Thursday, December 11, 2025
9:30am: Welcome
10:00am: Introduction by the symposium organizing committee
Session 1 - Chair: Marie-Élisabeth Henneau (Université de Liège)
10:30am: Alexis Grélois (Université de Rouen-Normandie, GRHis) - L'appartenance des moniales à l'ordre cistercien (XIIe-XIIIe siècle): False debates and real questions
11:30am: Coffee break
11:45am: Michel Dubuisson (Abbaye de Villers asbl), Patrice Gautier (Musées royaux d'Art et d'Histoire), Louise Hardenne (Musées royaux d'Art et d'Histoire) - L'abbaye de La Cambre dans la filiation villersoise
12:35pm: Lunch break
Session 2 - Chair: Jeroen Deploige (Universiteit Gent)
1:40pm: Marie-Christine Laleman (City of Ghent), Els De Paermentier (Universiteit Gent)- The Byloque Abbey in Ghent: between archaeological memory and archival wealth
2:30pm: Pierre-Hugues Tilmant (SPW, AWaP), Marie Verbeek (SPW, AWaP), Sarah Cremer (Institut royal du Patrimoine artistique), Nicolas Ruffini-Ronzani (Université de Namur/Archives de l'État à Namur)- Dossier de fondation de l'abbaye Notre-Dame du Vivier: l'archéologie permet-elle lever un coin du voile?
3:20pm: Coffee break
3:40pm: François De Vriendt (Société des Bollandistes) - Memory and devotion in the female communities of Hainaut and Namurois. What place for local figures and traditions?
4:30pm:Robin Moens (FWO/KU Leuven) - (What) spiritual walls? The spirituality of mulieres religiosae enclosed in and outside monastic space
17:20: end of first day
18:00: verre de l'amitié offered by SPW
Friday, December 12, 2025
Session 3 - Chair: Geneviève Laurent (SPW, AWaP)
9:00: Philippe Mignot (SPW, AWaP) - Clairefontaine Abbey: archaeological data on the origins
9:50am: Vincent Debonne (Vlaamse Overheid-Agentschap Onroerend Erfgoed), Robin Moens (FWO/KU Leuven)- Sisters a little slower than we thought. The Cistercian abbey of Val-des-Vierges near Oudenaarde
10:40am: Coffee break
11:00am: visit to the former abbey of Notre-Dame du Vivier, accompanied by AWaP archaeologists
12:00pm: lunch break
Session 4 - Chair: Mathieu Piavaux (Université de Namur)
1:00 pm: Virginie Boulez (SPW, AWaP), Alain Marchandisse (FNRS/Université de Liège) - La Paix-Dieu 1240-1244. Foundation of a Cistercian abbey under the episcopacy of Robert de Thourotte. Dialogue of historical and archaeological sources
13:50: Marie Demelenne (Musée royal de Mariemont), Patrice Gautier (Musées royaux d'Art et d'Histoire), Jean-François Nieus (FNRS/Université de Namur)- The hermit, the lady and the clerics. Aux origines de l'abbaye de L'Olive (Morlanwelz)
2:40pm: coffee break
3:00pm: Emmanuel Bodart (Archives de l'État à Namur) - L'abbaye de Félixpré près de Givet. New revelations on its foundation and endowment (1246-1266)
3:30pm: Paul Lambrechts (Herita vzw) - Herkenrode Abbey, a millennium of history: how to interpret myths, excavations and sources, and how to incorporate them into a project for the future?
4:00 pm: Benoît Rouzeau (Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Trame UR 4284/ LAMOP UMR 858)- General conclusions
4:30 pm: end of symposium
Program in PDF format
