noun
definition
A French abbot, the (male) head of an abbey.
definition
An honorific title for a member of the French clergy.
Examples of abbes in a Sentence
Inland, besides Constantine, are the important towns of Tlemcen (24,060), Sidi bel Abbes (24,494), Mascara (18,989) and Blida (16,866).
This was drawn up, not in Latin, but in Norman French, and was passed "par le assentement des erceveskes, eveskes, abbes, priurs, contes, barons, et la communaute de la tere ileokes somons."
He has been described as an initiateur plutot qu'un createur, chiefly because he introduced at Lausanne the philosophy of Descartes in opposition to the reigning Aristotelianism, and also as a Calvinist pendant (for he was a pastor) of the French abbes of the 18th century.
Unlike the later reforming abbes of the philosophe period, Saint-Pierre was a man of very unworldly character and quite destitute of the Frondeur spirit.
The connexion of the lesser lay abbots with the abbeys, especially in the south of France, lasted longer; and certain feudal families retained the title of abbes chevaliers (abbates milites) for centuries, together with certain rights over the abbey lands or revenues.
The expectation of obtaining these sinecures drew young men towards the church in considerable numbers, and the class of abbes so formed - abbes de tour they were sometimes called, and sometimes (ironically) abbes de sainte esperance, abbes of St Hope - came to hold a recognized position.