Saint-Riquier

Saint-Riquier
Commune
Hôtel-Dieu
Saint-Riquier
Location within Hauts-de-France region Saint-Riquier
Coordinates: 50°08′01″N 1°56′53″E / 50.1336°N 1.9481°E / 50.1336; 1.9481Coordinates: 50°08′01″N 1°56′53″E / 50.1336°N 1.9481°E / 50.1336; 1.9481
Country	France
Region	Hauts-de-France
Department	Somme
Arrondissement	Abbeville
Canton	Rue
Intercommunality	CC Ponthieu-Marquenterre
Government
• Mayor (2001–2008)	Yves Monin
Area¹	14.48 km² (5.59 sq mi)
Population (2006)²	1,267
• Density	88/km² (230/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code	80716 /80135
Elevation	19–97 m (62–318 ft) (avg. 22 m or 72 ft)
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. ² Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Saint-Riquier is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.

Geography

The commune is situated 6 kilometres (4 mi) northeast of Abbeville, on the D925 and D32 crossroads.

Abbey

Saint-Riquier (originally Centula or Centulum ) gained fame for its abbey, founded about 625 by Riquier (Richarius), son of the governor of the town, when the town was within Austrasia in the Merovingian Kingdom. It was enriched by King Dagobert I and prospered in the early 9th century Carolingian Empire under the abbacy of Angilbert, son-in-law of Charlemagne. The 18th century buildings are occupied by an ecclesiastical seminary. The church is a magnificent example of Flamboyant Gothic architecture of the 15th and 16th centuries, and has a richly sculptured front on the west, surmounted by a square tower. In the interior the fine vaulting, the Renaissance font and carved stalls, and the frescoes in the treasury are especially noteworthy. Among other valuable relics, the treasury possesses a copper cross said to be the work of Saint Eloi (Eligius).

The abbey was part of the diocese of Amiens in Ponthieu. The early counts of Ponthieu originally were styled advocatus of the abbey of Saint Riquier and "castellan" of Abbeville. The counts of Ponthieu enrolled their younger sons who were going into religious vocations at the abbey. Count Enguerrand I placed his sons, Fulk, later abbot of Forest-l'Abbaye, and Guy, later the bishop of Amiens, in Saint Riquier for their education. Their teacher was abbot Enguerrand "the Wise" (d. 9 December 1045), under whose rule Saint Riquier enjoyed its "golden age." The abbey held estates in Norfolk, England.

In 1536 Saint-Riquier repulsed an attack by the Germans, during its defense the women especially distinguishing themselves. In 1544 it was burned by the English, an event that marks the beginning of its decline.

Abbey church, Saint-Riquier

Population

Historical population of Saint-Riquier
Year	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006
Population	1129	1176	1205	1165	1166	1186	1246
From the year 1962 on: No double counting—residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) are counted only once.

Twin towns

: Stutensee-Friedrichstal, Germany, since 1982.

References

INSEE
The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio of Guy Bishop of Amiens, edited by Catherine Morton and Hope Muntz, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1972.
The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio of Guy Bishop of Amiens, edited and translated by Frank Barlow, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1999.
'Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, 1911.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint-Riquier.

Communes of the Somme department

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