Maubeuge Abbey (French:Abbaye de Maubeuge;Latin:Malbodiense monasterium)[1][2] was a women's monastery inMaubeuge, in theCounty of Hainaut, now northern France, close to the modern border with Belgium. It is best known today as the abbey founded by St.Aldegonde, still a popular figure of devotion in the region. It is thought to have possibly been where the young Jan Gossaert, aRenaissance-era painter known asJan Mabuse, was educated, claimed by some to have been a native of the town ofMaubeuge, which grew up around the abbey.
Initially founded as adouble monastery, that is, a community of both men and women, this abbey was founded in 661 for the care of the sick by the young Aldegonde,[3][4] who was abbess there until her death in 684, and was also buried there. She was succeeded as abbess by her two nieces, firstAldetrudis and thenMadelberte.[5] The abbey soon became a monastery of women, following theRule of St. Benedict. St.Amalberga of Maubeuge became a member of the community later in the eighth century.
Maubeuge was designated a royal abbey in 864, under theTreaty of Meersen, which dividedLotharingia.[6] In the eleventh century the abbess was a powerful local figure.[7]
At a later date the community changed its observance to the less severeRule of St. Augustine and the religious, formerly nuns, became styledcanonesses regular. A distinctive part of thereligious habit they adopted was a gold medal, bearing an image of St. Aldegonde in enamel, suspended on a blue cord tied with a gold tassel.
The abbey was dissolved in 1791 during theFrench Revolution.
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