Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, abbey church,
west tower. Photograph courtesy of
Whitney S.Stoddard.
while the Le Mans group stops in Rome. Led to the tomb of Benedict and Scholastica by
miraculous signs, the monks rush back with the remains of both saints. The Le Mans
group soon arrives at Saint-Benoît and demands Scholastica’s remains, which are given
to them. Adrevald’s account of the translatio of the relics of these two widely venerated
saints became a model for the literary description of many later translations, or thefts, of
relics of saints in the medieval period.
Saint-Benoît was an important intellectual center with scriptorium throughout the
early Middle Ages, especially under Abbot Abbo of Fleury (r. 988–1004). Successive
parts of the abbey church span the Romanesque through Early Gothic periods. The
western-tower porch was constructed during the abbacy of Gauzlin (r. 1004–30). The
transept and choir, begun under Abbot Guillaume (r. 1067–80), were complete by 1108.
The late 12th-century nave was dedicated in 1218.
The two-story porch has nine vaulted compartments. The foliate and historiated
column capitals and sculpted plaques on the north wall were carved by Umbertus and his
followers. The rib-vaulted nave has seven bays with single groin-vaulted aisles. The
transept with two chapels on the eastern side of each arm has a square tower over the
crossing. A tunnel-vaulted choir terminates in a faux-tran-sept with single chapels and an
ambulatory with two radiating chapels. The choir and apse have a blind-arcaded triforium
and clerestory whose carved capitals reflect later Romanesque sculpture. An Early Gothic
portal dated ca. 1200 is on the north side of the nave. Above six jamb figures is a
tympanum with Christ enthroned surrounded by the four Evangelists and the translation
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