Bibliothèque Saint-Corneille, Compiègne

The abbey of Saint-Corneille is located in Compiègne, 75 km north of Paris, in the Valois region, and was first called Sainte-Marie or Notre-Dame. It was later renamed Saint-Corneille and is also known as Saint-Cyprien.

This imperial and royal abbey, founded by an emperor to succeed or at least rival the palatine chapel of Aachen, was consecrated by a pope and was the meeting place for several councils. Several Carolingians and Robertians, such as Louis II the Beggar, Eudes of France, Louis V of France and Hugues of France were crowned or buried within its walls.

In 987, an assembly recognized Hugues Capet as king. But after 987, the influence of the abbey diminished and became almost exclusively provincial. However, in the eyes of the princes and the people, it remained, because of its past and its precious relics, an illustrious royal abbey. The history of the city of Compiègne and of the Valois is closely linked to that of its abbey.

However, even when the canons made way in 1150 for monks of the order of Saint-Benoît, tensions remained, but so did common interests. The monks still had conflicting relationships with the powerful local lords and the bishops of Soissons. The kings and popes had to protect them constantly or, more rarely, moderate their ambitions. During the Renaissance, the abbey still holds many relics, flags taken from the enemy, and receives princes and queens. It even had its eight proud barons. The abbots had a lasting power in the middle valley of the Oise and in Compiègne. Nevertheless, the commendation regime and the reunion of its mense with the royal abbey of Val-de-Grâce will cause its decline. The revolution of 1789 put an end to its almost thousand-year-old history. The royal abbey, still rich and famous, the Pantheon of Compiègne, was desecrated, plundered and left to decay in 1793. The last vestiges of the abbey will be bombed in 1940 by the German aviation.