Abbey of Saint-Médard de Soissons

The Abbey of Saint-Médard de Soissons was a Benedictine monastery, at one time held to be the greatest in France.

[1] The abbey was founded in 557 by Clotaire I on his manor of Crouy, near the villa of Syagrius, just outside the then boundaries of Soissons to house the remains of Saint Medard,[1] the legend being that during the funeral procession the bier came to a standstill at Crouy and was impossible to move until the king had made a gift of the whole estate for the foundation of the abbey.

Richard Gerberding, the modern editor of Liber Historiae Francorum places its anonymous author here, ca 727.

In 1121, after a council at Soissons where he was accused of heresy, Peter Abelard was, as punishment, confined to the convent of Saint Medard.

[4] In 1131 Pope Innocent II reconsecrated the rebuilt church and granted those visiting it indulgences known as "Saint Medard's pardons".