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{{Era|Landmarks}}{{WP-REAL}}
{{Era|Individuals|Assassins}}{{WP-REAL|Abbo Cernuus}}
{{Quote|On a Church that will stand for a thousand years or more. Three spires reach to Heaven, the truth lies on the tallest one.|A riddle by Nostradamus describing the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.|Assassin's Creed: Unity|Cancer}}
{{Character Infobox
{{Landmarks Infobox
|name = Abbo Cernuus
|image = ACU Abbey of Saint Germain des Prés.png
|native =
|description =  
|image = Wiki noimage.jpg
|location = [[Le Quartier Latin]], [[Paris]], [[France]]
|birth = c. 850<ref name="Wikipedia"/><br>{{Wiki|Île-de-France}},<ref name="FR Wikipedia">{{WP|fr:Abbon de Saint-Germain-des-Prés|Abbon de Saint-Germain-des-Prés}}</ref> [[Francia|Kingdom of the West Franks]]
|dateconstructed = 558
|death = c. 923<ref name="Wikipedia"/><br>[[Paris]],<ref name="FR Wikipedia"/> Île-de-France, Kingdom of the West Franks
|functions = Abbey<br>Storehouse<br>Prison
|active =
|features = [[Viewpoint]]
|species = [[Human]]
|events = [[September Massacres]]
|database =  
|affiliates = *[[Benedictines|Order of Saint Benedict]]
*[[Assassins|Hidden Ones]]
**[[Parisian Brotherhood of Assassins|Frankish Brotherhood]]
}}
}}
The '''Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés''' (French: ''Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés'') is a defunct abbey in [[Paris]].
'''Abbo Cernuus''' (c. 850 – c. 923) was a [[Benedictines|Benedictine]] [[Scholar|monk]] from {{Wiki|Neustria}} and secretly a member of the [[Assassins|Hidden Ones]] who operated in the [[Carolingian Empire]] under the pseudonym of '''A.C.'''<ref name="AssassinsOfficial">{{Twitter|bob2356|status/1434355533314605063url|Antoine Henry|quote=It's great to see our awesome community come together to solve and interpret secrets we put in!<br><br>St Denis mystery:<br>
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRo_4Q7Q0Q0 youtu.be/KRo_4Q7Q0Q0]<br>
[https://www.reddit.com/r/assassinscreed/comments/pgp07b/we_got_our_reward_for_solving_st_denis/ reddit.com/r/assassinscree…]<br><br>AC the Hidden One:<br>
[https://www.reddit.com/r/assassinscreed/comments/phnyek/a_theory_about_the_hidden_one_quest_from_siege_of/ reddit.com/r/assassinscree...]<br><br>This is our reward as devs for putting the efforts in. Thank you all!|image=File:ACV Twitter - AC is Abbo Cernuus.png}}<br>↑ {{Twitter|ObviousAlias4|status/1434534282131820547|ObviousAlias|quote=@bob2356 Just to confirm for @AC_Wiki purposes, we need explicitly citable statements, Abbo Cernuus is A.C. in official canon.|image=File:ACV Twitter - AC is Abbo Cernuus.png}}<br>↑ {{Twitter|assassinscreed|status/1435271770085408777|Assassin's Creed|quote=@ObviousAlias4 Indeed, A.C. is Abbo Cernuus. 😉|image=File:ACV Twitter - AC is Abbo Cernuus.png}}</ref> Being both an eyewitness to and participant in the [[Siege of Paris (885–886)|siege]] of [[Paris]] from 885 to 886,<ref name="Database">''[[Assassin's Creed: Valhalla]] – [[The Siege of Paris]]'' – [[Database: Francia]]</ref> Abbo documented his account of the events in the {{Wiki|Latin}} poem ''De bellis Parisiacæ urbis''.<ref name="Wikipedia">{{WP|Abbo Cernuus}}</ref>


==History==
==Biography==
The first church at the site of the abbey was built in 558. By the 17th century, the area around Saint-Germain-des-Prés became a popular place for the nobility to have their country houses built, and the abbey itself was one of the richest in [[France]]. A prison called the Prison de l'Abbaye had also been built there.<ref name="Database">''[[Assassin's Creed: Unity]]'' – [[Database: St-Germain-des-Prés]]</ref>
Abbo Cernuus was believed to have been born around the mid-9th century.<ref name="Wikipedia" /> At some point, he was [[Initiation into the Assassin Order|inducted]] into the [[Parisian Brotherhood of Assassins|Frankish Hidden Ones]], inheriting the mantle from the few Hidden Ones who opted to remain behind after their mass departure from the [[Roman Empire]]'s provinces of [[Great Britain|Britannia]] and {{Wiki|Roman Gaul|Gaul}} in the 5th century. Like his predecessors, Abbo dedicated himself to keeping the former [[Assassin bureau|bureaus]] in Paris and the surrounding [[Francia|Frankish]] cityside safe.<ref name="Hidden" />


During the second [[Siege of Paris (885–886)|Siege of Paris]], the abbey was raided by a group of [[Vikings]] from the [[Elgring Clan]]. However, their presence was noticed by the [[Parisian Brotherhood of Assassins|Frankish]] [[Assassins|Hidden One]] [[Abbo Cernuus]], who started killing them off one by one. The remaining Vikings soon fled the area, whereupon a Frankish captain was sent by the [[Bellatores Dei]] leader [[Isidore Mercator]] to find and engage the Hidden One at the abbey; however, the captain also met his end atop the abbey.<ref>''[[Assassin's Creed: Valhalla]] – [[The Siege of Paris]]'' [[The Ghost of Saint Germain]]</ref>
Abbo eventually found his calling as a monk and found a placement at the the [[Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés]] south of Paris, where he studied for many years. When [[Vikings]] from the [[Elgring Clan]] raided the abbey in 885, Abbo helped in its defense, personally eliminating six [[raid]]ers who broke into the [[church]] aiming to steal holy relics from the sepulcher.<ref name="GhostOfSaintGermain">''[[Assassin's Creed: Valhalla]] – [[The Siege of Paris]]'' [[The Ghost of Saint Germain]]</ref>


As the [[French Revolution]] broke out, the abbey was ransacked and effectively turned into a storehouse, with 15,000 tons of gunpowder stored in the refectory.<ref name="Database" /> The [[Templars|Templar Order]] took advantage of the ransacking, stealing valuable artifacts and hiding them underneath the building. In response, a team of French Assassins was sent to recover the artifacts.<ref name="Catacomb Raider">''Assassin's Creed: Unity'' – [[Catacomb Raider]]</ref>
As Abbo had been wearing his hooded Hidden Ones robes at the time, this eventually gave rise to the legend among the surrounding [[Civilian|populace]] that the cloaked figure sometimes seen on the abbey roof was [[Germain of Paris|Saint Germain]]'s ghost protecting holy ground. Wanting to keep his dual identity a secret, Abbo let the rumors continue unabated.<ref name="GhostOfSaintGermain"/>


During the [[September Massacres]] of 1792, the first and some of the most brutal massacres took place at the Prison de l'Abbaye, where revolutionaries killed 24 non-juring priests.<ref name="PW">''[[Project Widow]]'' – "September Massacres"</ref><ref name="Database" /> The night before, the playwright [[Pierre Beaumarchais]] had just been released.<ref name="Pierre">''Assassin's Creed: Unity'' – [[Database: Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais]]</ref> After the radical journalist and politician [[Jean-Paul Marat]] was murdered in July 1793, suspects were rounded up and sent to the Prison de l'Abbaye for questioning.<ref name="Assassination">''Assassin's Creed: Unity'' – [[The Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat]]</ref> In August 1794, an explosion destroyed part of the former abbey.<ref name="Database" />
At the same time, a group of [[Christianity|Christian]] zealots known as the [[Bellatores Dei]] gradually rose in power and soon found the Hidden Ones' locked Roman-era bureaus in [[Champlieu Ruins|Champlieu]], [[Gisacum Ruins|Gisacum]], and [[Diodurum Ruins|Diodurum]]. Although they had no knowledge of the Hidden Ones' origins or purpose, they sought to open the rooms and claim what secrets lay within. In accordance with [[the Creed]]'s directive to protect the Brotherhood at all costs, Abbo took it upon himself to defend the ancestral headquarters, swiftly assassinating the teams of [[soldier]]s who attempted to excavate and break into them.<ref name="Hidden">''[[Assassin's Creed: Valhalla]] – [[The Siege of Paris]]'' – [[Hidden]]</ref>


==Gallery==
At the Hidden Ones' abandoned [[Lutetia bureau|bureau in Paris]], Abbo caught sight of the Viking ''[[jarl]]skona'' [[Eivor Varinsdottir]] within the bureau. Quickly, Abbo left her a strange letter at the bureau's entrance before she could spot him. The letter, signed with an "A.C.", contained an apology for the dead soldiers and a poem:<ref name="Hidden" />
<gallery captionalign="center" position="center" widths="180">
 
ACUDB - Saint-Germain-des-Prés.png|Database image
:''"This place of honor forever holding, the deeds that were done<br>We abide always many in number, yet together are one<br>Whose firm faith and whose lonely labor, serve only the fight<br>I must yet stay unknown in the darkness, so you may work in the light."''
ACV Abbey of Saint Germain.jpg|The abbey in the 9th century
After Eivor retrieved the sword [[Joyeuse]] from the bureau, Abbo let her keep it as a gift.<ref name="Hidden"/> Following the Viking siege of Paris, he wrote the poem ''De bellis Parisiacæ urbis'', or ''Bella Parisiacæ urbis'' ("Wars of the City of Paris"), a chronicle detailing the siege and its aftermath.<ref name="Wikipedia" />
ACU the suspects who killed Marat were in Prison.png|The suspects in Marat's murder being held in the prison
 
</gallery>
==Legacy==
In 2020, [[Shaun Hastings]] mentioned Abbo in a [[database]] entry about Francia, describing the monk as "tricky" and noting that "nothing about [him] was straightforward". However, in said database entry, Shaun called him Abbo ''of Cernuus'' rather than Abbo Cernuus, which is incorrect, as ''[[wikt:cernuus|cernuus]]'' is Latin for "the crooked" and should not be formatted as a toponymic or {{Wiki|Patrial name|patrial}} byname.<ref name="Database"/>
 
==Behind the scenes==
On 7 September 2021, the official ''Assassin's Creed'' Twitter revealed Abbo Cernuus as the identity of "A.C."<ref name="AssassinsOfficial"/>


==Appearances==
==Appearances==
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Unity]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Valhalla]]'' ''[[The Siege of Paris]]'' {{mo}}
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Valhalla]] – [[The Siege of Paris]]''


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}
<!--Interwiki links-->
{{ACV}}
<!--[[fr:Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés]]-->
[[Category:850 births]]
[[Category:Landmarks in Paris]]
[[Category:923 deaths]]
[[Category:Viewpoints]]
[[Category:Individuals]]
[[Category:Prisons]]
[[Category:Franks]]
[[Category:Churches]]
[[Category:Monks]]
[[Category:Writers]]
[[Category:Poets]]
[[Category:Historians]]
[[Category:Benedictines]]
[[Category:Assassins]]
[[Category:French Assassins]]

Latest revision as of 08:29, 4 May 2026

Abbo Cernuus (c. 850 – c. 923) was a Benedictine monk from Neustria and secretly a member of the Hidden Ones who operated in the Carolingian Empire under the pseudonym of A.C.[3] Being both an eyewitness to and participant in the siege of Paris from 885 to 886,[4] Abbo documented his account of the events in the Latin poem De bellis Parisiacæ urbis.[1]

Biography[edit | edit source]

Abbo Cernuus was believed to have been born around the mid-9th century.[1] At some point, he was inducted into the Frankish Hidden Ones, inheriting the mantle from the few Hidden Ones who opted to remain behind after their mass departure from the Roman Empire's provinces of Britannia and Gaul in the 5th century. Like his predecessors, Abbo dedicated himself to keeping the former bureaus in Paris and the surrounding Frankish cityside safe.[5]

Abbo eventually found his calling as a monk and found a placement at the the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés south of Paris, where he studied for many years. When Vikings from the Elgring Clan raided the abbey in 885, Abbo helped in its defense, personally eliminating six raiders who broke into the church aiming to steal holy relics from the sepulcher.[6]

As Abbo had been wearing his hooded Hidden Ones robes at the time, this eventually gave rise to the legend among the surrounding populace that the cloaked figure sometimes seen on the abbey roof was Saint Germain's ghost protecting holy ground. Wanting to keep his dual identity a secret, Abbo let the rumors continue unabated.[6]

At the same time, a group of Christian zealots known as the Bellatores Dei gradually rose in power and soon found the Hidden Ones' locked Roman-era bureaus in Champlieu, Gisacum, and Diodurum. Although they had no knowledge of the Hidden Ones' origins or purpose, they sought to open the rooms and claim what secrets lay within. In accordance with the Creed's directive to protect the Brotherhood at all costs, Abbo took it upon himself to defend the ancestral headquarters, swiftly assassinating the teams of soldiers who attempted to excavate and break into them.[5]

At the Hidden Ones' abandoned bureau in Paris, Abbo caught sight of the Viking jarlskona Eivor Varinsdottir within the bureau. Quickly, Abbo left her a strange letter at the bureau's entrance before she could spot him. The letter, signed with an "A.C.", contained an apology for the dead soldiers and a poem:[5]

"This place of honor forever holding, the deeds that were done
We abide always many in number, yet together are one
Whose firm faith and whose lonely labor, serve only the fight
I must yet stay unknown in the darkness, so you may work in the light."

After Eivor retrieved the sword Joyeuse from the bureau, Abbo let her keep it as a gift.[5] Following the Viking siege of Paris, he wrote the poem De bellis Parisiacæ urbis, or Bella Parisiacæ urbis ("Wars of the City of Paris"), a chronicle detailing the siege and its aftermath.[1]

Legacy[edit | edit source]

In 2020, Shaun Hastings mentioned Abbo in a database entry about Francia, describing the monk as "tricky" and noting that "nothing about [him] was straightforward". However, in said database entry, Shaun called him Abbo of Cernuus rather than Abbo Cernuus, which is incorrect, as cernuus is Latin for "the crooked" and should not be formatted as a toponymic or patrial byname.[4]

Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]

On 7 September 2021, the official Assassin's Creed Twitter revealed Abbo Cernuus as the identity of "A.C."[3]

Appearances[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Abbo Cernuus on Wikipedia
  2. 2.0 2.1 Abbon de Saint-Germain-des-Prés on Wikipedia
  3. 3.0 3.1 Antoine Henry (@bob2356) on Twitter "It's great to see our awesome community come together to solve and interpret secrets we put in!

    St Denis mystery:
    youtu.be/KRo_4Q7Q0Q0
    reddit.com/r/assassinscree…

    AC the Hidden One:
    reddit.com/r/assassinscree...

    This is our reward as devs for putting the efforts in. Thank you all!"
     (screenshot)
    ObviousAlias (@ObviousAlias4) on Twitter "@bob2356 Just to confirm for @AC_Wiki purposes, we need explicitly citable statements, Abbo Cernuus is A.C. in official canon." (screenshot)
    Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) on Twitter "@ObviousAlias4 Indeed, A.C. is Abbo Cernuus. 😉" (screenshot)
  4. 4.0 4.1 Assassin's Creed: ValhallaThe Siege of ParisDatabase: Francia
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Assassin's Creed: ValhallaThe Siege of ParisHidden
  6. 6.0 6.1 Assassin's Creed: ValhallaThe Siege of ParisThe Ghost of Saint Germain