Sigebert III, the Merovingian king of Austrasia and eldest son of the famous king Dagobert I, had a charter drawn up authorising the foundation of an abbey in the royal forest of Ardennes. On the advice of his mayor of the Grimoald Palace, Sigebert III decided that this abbey would be composed of two monastic communities, placed under the direction of one single abbot.
When they arrived in the royal domain, the monk Remacle and his brothers settled in two places: in Malmedy and, a few kilometres away, in Stavelot. They did not choose the valley of Amblève, in the heart of the Ardennes forest, by chance. In fact, this region, located on the border of two dioceses, is full of natural resources necessary for the monastery’s many needs.
The abbot Goduin had a stone church built, in which he transferred Remacle’s tomb, who died between 671 and 679. A cult around the founder’s relics gradually developed, attracting an increasing number of pilgrims.
The discipline is maintained and the area expands considerably. Stavelot is one of the monasteries most favoured by the largesse of the Germanic rulers.
The Stavelotain monks followed the rule of St Benedict, were educated, and produced important literary works, including those centred on the life and miracles of St Remacle.
Stavelot became the abbot’s habitual residence.
The second half of the ninth century was darker with a succession of commendatory abbots at the head of the abbey and the birth of rivalries between the two communities.
Warned of the danger, the monks fled with the relics of Saint Remacle before the Normans who pillaged and burned the abbey.
Ce/Odilon is a reforming monk from Gorze Abbey (Metz) (who) re-establishes Benedictine discipline/rule within the sister communities. He had the church enlarged and conventual buildings built around a cloister.
A second reformer is appointed abbot of Stavelot-Malmedy by Emperor Henry II. Joined by the movement initiated by Richard de Saint-Vannes (Verdun), Poppon reorganised the monastery and built a new cloister and one of the largest churches of the Empire. The prestigious building is monumental, to allow the good coexistence of monks and pilgrims.
Under the abbacies of Wibald and his brother and successor, Erlebald, Stavelot Abbey is a prosperous institution, prominent among Germanic rulers. The latter entrusted them with important responsibilities, particularly diplomatic ones. Scholars anxious to maintain the faith and devotion of monks and pilgrims, these two abbots commissioned magnificent pieces of goldsmithing to adorn the church.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the abbey emerged from a long period of trouble with the abbot Guillaume de Manderscheidt, who instituted important reforms and had considerable renovation work carried out. In this context, he rebuilds the monastery of Malmedy, raises a castle on the heights of Stavelot and endows the abbey church with a new entrance tower.
A violent fire in the church meant that a large part had to be demolished. It was rebuilt on the same foundations, but in late Gothic style. The total height of its tower reaches 85 metres.
In the course of the 18th century, all the conventual buildings are rebuilt in a classical style. The abbey thus presents the face that we still know today. As a result of damage caused by lightning, the tower’s Gothic spire was replaced by a dome (of neo-classical inspiration).
A few years after the French Revolution, revolutionary troops arrived in the principality of Stavelot-Malmedy, forcing the monks to flee to Germany with their most precious possessions. From then on, the buildings and the church were ruined from top to bottom. Practically abandoned, they were sold in 1798 to two Stavelotain citizens, who considered the church as a useful quarry. It was dismantled and its stones sold. Only the lower part of its entrance tower was preserved.
The Abbey of Mont-César in Leuven decides to restore the monastic life dormant since the Revolution by founding, on a hill symbolically located between the two cities of the former abbey church principality, in the hamlet of Wavreumont, a priory dedicated to Saint Remacle.
The discovery of the remains of the great Ottonian pilgrimage abbey church, the discovery of the traces of the first religious buildings and the ancient Romanesque cloister as well as the quality of the objects collected have largely demonstrated the great archaeological interest of the Stavelotain site.
Restored by the Public Service of Wallonia and classified as an exceptional heritage, the former abbey of Stavelot has been home to several museums since 2002 and serves as a setting for many cultural events.