Abbey of Saint-Étienne or Abbaye aux Hommes by DRONE – Caen France – ECTV
The Abbey of Saint-Étienne, also known as Abbaye aux Hommes (French pronunciation: [abei oz‿ɔm], “Men’s Abbey”) by contrast with the Abbaye aux Dames (“Ladies’ Abbey”), is a former Benedictine monastery in the French city of Caen, Normandy, dedicated to Saint Stephen. It was founded in 1063[1] by William the Conqueror and is one of the most important Romanesque buildings in Normandy.
The concurrent founding of the Abbey of Saint-Étienne to the west of the Caen Castle and the Abbey of Sainte-Trinité (Abbaye aux Dames) to its East were to enhance the development of the new ducal capital, and may have been a result of the reconciliation process of William, Duke of Normandy (soon after to become William I, King of England), and Pope Leo IX. William fell out with the pope when he married his cousin Matilda of Flanders after 1049 despite Leo’s interdiction. Lanfranc of Pavia, Prior of Bec Abbey, who himself had initially expressed concerns regarding the marriage, acted on William’s behalf to secure Leo’s forgiveness. For this successful service, Lanfranc was made abbot of Saint-Étienne, a position he held until his appointment to Canterbury in 1070.[2]
The dedication took place in 1077. William’s wife Matilda died in 1083 and was buried in the Abbaye aux Dames. After his own death in 1087 in Rouen, the body of King William was sent to Caen to be buried in Saint-Étienne, according to his wishes. The funeral, attended by the bishops and abbots of Normandy as well as his son Henry, was disturbed by the assertion of a citizen of Caen who alleged that his family had been illegally despoiled of the land on which the church was built. After hurried consultations the allegation was shown to be true, and the man was compensated. A further indignity occurred when the corpse was lowered into the tomb. The corpse was too large for the space, and when attendants forced the body into the tomb it burst, spreading a disgusting odour throughout the church.[3]
William’s tomb has been disturbed several times since 1087, the first time in 1522 when the grave was opened on orders from the papacy. The intact body was restored to the tomb at that time. In 1562, during the French Wars of Religion, the grave was again opened and the original tombstone of black marble, similar to that of Matilda in the Abbaye aux Dames, was destroyed. William’s bones were scattered and lost, with the exception of one thigh bone. This lone relic was reburied in 1642 with a new marker, which was replaced 100 years later with a more elaborate monument. This tomb was again destroyed during the French Revolution, but was eventually replaced with the current early 19th-century ledger stone in white marble.[4]
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