La crypte de l'abbaye Saint-Médard, tombeau des fils de Clovis

Soissons

Medard, Bishop of Vermand and then of Noyon, had consecrated Queen Radegund as a deaconess. On his death, King Chlothar I had his body carried to Soissons, his capital — legend has it that the coffin stopped of its own accord on the right bank of the Aisne — and began a basilica over his tomb. He did not have time to finish it: having died at Compiègne at the end of 561, he was buried in it, and his son Sigebert I, who completed and decorated the church, joined him there after his assassination in 575, facing the saint's tomb. Saint-Médard became one of the great abbeys of the kingdom: in 826 Abbot Hilduin deposited relics of Saint Sebastian there, and it was there, in 833, that a synod convened by Lothair deposed his father, the Emperor Louis the Pious. The Protestants devastated the abbey in 1567; in 1793 it was razed down to the crypt. The crypt, some ten chapels opening onto a central corridor, dates according to some from the years 826-841, according to others from the 11th century; the texts do not attest it before 1079. It is therefore not Merovingian, and the kings are no longer there; but it was indeed here, beneath these vaults, that the first generation of Clovis's sons had themselves buried beside a saint.

Wikipédia — Abbaye Saint-Médard de Soissons ↗

Getting there : Place Saint-Médard, on the right bank of the Aisne; free parking on site. The site is occupied by an educational establishment and the crypt can only be visited on a guided tour, booked through the Soissonnais tourist office or the Association de l'abbaye royale Saint-Médard: on Saturday afternoons all year round and daily in July and August, in small groups (to be checked). Admission charged, free for children (to be checked).

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

Ambient sound