Abbaye de Flines

Flines-lez-Raches

In 1234, Margaret of Constantinople, the powerful Countess of Flanders and Hainaut, founded near Orchies an abbey of Cistercian nuns, transferred to Flines as early as 1251. Far from being a mere place of retreat, the abbey became the official necropolis of the counts of Flanders of the Dampierre dynasty: Margaret herself chose to be buried there in the middle of the choir, joined by her husband William of Dampierre and their son Guy d'Avesnes, buried in 1305. Regarded in its day as one of the finest abbey churches devoted to women's communities in the old Low Countries, it nonetheless suffered the violence of its century: devastated in 1297 and again at the bloody battle of Mons-en-Pévèle in 1302. At the very end of the 16th century, the abbess Florence de Verquigneul even founded a new Benedictine congregation there, a sign of the place's spiritual vitality. But the French Revolution brought it to a definitive end: the abbey was demolished, and its last stones disappeared in the mid-19th century. Today only a few farms (censes) scattered across the Nord and Belgium perpetuate, through their names, the memory of this powerful comital necropolis swallowed up by time.

Getting there : Commune of Flines-lez-Raches, between Douai and Orchies (Nord)

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound