Chelles Abbey

The Chelles chalice, lost at the time of the French Revolution, said to have been made by Saint Eligius

Chelles Abbey (French: Abbaye Notre-Dame-des-Chelles) was a Frankish monastery founded around 657/660[1] during the early medieval period. It was intended initially as a monastery for women; then its reputation for great learning grew, and when men wanted to follow the monastic life, a parallel male community was established, creating a double monastery.[2]

The abbey stood in Chelles near Paris (Seine-et-Marne department) until it fell victim to the disestablishment of the Catholic Church in 1792 during the French Revolution and was dismantled.[3] The abbey housed an important scriptorium and held the advantage of powerful royal connections throughout the Carolingian era.

  1. ^ Folz, Robert (1975). Tradition hagiographique et culte de sainte Bathilde, reine des Francs. p. 372.
  2. ^ Lerner (1994), p. 25
  3. ^ David Coxall, 'Chelles', in André Vauchez (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the Middle Ages