he abbey fell victim to its first large fire in 987, and, with the death of the last Carolingien in the same year, HUGUES CAPET, duke of France, became king of France by assent of his peers. Faced with the danger of continuous invasion, the difficulties in communications and the decline of the royal power, the landowners had to defend themselves, their properties and the people who lived there.
hey surrounded themselves with warriors. A complex social hierarchy evolved, ruled by clear vassal to suzerain relations. It originated from multiple causes: the progressive "placing" of men in service to the landowners, the granting of fiefs, the carefully selected matrimonial alliances, and more generally the implementation of a comprehensive code of rights and duties.
hroughout the XI century, the spiritual influence of the monastery extended to the entire Thiérache region, while at the same time its temporal foundation developed. The landed property of the abbey increased through acquisitions, donations, inheritances, or departures for a crusade, the donors, thereby, assuring clemency for their soul in this life or beyond.
Substantial dues in kind or in money came with the possession of these properties, which made the fortune of their beneficiaries. New techniques emerged and commerce flourished again in a Europe which benefited, at last, from a certain stability.
ut this relative prosperity soon became outweighed by the daily concern for subsistence, famines were common. Here, as elsewhere, forests were giving way to agricultural land.
BARTHELEMY DE VIR was the moving force behind these local transformations, and the restorer and builder of abbeys. Of noble origin, this prelate was appointed bishop of Laon in 1113. He found a town in ruin and a diocese in complete neglect. He instructed a group of seven canons and six laymen to travel up and down France and England to collect funds. By so doing he succeeded in the restoration of the Abbey of Saint-Michel.
Hugues Capet
King of France
t ELISABETH's death in 1182, PHILIPPPE-AUGUSTE laid claim to the Vermandois inheritance in order to progressively unite his kingdom and strengthen his authority. This led to an inheritance quarrel which was to engulf the region in turmoil for the next three years. JACQUES D'AVESNES opted in turns for the suzerain which suited him best: BAUDOIN de HAINAUT, who supported the king of France, or PHILIPPE d'ALSACE, Count of Flanders. The region was witness to battles and reprisals and only recovered peace in 1185 with the signature of the Treaty of Boves between PHILIPPE D'ALSACE et PHILIPPE-AUGUSTE: The Vermandois province became attached to France and peace prevailed.
ARTHELEMY DE VIR also established new religious settlements by relinquishing land that had initially belonged to the Saint-Michel abbey. To such an extent that his successor, GAULTIER, accused him, in 1150, of having squandered abbey property for the foundation of monasteries. And RENAULT Abbot of CLAIRVAUX, one of BERNARD's followers, founded a second abbey in Foigny, a major Cistercian rival to Saint-Michel until its destruction by the revolutionary mob in 1789.
JACQUES D'AVESNES, lord of part of Hainaut and vassal to COUNT BAUDOIN, married, in 1170, AMELINE only daughter of LORD BOUCHARD whose properties lay next to those of the Saint-Michel abbey. He therefore became LORD of GUISE and as such vassal to PHILIPPE D'ALSACE who, by virtue of his marriage to ELISABETH, was count of Flanders and of Vermandois. So his authority extended to almost the entire Thiérache region.
n that environment, WILHELME 16th abbot of Saint-Michel naturally chose as protector his neighbour JACQUES D'AVESNES who thus became co owner of 7 219 acres of wood land sharing with the monks the corresponding rights and rents. The rest of the abbey property, about 14 000 acres, had already been cleared since its founding.
he abbey fell victim to its first large fire in 987, and, with the death of the last Carolingien in the same year, HUGUES CAPET, duke of France, became king of France by assent of his peers. Faced with the danger of continuous invasion, the difficulties in communications and the decline of the royal power, the landowners had to defend themselves, their properties and the people who lived there.
ut this relative prosperity soon became outweighed by the daily concern for subsistence, famines were common. Here, as elsewhere, forests were giving way to agricultural land.
t ELISABETH's death in 1182, PHILIPPPE-AUGUSTE laid claim to the Vermandois inheritance in order to progressively unite his kingdom and strengthen his authority. This led to an inheritance quarrel which was to engulf the region in turmoil for the next three years. JACQUES D'AVESNES opted in turns for the suzerain which suited him best: BAUDOIN de HAINAUT, who supported the king of France, or PHILIPPE d'ALSACE, Count of Flanders. The region was witness to battles and reprisals and only recovered peace in 1185 with the signature of the Treaty of Boves between PHILIPPE D'ALSACE et PHILIPPE-AUGUSTE: The Vermandois province became attached to France and peace prevailed.
ARTHELEMY DE VIR also established new religious settlements by relinquishing land that had initially belonged to the Saint-Michel abbey. To such an extent that his successor, GAULTIER, accused him, in 1150, of having squandered abbey property for the foundation of monasteries. And RENAULT Abbot of CLAIRVAUX, one of BERNARD's followers, founded a second abbey in Foigny, a major Cistercian rival to Saint-Michel until its destruction by the revolutionary mob in 1789.
n that environment, WILHELME 16th abbot of Saint-Michel naturally chose as protector his neighbour JACQUES D'AVESNES who thus became co owner of 7 219 acres of wood land sharing with the monks the corresponding rights and rents. The rest of the abbey property, about 14 000 acres, had already been cleared since its founding.
