page_title: Princely Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy
section_title: Development and the High Middle Ages
hierarchical_section_title: Princely Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy / History / Development and the High Middle Ages
context_page_description: The Princely Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy, also Principality of Stavelot-Malmedy, was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Princely power was exercised by the Benedictine abbot of the imperial double monastery of Stavelot and Malmedy, founded in 651. Along with the Duchy of Bouillon and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, it was one of only three principalities of the Southern Netherlands that were never part of the Spanish Netherlands, which belonged to the Burgundian Circle while the principalities belonged to the Lower Rhenish Imperial Circle.
  As a prince-abbot, the abbot of Stavelot-Malmedy sat on the Ecclesiastical Bench of the College of Ruling Princes of the Imperial Diet alongside the prince-bishops. Along with the handful of other prince-abbots, he cast a full vote, in contrast to the majority of imperial abbots who were only entitled to collectively determine the votes of their respective curial benches.
  In 1795, the principality was abolished and its territory was incorporated into the French département of Ourthe.
context_section_description: In 747, Carloman, Duke of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, enlarged the abbeys' lands with gifts from his own, on his abdication. Throughout the ninth century, the abbeys played an important cultural role in Lotharingia, particularly thanks to abbot Christian. Around 875, the relics of St Quirinus were translated from Gasny to Malmedy Abbey after the intercession of Emperor Charles the Bald, partly to secure relics comparable to those of St. Remaclus at Stavelot.
  Through the seventh and eighth centuries, the two abbeys followed their mission of evangelism, along with forest clearance. With the decline of the Carolingian Empire, however, the abbeys suffered the same decay as elsewhere, leaving the principality in the custody of lay abbots—temporal guardians—from 844 to 938, including Ebbo, archbishop of Rheims, Adalard the Seneschal, and Reginar and Giselbert, dukes of Lorraine.
  Welcoming pilgrims and the sick was a part of the monks' mission. The Miracula sancti Remacli mention the xenodochium, the monastery's hospice, where poor pilgrims were granted hospitality, including food for almost eight days, whilst they made their devotions; this hospice differs from the abbey's hospital: hospitale coenobii. On 13 April 862, Lothair II of Lotharingia, while dealing with the distribution of property ad hospital ejusdem coenobii, ordered that local tithes be paid to the hospital absque netligentia et tarditate, an order he confirmed on 10 June 873.
  In December 881, Normans, including Godfrid, Duke of Frisia, invaded the area, burning both abbeys and causing the monks to flee with their treasures and relics. Several historical sources provide evidence of the raid of 881, which was well prepared and organised. The monks rushed to dig up the relics of Remaclus and fled to the county of Porcien in present-day Bogny-sur-Meuse, in the French Ardennes; the surrounding region was largely unaffected by the invasion. Stavelot and Malmedy were both burned, with the monks not returning until just before Christmas 882, with a stay in Chooz, to allow them to repair the roofs of the monastic buildings. Relics from Aachen, which had been entrusted to the monks at Stavelot because of the Norman threat, were returned intact. In gratitude, on 13 November 882, Charles the Fat—Carolingian emperor and king of East Francia, Alemannia, and Italy—granted the abbeys the lands of Blendef, a dependency of Louveigné, and restored to them the chapel in Bra (now a part of Lierneux in Liège).
  In 885, Normans extracted ransom from Hesbaye and passed through the Meuse valley, marching on Prüm, causing the monks of Stavelot to flee again, finding refuge in the county of Logne and Chèvremont; the Miracula Remacli details the flight from the invaders and follows the monks' wanderings. After the invasions, abbot Odilon began to rebuild the ruined abbey of Stavelot, with support from bishops of Liège—including Notker, the first prince-bishop. The abbots Odilon and Werinfride rebuilt the abbeys, with new building; re-established the monastic community; re-organised the principality. By the time of the Ottonian dynasty in the early 10th century, the abbeys were once again of suitable Imperial stature. A new abbey church was built in Malmedy in 992, dedicated to St Quirinus; in 1007, a parish church was consecrated to Saint Gereon.
  Another danger threatened the abbey—and the Western Empire—in the 10th century: the Hungarian invasions. Having been deposed as duke of Lotharingia, Conrad the Red invited the Hungarians to undermine his opponents, Bruno the Great, archbishop of Cologne, and Reginar III, Count of Hainaut. The Annales Stabulensis reports: Anno 954 Ungri populantur regiones Galliæ ... Anno 955. Victoria des Ungris ["In the year 954, Hungarians ravage the regions of Gaul ... In the year 955, victory over the Hungarians"]. On 1 July 960, Eraclus, bishop of Liège, driven by the fears of the time, granted the monks a place to build a refuge in Liège, although five years earlier, the victory of emperor Otto I over the Hungarians at Lechfeld had remove
caption: Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, who was present for the 1040 consecration of the church built in Stavelot under prince-abbot Poppo of Deinze.
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