Arrouaise Abbey

The abbey had originated as a hermitage. That had developed into a community which adopted the task of providing a service to travellers through the then, great Forest of Arrouaise in Artois. The Order of Arrouaise was differentiated from others by being basically that of St. Augustine with the more restrained approach of the Cistercians as a guide to its more austere regimen than that of other Canons Regular. In general, as time passed, the distinction between the Arrouaisians and other groups of canons regular was less likely to be made, so that in their later history, Arrouaisian houses were often referred to simply as being houses of canons regular.

The forest where the community was established was in the form of a belt extending westwards from the Forest of The Ardennes, to the north of the town of Saint-Quentin and towards the town of Bapaume. It is now largely felled. Traffic passed through the forest, in many cases along the remaining lines of Roman roads. The routes were important commercially and diplomatically for traffic between Paris and Flanders, also between England and Burgundy. It will have been mainly by this route that the English and Western Flemings went to Rome on pilgrimages and diplomatic journeys.For example [http://www.augustiniancanons.org/About/houses_and_congregations_through_copy(1).htm#Arrouaise St Malachie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009091745/http://www.augustiniancanons.org/About/houses_and_congregations_through_copy(1).htm#Arrouaise |date=2008-10-09 }}

The abbey elected its first abbot, Gervaise in 1121 and was suppressed in 1790, during the course of the French Revolution.

On the whole, scholars seem vague about where the abbey itself was. It is possible that 'arrouaise' is an adjective indicating a connection with Arras or, by extension, with Artois, but in the 20th century, at least, these adjectives were respectively 'arrageois' and 'artesian'. However, within the appropriate area and in the higher land between the sources of rivers such as the Somme, Sambre and Escaut, there is a hamlet called l’Arrouaise. It lies at the end of a turning off a back road, the D272 (département of Aisne), {{convert|11.5|km|mi|abbr=on}} south-east of the place known to British military historians as Le Cateau. The out-of-the-way position of l'Arrouaise would have been appropriate to the hermitage origins but would not be convenient in developing the tradition of service to travellers.

More plausibly there was a small abbey, founded in the 11th century, "in the middle of the Forest of Arrouaise", at Aubencheul-aux-Bois near the N44 and about halfway between Cambrai and St. Quentin. It lies between Mesnil-en-Arrouaise ({{convert|10|km|mi|disp=sqbr|abbr=on}} SE of Bapaume) and Montigny-en-Arrouaise ({{convert|15|km|mi|disp=sqbr|abbr=on}} ENE of St. Quentin). Auboncheul lies on the border between Picardy and Hainaut as represented by the départements of Aisne and Nord. This site, on the St Quentin to Cambrai road, is much better suited to serving travellers, being on both the Paris to Mechelen and the London to Dijon roads. That means the France to Flanders and England to Burgundy diplomatic routes, as well as that from England and western Flanders to Rome. Besides these, the commercial traffic between Italy and Flanders grew in importance during the medieval period. Both Cambrai and St Quentin were part of it. Four kilometres to the south of Aubencheul is Gouy, which used to be called Gouy en Arrouaise.[http://nom.wanadoo.fr/cartes-de-cassini/42_8_17/aubencheul-aux-bois/carte-de-cassini-aubencheul-aux-bois/ (Click on Pienne on this map)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312035511/http://nom.wanadoo.fr/cartes-de-cassini/42_8_17/aubencheul-aux-bois/carte-de-cassini-aubencheul-aux-bois/ |date=2007-03-12 }} the Michelin 1:200 000 map shows an abbey ruin, at the source of the Escaut. The foundation charters of Bourne Abbey in Lincolnshire and Missenden Abbey in Buckinghamshire both describe the dedication of Arrouaise as being to St Nicholas.William Dugdale, Monasticon vi 370. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=38027] [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=40311]

There is an aerial photograph of the site as a crop mark.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110605024726/http://www.culture.gouv.fr/fr/arcnat/aerien/en/decou6-pg4.htm gallery].

• Bourne Abbey (SS Peter and Paul)
• Beaulieu[http://homepage.ntlworld.com/chrisdave.davies/Biography.html this Bedfordshire article.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050122215809/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/chrisdave.davies/Biography.html |date=January 22, 2005 }} This is not the Cistercian Beaulieu Abbey in Hampshire.
• Carlisle CathedralOnly until 1156. See {{cite book |title= Monastic and Religious Orders in Britain: 1000–1300|url= https://archive.org/details/monasticreligiou00burt|url-access= registration|last=Burton |first=Janet |year= 1994|publisher=Cambridge University Press|series=Cambridge Medieval Textbooks |location=Cambridge UK |isbn=0-521-37797-8}} page 52
• Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire (St. Peter)
• Lesnes Abbey
• Lilleshall Abbey
• Missenden Abbey
• Notley Abbey (SS Mary and John the Baptist)
• Warter

• Arrouaise Abbey (St. Nicholas)
• AutreyFounded in 1149. [http://www.lacholotte.com/Walks.html#abbayes La Cholotte site] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929131027/http://www.lacholotte.com/Walks.html#abbayes |date=September 29, 2007 }}
• Beaulieu Abbey (Saint Graal)6km east of Marquise, between Calais and Boulogne. [http://membres.lycos.fr/histopale/beaulieu.htm Hist Opale site] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050218015623/http://membres.lycos.fr/histopale/beaulieu.htm |date=February 18, 2005 }} quotes Dom Gosse, Histoire d'Arrouaise (p. 353)

• Annaghdown
• Bangor
• Ballinskelligs
• Clonard
• Dublin
• Duleek
• Durrow
• Kells
• Knock
• Knock Abbey, County Louth.
• Louth
• Navan
• Saul
• Termonfeckin
• Trim

• Cambuskenneth Abbey (St. Mary)

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081009091745/http://www.augustiniancanons.org/About/houses_and_congregations_through_copy(1).htm#Arrouaise Canons Regular of Arrouaise]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150923180143/http://www.augustiniancanons.org/About/saints.htm#Bl.%20Heldemar click here] and scroll to Blesseds of the Canons Regular then click Heldemar
• [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/chrisdave.davies/Biography.html an Arrouaisian house] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050122215809/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/chrisdave.davies/Biography.html |date=2005-01-22 }} in Luton, England
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050901133044/http://www.roffe.freeserve.co.uk/bourne.htm an Arrouaisian house] in Lincolnshire, England
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051126042342/http://homepages.which.net/~rex/bourne/bourneabbey.htm more on Bourne Abbey]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20041021185312/http://www.oahs.org.uk/oxo/vol%206/Pantin.doc Arrouaisian houses] in Oxfordshire, England
• [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=39928 an Arrouaisian house] in Shropshire, England
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061209190130/http://www.offalyhistory.com/content/reading_resources/books_articles/durrow_monastery.htm an Arrouaisian house in Ireland] See Reform and Change.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081009091745/http://www.augustiniancanons.org/About/houses_and_congregations_through_copy(1).htm#Ireland more on Arrouaisians in Ireland]
• [http://newsaints.faithweb.com/martyrs/MFR09.htm click and scroll to 122] Arrouaisian influence was still alive in the late eighteenth century.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050630083026/http://www.premontre.org/subpages/propriadocumenta/periodica/sec-analecta.htm Analecta Praemonstratensia article]
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=zBt1qkN6ngwC&pg=PA336&dq=Abbaye+arrouaise&lr=#PPP11,M1 The Abbé Bédu's History of Bapaume: published 1865, in French.] See particularly Chapter III.
• [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=38027#s2#s2 Bourne]
• [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=39955 Carlisle]
• [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=40185 Dorchester, Oxon]
• [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=40042 Harrold]
• [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=38208#n3 Lesnes]
• [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=39928 Lilleshall]
• [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=40311 Missenden]
• [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=40313 Nutley (Notley)]
• [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36271 Warter]

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Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1090s

Category:Augustinian monasteries in France

Category:Arrouaisians

Category:Monasteries destroyed during the French Revolution

Category:1790 disestablishments in France