JUMIÈGES. — Benedictine abbey of St Peter, founded by St Filiberto in 654 on land granted on the banks of the Seine in the diocese of Rouen by Queen Batilde, wife of Clodoveo II.
The abbot Filiberto, in addition to the monastic buildings, constructed three churches: the first dedicated to the Most Holy Virgin, the second to St Peter, and the third to St Germano. The abbey quickly flourished and sent missionaries to Great Britain and Ireland. At the end of the eighth century, Charlemagne had Tassilone, duke of Bavaria, and his son Teodone buried there; over their tomb, discovered in the tenth century, a magnificent monument was erected in the thirteenth century, around which the legend known as that of the Enervés de J. flourished.
The abbey suffered a fire in 841 and the pillaging that accompanied the Norman invasion; it was restored by Duke Guglielmo Longue-épée, to whom the foundations of the two towers still existing on the façade of the church of St Peter are owed. A period of decline then followed once more. At the beginning of the eleventh century, Duke Riccardo II summoned to J. Guglielmo di Volpiano, abbot of St Benigno at Dijon, who appointed his disciple Teodorico di Montgomery abbot there (1014–28). The church dedicated to the Most Holy Virgin was subsequently taken in hand (1037) by Abbot Roberto Champart; its dedication took place on 1 July 1067; its abbot represented the clergy of Normandy at the Council of Clermont in 1095, presided over by Pope Urbano II.
In 1332 Abbot Guglielmo the Younger began the reconstruction of the church of St Peter, during a period of great renewal for the abbey, which was nevertheless invaded and sacked by English troops in 1358; the expelled monks returned with Abbot Giovanni di St-Denis in 1370, but once again the English troops of Enrico V plundered it in 1415; the monks were forced to sell part of the property to pay for the restorations. King Carlo VII stayed there in 1450.
In 1515 Abbot Filippo di Lussemburgo introduced the reform of Chezal-Benoît there; Abbot Francesco di Fontenay rebuilt the cloister and repaired the church of the Most Holy Virgin. The Protestants pillaged the abbey on 8 May 1562. Under Abbot Mariano di Martimbos, the reform of St-Vannes was introduced; the new library was built in 1663, and the new large dormitory between 1704 and 1732, precisely when the decline was beginning. The French Revolution dispersed the monks in 1793.
The church dedicated to the Most Holy Virgin still preserves the façade with its two towers, more than 50 m high, dating from the eleventh century; the central nave and the smaller one on the north side still preserve their vaults; the choir and transept were demolished at the beginning of the nineteenth century. A passage, known as that of Carlo VII, connected this church with the three-naved church of St Peter; the ruins of the cloister and library also remain, while the dormitories have been destroyed. A museum brings together fragments of statues, capitals, and tombstones.