Chelles, l'abbaye de Bathilde et sa chemise brodée

Chelles

Chelles was a royal estate: it was on returning from the hunt, at this villa, that Chilperic I was killed in 584, and it was in a nearby forest that his great-great-grandson Childeric II was assassinated in 675. A tradition places there an oratory of Saint-Georges built by Queen Clotilde. The monastery itself was the work of Bathild, an Anglo-Saxon who came to Gaul as a slave and became the wife of Clovis II and then regent: she founded it between 657 and 660 and withdrew there around 664-665, pushed aside from power, to die there in 680 or 681. Her Life, written shortly afterwards by a nun of the house, portrays her as a saint who ransomed captives. The abbey remained one of the most illustrious in the kingdom — Gisela, Charlemagne's sister, was its abbess — until its closure in 1792; sold in 1796, it was destroyed. What survived is more moving than a building: a linen chemise, a little over a metre high, embroidered in silk, on which the needle has drawn three superimposed necklaces and a large pectoral cross, an adornment of thread in place of gold and gems. The decoration imitates the goldsmiths' work of the second half of the 7th century and the early 8th. Bequeathed to the town in 1921, it is in the Musée Alfred-Bonno.

Wikipédia — Abbaye de Chelles ↗

Getting there : East of Paris, on the bank of the Marne. The Musée Alfred-Bonno, 58 rue Louis-Éterlet, reopened in May 2026 after nine years of closure; it is open on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, closed on Mondays, with group visits by reservation on weekdays (to be checked). Admission charged at a low price, free for under-twelves (to be checked). The fragile Merovingian textiles may be displayed in rotation: enquire before making a special trip.

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

Ambient sound