Heritage : Fontevraud abbey

During the 11th century, a Breton priest and theologian, Robert d'Abrissel, decided to live as a hermit in the forest of Craon. Little by little, however, many believers gathered around him. This led him to found the abbey of La Roë on the limits of Brittany, Normandy and Anjou. Pope Urban II, curious about this character, went to the abbey in 1096 to hear the priest. He was won over by d'Abrissel's eloquence; he appointed him an "apostolic preacher" and ordered him to preach in the West of France.

Robert d'Abrissel left his community in 1098 and took to the road. He was soon followed by a large group of disciples of both sexes. He stopped in Fontevraud in 1101 and founded a new abbey, unique in its kind as it welcomed, in five different buildings, various communities.
The priory of Sainte Marie accommodated the choir nuns and the contemplatives; the priory of La Madeleine lodged the penitent sinners who would later be called the lay sisters; the priory of Saint Benoît was used as an infirmary for the crippled and the sick; the priory of Saint Lazare received lepers and after the eradication of leprosy, it lodged convalescent nuns; and the priory of Saint Jean de l'Habit was reserved for men - the priest monks and the lay brothers.
Each one of these monasteries led an autonomous life and had its own cloister, church, refectory, dormitories and ovens. Robert d'Abrissel was the "Magister", the master, of this double Order to which he appointed as leader, an abbess he had recruited among the widows.

From the very foundation of Fontevraud, the family of Anjou had shown itself to be generous towards the burgeoning Order. Henry II and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine were also generous donators and watchful protectors and two of their children, John the Landless and Joan of England, were partly brought up there. Henry II had wished to be buried in the Abbey of Grandmont but he died in July 1189 in Chinon. Because of the heat, his family decided not to carry his body to Grandmont but to the abbey of Fontevraud, that was also dear to the King and not as far as Grandmont. And this is how it came to be that Henry of Plantagenet was buried in Fontevraud. Soon his son, Richard Lionheart, his daughter Joan of England and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, who died in 1204, joined him. Other members of the Royal family are also buried in Henry II's necropolis. Four magnificent recumbent polychrome statues are still preserved in the abbey-church: three are made of stone and one of wood.

The new Order soon saw success and wealth, partly thanks to the abbesses who usually came from the aristocracy and who provided Fontevraud with donations and protection. These women succeeded one another through the centuries: Marie of Brittany, during the 15th century, Renée and Louise of Bourbon during the 16th century and Jeanne-Baptiste of Bourbon, daughter of King Henry IV and Gabrielle de Rochechouart of Mortemart and sister of Madame de Montespan during the 17th century. All of them helped make the abbey of Fontevraud a renowned cultural and spiritual centre. King Louis XV had his four last daughters brought up there. The abbey lodged up to 800 monks and nuns and 153 priories in France, England and Spain depended on the Fontevrist Order. As it was a Royal abbey, Fontevraud depended, on the worldly level, on the King of France and his council and on the spiritual level, it depended on the Pope and his curia.

During the French Revolution, the Order was abolished and the monks' priory was destroyed in 1793. In 1804, Napoleon transformed the monastery into a prison that could hold up to 1750 prisoners, once the partitions and separations were removed.
The abbey was given back to the Ministry of Culture in 1963 and soon became the headquarters for the Cultural Centre of Western France whose mission it is to organise events linked to the building.

French historical buildings website : a description of the abbey and useful information about visits and workshops.

Fontevraud : a visit of the abbey and a biography of the historical figures linked to Fontevraud.