Réformer une abbaye au xve siècle : l’exemple de Florennes

Abstract

After having been ransacked by the troops of the Count of Hainaut in 1408, the abbey of Florennes was restored by the monks of St-James in Liège. The abbey then became one of the most significant Benedictine reformation centers in the Southern Low Countries. This paper examines the various aspects of this restoration : the rebuilding of the cloister, the economic reorganization, the consolidation of the community through the writing of several works on the history of the monastery, the implementation of the Observance with the support of normative and ad hoc texts, the resumption of the manuscript production stimulated by the Modern Devotion, the involvement of the community in several reformation networks (such as the Benedictine abbeys of the ecclesiastical Province’s or the reformed Cistercian monasteries’ ones). Despite the lack of information, the Florennes case contributes to shed light on the holistic nature of the reform. The case also reveals the importance of literacy in such reform processes.