Several abbeys located in today’s Belgium are mentioned as territorial entities in the Meerssen Treaty of 870, although they were considered primarily as centers of spirituality. By collecting the topographical and archaeological data, though fragmentary and of unequal confidence, we can see that these royal abbeys, at the crossroads of an effective network dating from the Roman Antiquity, fulfilled much more varied functions : economic, political, military ... These observations, archaeological data of the last thirty years and functional analysis allow to reconsider the written sources ; we propose to identify two of these abbeys of until now uncertain location : Ledi, which would be Liège, and Calmont, which could be the Coudenberg in Brussels.

Bulletin du centre d'études médiévales d'Auxerre | BUCEMA Hors-série n° 8 | 2015 Au seuil du cloître : la présence des laïcs (hôtelleries, bâtiments d'accueil, activités artisanales et de services) entre le V e et le XII e siècle.

Bulletin du centre d'études médiévales d'Auxerre | BUCEMA Hors-série n° 12 | 2020 De la clôture à la fortification des monastères

The Carolingian Period as Seen Through Archaeological Research in Belgium, from the 19th Century Onwards. Far from claiming to provide an exhaustive inventory of archaeological discoveries on the Carolingian period, we discuss the major milestones of archaeological research in Belgium since the mid-19th century. Archaeologists have long considered this period not to be part of their domain. Since the 1980s, with the implementation of preventive archaeology on open spaces over large areas, archaeologists have been able to collect data that now enable us to sketch the living environment of a dynamic society, both rural and urban.

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