he Benedictine abbey of Saint-Michel en Thiérache is one of the last monastic jewels of the High Middle Ages. It was founded at the end of the VII century at the initiative of Ursmer, bishop of Hainaut and Thiérache, who chose this place for his retirement at the age of 49. Profoundly pious, he founded a chapel there in 693, and put the oratory under the benediction of Archangel Saint Michael. This choice is deep in meaning. The cult of the archangel is attached to the ancient belief of the incessant struggle of the spirits of Good and Evil.
he Hebrew prophets proclaimed the existence of an archangel, a commander in chief for the celestial warriors, and named him Michael which means true to God. He became the adopted protector of the eastern Christians. From Byzantium, the reputation of Michael came to Rome at the end of the VI century.
At Ursmer's death in 713, the little chapel in the forest was a famous sanctuary and a place of pilgrimage.
ith the death of Charlemagne, the western Christian Empire fell to the hordes of Norman barbarians and the Thiérache province became a frontier zone between France and the Holy German Empire. (Treaty of Verdun, 843). The humble wooden construction fell in ruin, but remained in memory as a high place of Christian faith.
cotland and Ireland were preserved from barbarian invasions and stayed places of original Christianity. From there, between the VI and the X centuries, numerous evangelists set forth for the continent. They travelled as "scot" which means vagabond in old Celtic.
Charlemagne Emperor
mong those evangelists, KADDROE, a Scot of royal blood, together with 12 companions, came to the Thiérache region. They decided to dedicate their life to God. In 943, the death (or perhaps the murder) of HERIBERT II, Count of Vermandois (which includes Thiérache) took place in a climate of intrigue and bloody combats, which was common between the older branch of the Carolingiens and the supporters of the Dukes of France. This event prompted a return to the practice of Christianity by his friend and vassal EILBERT who wished to right his wrongs. Together with his spouse HERISINDE (or HERSENT) he decided to build a monastery, a place of retreat where prayers would be said for the salvation of his soul.
o HERISINDE let the Saint Michel Church be restored and enlarged as early as 942 and accommodated KADDROE and his companions in this lonely place where they could serve and worship God while working the land: the oratory of archangel Saint Michel responded to their needs perfectly. Under HERISINDE's leadership, RAOUL, bishop of Laon, signed in 945 under the authority of CHARLES IV the chart conferring to the "peregrini scots" the ownership of the oratory. And HERISINDE endowed this community with 21,000 acres of forest, which she owned in the neighbourhood.
ERISINDE sent KADDROE to Fleury (Saint-Benoît sur Loire), near Cluny, a high place of Benedictine obedience, and she sent MACCALIN his companion, future abbot of Saint-Michel, to Gorze, a rival Benedictine abbey near Metz. They soon relinquished the Celtic monastic way of life where one lives an ascetic life, without other rules than those one sets oneself, alone or in a community, and espoused the Rules of Saint-Benoît with its sedentary way of life. The abbey of Saint-Michel thus became Benedictine. KADDROE died in 974 and MCCALIN in 978.
he Benedictine abbey of Saint-Michel en Thiérache is one of the last monastic jewels of the High Middle Ages. It was founded at the end of the VII century at the initiative of Ursmer, bishop of Hainaut and Thiérache, who chose this place for his retirement at the age of 49. Profoundly pious, he founded a chapel there in 693, and put the oratory under the benediction of Archangel Saint Michael. This choice is deep in meaning. The cult of the archangel is attached to the ancient belief of the incessant struggle of the spirits of Good and Evil.
ith the death of Charlemagne, the western Christian Empire fell to the hordes of Norman barbarians and the Thiérache province became a frontier zone between France and the Holy German Empire. (Treaty of Verdun, 843). The humble wooden construction fell in ruin, but remained in memory as a high place of Christian faith.
cotland and Ireland were preserved from barbarian invasions and stayed places of original Christianity. From there, between the VI and the X centuries, numerous evangelists set forth for the continent. They travelled as "scot" which means vagabond in old Celtic.
mong those evangelists, KADDROE, a Scot of royal blood, together with 12 companions, came to the Thiérache region. They decided to dedicate their life to God. In 943, the death (or perhaps the murder) of HERIBERT II, Count of Vermandois (which includes Thiérache) took place in a climate of intrigue and bloody combats, which was common between the older branch of the Carolingiens and the supporters of the Dukes of France. This event prompted a return to the practice of Christianity by his friend and vassal EILBERT who wished to right his wrongs. Together with his spouse HERISINDE (or HERSENT) he decided to build a monastery, a place of retreat where prayers would be said for the salvation of his soul.
ERISINDE sent KADDROE to Fleury (Saint-Benoît sur Loire), near Cluny, a high place of Benedictine obedience, and she sent MACCALIN his companion, future abbot of Saint-Michel, to Gorze, a rival Benedictine abbey near Metz. They soon relinquished the Celtic monastic way of life where one lives an ascetic life, without other rules than those one sets oneself, alone or in a community, and espoused the Rules of Saint-Benoît with its sedentary way of life. The abbey of Saint-Michel thus became Benedictine. KADDROE died in 974 and MCCALIN in 978. 
