The Abbey of St-Médard at Soissons, founded in 557, by Clotaire I to receive the body of St. Médard, was looked upon as the chief Benedictine Abbey in France. Hilduin, abbot (822-30) rebuilt the church which was consecrated 27 August, 841, in the presence of Charles the Bald and seventy-two prelates. The king bore the body of St. Médard into the new basilica.

Besides Saint Medard, kings Clotaire I and Sigebert I were also buried here. In 751, Childeric III was deposed here, and Pippin the Short crowned. Hilduin, abbot from 822 to 830, obtained in 826, from Pope Eugene II, relics of Saint Sebastian and Saint Gregory the Great, and also succeeded in obtaining the transfer to the abbey of the relics of Saint Godehard and Saint Remigius. He rebuilt the church, which was consecrated on 27 August 841, in the presence of Charles the Bald and seventy-two prelates; the king himself assisted in carrying the body of Saint Medard into the new church. In 833, Louis the Pious was imprisoned and underwent a public penance here.

The church was pulled down but rebuilt and reconsecrated in 1131, by Innocent II, who granted those visiting the church indulgences known as "St. Médard's pardons". Its wealth remained into the 16th century but the Wars of Religion ruined it, and although it was restored in 1637, it never regained its former stature. The abbey was dissolved in the French Revolution. The buildings had disappeared by the beginning of the 20th century, except for the still extant but almost forgotten crypt of about 840.