of St. Benedict’s relics on the lintel. This monument attests to the abbey’s religious and
intellectual importance during the central Middle Ages.
Karen Gould
[See also: ABBO OF FLEURY; MONASTICISM]
Geary, Patrick. Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics in the Central Middle Ages. 2nd ed. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1990, pp. 118–22.
Vergnolle, Éliane. Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire et la sculpture du XIe siècle. Paris: Picard, 1985.
Ward, Benedicta. Miracles and the Medieval Mind: Theory, Record, and Event, 1000–1215.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.
SAINT-CHEF
. Abundant documentation reveals the long history of the monastery of Saint-Chef (Isère),
well known today for its wall paintings. According to the letters of St. Adon, archbishop
of Vienne (r. 860–75), a local saint, Theodore, founded in the 6th century an abbey
church dedicated to the Virgin. After his death in 575, the church was rededicated to both
Theodore and the Virgin. By 837, conventual buildings had been built, and in 890–91
Bishop Barnoin de Vienne restored the abbey church after Vikings had destroyed the
cloister. At about the same time, the Vikings brought monks from Montier-en-Duc here
to Saint-Théodore. By the end of the 9th century or the beginning of the 10th, the monks
returned to Montier-en-Duc and the abbey fell into a state of neglect.
In the second half of the 10th century, archbishops Thibaud de Vienne (r. 952–1000)
and Leodegar (r. 1030–70) restored the church. Sometime in the 14th or 15th century, the
name of the monastery was changed from Saint-Théodore to Saint-Chef. At the
beginning of the 15th century, a fire severely damaged the abbey, and in 1423 a new
cloister was built. Later fires brought reconstruction in the 19th century.
Of the abbey church, the petit appareil (small-stone) masonry of the seven-bay nave
with side aisles has Norman single-light windows and a wooden roof. Regular supports
end at the transept and east end of ashlar masonry, where a larger compound pier leads to
the large apse with two smaller apsidal chapels to either side. Each arm of the transept
contains one of the apsidal chapels and is barrelvaulted.
The apses and conventual chapel of SS.Michael and George in the upper story of the
north transept of the abbey church contain remains of a comprehensive scheme of mid-
11th to mid-12th-century decoration. (Overpainting makes dating the work problematic.)
Christ in Majesty and standing figures of saints occupy the apse, and the conventual
chapel carries an enthroned Christ in the center of a high domical vault with four sides.
Surrounded by four triangular compartments holding the Virgin, Apostles, angels, saints,
and a holy city, Christ occupies the apex of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Stacy L.Boldrick
[See also: ROMANESQUE ART]
Cahansky, Nurith. Die romanischen Wandmalereien der ehemaligen Abteikirche Saint Chef
(Dauphine). Bern: Franke, 1966.
Oursel, Raymond. “L’architecture de l’abbatiale de Saint-Chef.” Bulletin monumental 119
(1962):49–70.
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