The church is again devoted in 1626.

Outside

Bedside built at the 13th century by a certain Guillaume Master whose tomb stone is under the wall goutterot. It will be rebuilt at the 17th century after collapse, in 1566 of the arrow of the tower lantern. The four pinnacles would give him this original aspect which one finds with the Mauritius and Bayeux.

symmetrical Turns; the more one goes up, the more the blind arcades are richly decorated. The turns were surmounted Gothic arrows at the 13th century (height 80 and 82 meters).

Interior

Romance Nave. Long, it 56 meters constitutes a perfect example of the Norman Romance style. Each span includes/understands 3 levels: that of the large arcades of the ground floor, that of the platforms on the 1st floor, that of the high windows (the clear way) on the second floor. The purpose of the stage of the platforms is, by its vault in half-cradle, to support the walls of the nave. The level of the windows, a gallery, the “coursière” makes it possible to make all the turn of the abbey one. At the covered origin of a wooden carpentry (flat ceiling or barrel vault as in the nave of the MT St Michel?), the nave received, starting from 1115, of the sexpartite vaults, on intersecting ribs in semicircular arch. These vaults would be, after those of Durham (England) and Lessay (Handle) built around 1100, the oldest vaults on intersecting ribs of France.
the chorus of the abbey church Saint-Etienne of Caen is the first building built after the annexation of the Normandy to the royal Domaine (1204) though certain historians think that it could be started in 1195 but this thesis is discussed. He testifies to the timid introduction of the Gothic style into the area and resistances of the Norman style. There are 13 radiant Chapelle S.
the tomb of William the Conqueror (death on September 9th, 1087) was placed in the middle of the chorus (perhaps under the tower lantern). It was about a splendid marble mausoleum, surmounted by lying, and which was built at the request of his/her William Rufus son, king d' Angleterre. This tomb in Marbre was profaned in 1562 by the Protestants. The remainders were entrusted to a monk of the abbey. But in 1563, a new intrusion of the Protestants caused the escape of the monks and the bones were lost except for one only bone which could be saved and replaced in the tomb, in 1642, after the restoration of the chorus. In 1742, the monks obtained from the king Louis XV the authorization not only to move the tomb in the sanctuary but also to reduce it to a simple vault covered with a tomb stone. This one, having been broken by the revolutionists, was replaced in 1802. It carries, in Latin, the following inscription: “Here rests invincible the William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy and king d' Angleterre, founder of this house, which died the year 1087”.

Localization

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External bonds

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