Another Benedictine Abbey, Jumieges was destroyed during the French Revolution. At the time of its destruction in the late 18th/early 19th century, Jumieges was referred to as “the most beautiful ruin in France”.
Like St Wandrelle de Fontenelle, Jumieges also originated in the 7th century. St Philibert was the founder, using land that had been granted to him for the purpose by King Clovis II. The abbey thrived until it too was pillaged during Viking raids. The monks abandoned the abbey for about ten years until the Duchy of Normandy was created and the second Duke, William Longsword, decided to restore it.
The Notre-Dame Abbey Church was rebuilt and inaugurated by William the Conqueror in 1067. Starting with the French Revolution, the property was mainly used as a stone quarry until the ruins were purchased by a private citizen in the 19th century, who preserved what was left. The State took it over in 1946. The contents of the library had been moved to Rouen when the abbey was dissolved in 1790.
We began our tour just outside the entrance of the 11th century Romanesque nave of the abbey church that had been inaugurated by William the Conqueror. Although roofless, the walls still soared on their rounded arches and were very impressive and beautiful.
When we reached the transept, we found that a great deal of the transept, plus the gothic quire and the surrounding chapels were missing. From there we could see the Abbot’s residence, dating from 1666. It had been sold prior to the Revolution, so it survived as an independent building from the abbey.
I did duck into the remains of a small gothic chapel that still had a portion of its ceiling. This would have been from roughly the 13th century.
Wandering over to the much smaller St Peter Church, we entered into the Gothic Nave. Here, as with the little chapel, there were pointed arches.
As we moved towards what would have been the front entrance of the smaller church, the arches rounded out again. This part was older.
It turned out that this part was much older. Recent archaeological excavations revealed that this section actually dated from the late 8th century. This put St Peter’s Church into the category of a Carolingian Christian church and made it quite unique.
In that older, front part of the church, several circles could be seen in the walls. We were told that the circles once contained colorful, round medallions. We could also see a portion of a very old wall painting in a corner of the wall next to an arch.
Stepping out of the church into the area that had been the cloister, we could there see a gigantic, 500-year-old yew tree. That tree would have witnessed a lot of history.
We exited the complex through what had once been the cellars. This would have been where the wine and grain and other provisions would have been stored. My last photo of the abbey was of a very interesting arch with a construction that resembled modern Legos.
Next time – the sea port of Honfleur.
