1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Jumièges

JUMIÈGES, a village of north-western France, in the department of Seine-Inférieure, 17 m. W. of Rouen by road, on a peninsula formed by a bend of the Seine. Pop. (1906), 244. Jumièges is famous for the imposing ruins of its abbey, one of the great establishments of the Benedictine order. The principal remains are those of the abbey-church, built from 1040 to 1067; these comprise the façade with two towers, the walls of the nave, a wall and sustaining arch of the great central tower and débris of the choir (restored in the 13th century). Among the minor relics, preserved in a small museum in a building of the 14th century, are the stone which once covered the grave of Agnes Sorel, and two recumbent figures of the 13th century, commonly known as the Énervés, and representing, according to one legend, two sons of Clovis II., who, as a punishment for revolt against their father, had the tendons of their arms and legs cut, and were set adrift in a boat on the Seine. Another tradition states that the statues represent Thassilo, duke of Bavaria, and Theodo his son, relegated to Jumièges by Charlemagne. The church of St Pierre, which adjoins the south side of the abbey-church, was built in the 14th century as a continuation of a previous church of the time of Charlemagne, of which a fragment still survives. Among the other ruins, those of the chapter-house (13th century) and refectory (12th and 15th centuries) also survive.

The abbey of Jumièges was founded about the middle of the 7th century by St Philibert, whose name is still to be read on gold and silver coins obtained from the site. The abbey was destroyed by the Normans, but was rebuilt in 928 by William Longsword, duke of Normandy, and continued to exist till 1790. Charles VII. often resided there with Agnes Sorel, who had a manor at Mesnil-sous-Jumièges in the neighbourhood, and died in the monastery in 1450.