St. Michael's Abbey, Antwerp

St Michael's Abbey
Sint-Michielsabdij

A view of Antwerp in 1515. The distinctive onion-shaped spire on the right shows the church of St Michael's Abbey
Monastery information
Other names Abbatia Sancti Michaelis Antverpiae
Order Premonstratensian
Established 1124
Disestablished 1795
People
Founder(s) Norbert of Xanten
Architecture
Status suppressed 1795
Functional Status demolished 1831

St Michael's Abbey in Antwerp was a Premonstratensian abbey founded in 1124 by Norbert of Xanten and laid waste during the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1807 a semaphore station was installed in the tower of the church.[1] The buildings were demolished in 1831.

The abbey has been described as "one of the key churches and most significant monuments in Antwerp from its foundation in the 12th century to its destruction in the nineteenth."[2]

Abbots

A list of abbots to 1709:[3]

  1. Waltmannus, 1124–1138
  2. Emelinus, died 1161
  3. Alardus, died 1162
  4. Thibaldus, resigned 1171
  5. Richardus, resigned 1188
  6. Waltherus de Stripe, died 1192
  7. Elias, died 1199
  8. Giselbertus, died 1205
  9. Hugo, died 1208
  10. Arnoldus de Erps, translated 1219
  11. Hermannus, died 1230
  12. Sigerius, died 1230
  13. Eggerius, died 1244
  14. Gerardus de Lira, died 1258
  15. Joannes de Lira, died 1272
  16. Aegidius de Biervliet, died 1286
  17. Henricus de Mechlinia, died 1300
  18. Godefridus de Waerloos, died 1328
  19. Guilielmus de Cabeliau, died 1341
  20. Guilielmus Lympiaes, died 1353
  21. Martinus Loys, died 1372
  22. Guilielmus Brulocht, died 1390
  23. Petrus Breem, died 1413
  24. Olardus Terlinck, died 1452
  25. Joannes Fierkens, died 1476
  26. Andreas Aechtenryt, died 1478
  27. Joannes Robyns, died 1486
  28. Joannes de Weerdt, died 1499
  29. Jacobus Elsacker, died 1505
  30. Jacobus Embrechts, died 1514
  31. Stephanus a Thenis, died 1518
  32. Cornelis de Mera, died 1538
  33. Gregorius de Dagis, died 1562
  34. Cornelius Emerici, died 1563
  35. Guilielmus de Greve, died 1581
  36. Emericus Andreae, died 1590
  37. Dionysius Feyten, died 1612
  38. Christianus Michaelius, died 1614
  39. Matthaeus Irselius, died 1629
  40. Johannes Chrysostomus vander Sterre, died 1652
  41. Norbertus van Couwerven, died 1663
  42. Macarius Simeomo, STL, died 1676
  43. Hermannus vander Porten, died 1680
  44. Gerardus Knyff, died 1686
  45. Joannes Chrysostomus Teniers, died 1709

References

  1. Rob Korving, Bart van der Herten, Een tijding met de snelheid des bliksems: de optische telegraaf in de Nederlanden (1800-1850) (Leuven University Press, 1997), p. 63.
  2. B. Haeger, "Abbot Van der Steen and St Michael's Abbey: The restoration of its church, its images, and its place in Antwerp", in Sponsors of the Past: Flemish Art and Patronage, 1550-1700, edited by Hans Vlieghe and K. Van Der Stighelen (Brepols: Turnhout, 2005), p. 157.
  3. From Jean François Foppens, Historia episcopatus Antverpiensis (Joannes Franciscus Broncart, Liège, 1717), pages 147-150.

External links