We’ve come full circle: the location of St Peter’s Abbey
St Peter’s Abbey plays a crucial role in the story of Judith and the Counts of Flanders. The results of the archaeological research that preceded the construction of the car park beneath the Sint-Pietersplein attest to the influential position of the abbey through the ages. The discovery of an early medieval atrium, and the abbey church’s Ottoman towers and west portal from 979 AD reveal an important phase in its rich construction history. The various burial sites with contemporaneous anthropomorphic graves are perfectly in keeping with the period.
The abbey developed into an important religious institution under Judith’s grandson, Arnulf I. That her descendants also chose to be interred in St Peter’s Abbey underscores its status as a prestigious final resting place and a centre of influence.
St Peter’s Abbey, with its long tradition of written sources, is a key to unraveling the ties between the abbey and the count’s family. These documents confirm its status as a necropolis for the nobility and make it an indelible part of Judith’s historical story.
