Elevating Saint Germanus of Auxerre: Architecture, Politics, and Liturgy in the Reclaiming of Monastic Identity

Abstract

In the mid-thirteenth century, the Benedictine monks at the Abbey of Saint-Germain faced the unwelcome reality that they were the vassals of Auxerre's bishop. Despite the abbey's prestigious history of hosting the highest echelons of royalty and possessing the most coveted relics of Saint Germanus of Auxerre, patron saint of both monastery and city, each abbot, on the day of his installation, made his way to the Cathedral of Auxerre, knelt at the feet of the bishop, and swore an oath of fealty to him. Moreover, the abbot and his monks, along with the rest of Auxerre's citizens, looked on while the magnificent new edifice of the Cathedral of Auxerre arose over them, supplying yet more tangible evidence of the bishop's dominion over his city.