Gothic of the 15th century. It was sold to speculators in 1799, and all that remains are the
ruins of the west façade and tower, the north transept, and aisles of the nave.
Rosemary Argent
[See also: BRAINE; GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE; HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR;
LOUIS VIII; PHILIP III THE BOLD; WOOL TRADE]
Derville, Alain, ed. Histoire de Saint-Omer. Lille: Presses Universitaires de Lille, 1981.
Giry, Arthur. Histoire de la ville de Saint-Omer et de ses institutions jusqu’au XIVe siècle. Paris:
Vieweg, 1877.
Héliot, Pierre. Les églises du moyen âge dans le Pas-de-Calais. 2 vols. Arras: n.p., 1951–53.
Pas, Justin de, and Pierre Héliot. “Saint-Omer.” Congrès archéologique (Amiens) 99(1936):475–
545.
SAINT-QUENTIN
. As the Roman city Augusta Veromanduorum, Saint-Quentin (Aisne), was an important
crossroads and commercial center. Its present name is derived from the missionary St.
Caius Quintinus, beheaded here in 287. His remains are preserved in the 11th-century
crypt beneath the choir of the collegial church of Saint-Quentin. This complex Gothic
structure (13th-15th c.) is built on an unusual double-transept plan; one was rebuilt in
1350, the other in the 15th century. The church features a spacious nave with three-story
elevation, a choir with double ambulatory, and a labyrinth set in the floor (1495). The
south portal (Porche Lamoureux) is Flamboyant. The Late Gothic town hall (14th-15th
c.) is constructed in the Flemish civic style.
William W.Kibler/William W.Clark
Héliot, Pierre. “Chronologie de la basilique de Saint-Quentin.” Bulletin monumental 117 (1951):7–
50.
——. La basilique de Saint-Quentin. Paris: Picard, 1967.
SAINT-RIQUIER
. A Merovingian abbey dedicated to St. Riquier, a hermit-saint converted in the reign of
Dagobert, was founded ca. 645 at Centula (Somme). Among several medieval churches
built here, the Carolingian and Gothic structures are especially important.
The Carolingian abbey church was built ca. 790 under Abbot Angilbert, a pupil of
Alcuin and member of the inner circle of Charlemagne’s court. Engravings made after a
drawing of the church in an 11th-century manuscript show a six-bay nave with single
aisles, transepts at east and west, and a projecting semicircular apse. Its multiple towers
and massive westwork, which incorporated atrium, narthex, and western transept with
vaulted chapel, formed significant precedents for Carolingian and Romanesque
architecture.
The Encyclopedia 1597