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Former courthouse, Saint-Amand Abbey
Saint-Amand Abbey (Abbaye de Saint-Amand), once known as Elno, ElnonorElnone Abbey, is a former Benedictine abbey in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, Nord, France.
The abbey was founded around 633-639[1][2] in what was once a great tract of uninhabited land in the Vicoigne Forest between the Scarpe and the brook called the Elnon [fr], from which the monastery took its first name, Elnon or Elnone Abbey. The founder was Saint Amand of Maastricht, under the patronage of Dagobert I. The name of the saint eventually became applied both to the abbey and the village that grew up round it.[3] The abbot from about 652 was Jonatus.[4]
Apart from its considerable effect on the landscape, the abbey became a major centre of study during the Carolingian Renaissance. Notable members of the community included the 9th-century writer Milo of Saint-Amand, author of a metrical dictionary of Latin long and short syllables[5] as well as a Life of Saint Amand, and his nephew, Hucbald of Saint-Amand, a noted music theorist and composer.
The abbey was totally destroyed by the Normans at the end of the 9th century. Although rebuilt, it was frequently destroyed by fire and the incidents of war, and was not completely restored until the 17th century, to an ambitious and much-admired plan implemented by Abbot Nicolas du Bois. In 1616-1617 Peter Paul Rubens painted a new high altarpiece for the monastery church, the Saint Stephen Triptych.[6]
The abbey was declared national property in 1789, and mostly demolished between 1797 and 1820.[8] The former courthouse (échevinage) and the exuberantly decorated church tower, which now accommodates a faience museum, survive and can still be visited.
^de Smet, J J (1861). Leven van den heiligen Amandus, aposter der Vlaenderens. Gent. pp. 93–95.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Butler, Alban (1866). The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume 2. Dublin. p. 68.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^both the monastery and the village were also sometimes known as Elnone-en-Pévèle
^Basil Watkins (2016), The Book of Saints: A Comprehensive Biographical Dictionary (8th rev. ed.), Bloomsbury, p. 386, s.v. "Jonatus".
^Gasparov, Mikhail (1996). A History of European Versification. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 89. ISBN0-19-815879-3.