Abbaye de Fontevraud (Maine-et-Loire) - France - Abbeys, Convents and Monasteries on Waymarking.com

[FR] "Site de 13 ha établi à la frontière angevine du Poitou et de la Touraine, elle est l'une des plus grandes cités monastiques d'Europe.

Érigée dés sa fondation en monastère double dans l'esprit de la réforme grégorienne, l'abbaye de Fontevraud va s'attirer la protection des comtes d'Anjou puis de la dynastie des Plantagenêts qui en feront leur nécropole. Après un déclin à partir du XIIIe siècle, l'abbaye est dirigée pendant presque deux siècles par des abbesses issues de la famille royale des Bourbons. La Révolution française porte un coup d'arrêt définitif à l'établissement religieux qui se transforme en établissement pénitentiaire jusqu'en 1963. Les différentes rénovations des édifices débutent dés le XIXe siècle après le classement de l'abbaye au titre des monuments historiques en 1840 et se poursuivent jusqu'à nos jours. En 2000, l'abbaye de Fontevraud est classée au patrimoine mondial de l'Unesco avec l'ensemble du site culturel du Val de Loire.

L'ensemble monastique se compose aujourd'hui des deux monastères encore subsistants sur les quatre d'origine. Le plus important est le monastère du Grand Moutiers, ouvert au public, qui héberge l'église abbatiale, la cuisine romane et la chapelle Saint-Benoît du XIIe siècle, ainsi que le cloître, les bâtiments conventuels, dont la salle capitulaire, et les infirmeries du XVIe siècle. Certains des bâtiments hébergent aujourd'hui des salles de séminaire. Le prieuré Saint-Lazare, dont l'église date du XIIe siècle, a été transformé en résidence hôtelière."

[EN]"Philippa of Toulouse persuaded her husband William IX, Duke of Aquitaine to grant Robert of Abrissel land in Northern Poitou to establish a religious community dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The abbey was founded in 1100 and became a double monastery, with both monks and nuns on the same site. An international success, the order established several "Fontevrist" abbeys set up in England. Robert of Arbrissel declared that the leader of the order should always be a woman and appointed Petronille de Chemillé as the first abbess. She was succeeded by Matilda of Anjou, the aunt of Henry II of England. This was the start of a position that attracted many rich and noble abbesses over the years, including members of the French Bourbon royal family. It also became a refuge for battered women and penitent prostitutes, and housed a leper hospital and a home for aged religious.

In the early years the Plantagenets were great benefactors of the abbey and while Isabella d'Anjou was abbess, Henry II's widow Eleanor of Aquitaine became a nun there. Louise de Bourbon left her crest on many of the alterations she made during her term of office.

During the French Revolution, the order was dissolved. The last abbess, Madame d'Antin, died in poverty in Paris. On 17 August 1792, a Revolutionary decree ordered evacuation of all monasteries, to be completed by 1 October 1792. The abbey later became a prison from 1804 to 1963, in which year it was given to the French Ministry of Culture. This city prison in Fontevraud, planned to hold 1,000 prisoners, required major changes, including new barracks in addition to the transformation of monastic buildings into dormitories, workshops, and common areas. Prisoners–men, women and children–began arriving in 1814. Eventually, it held some 2,000 prisoners, earning the prison the "toughest in France after Clairvaux." Political prisoners experienced the harshest conditions: some French Resistance prisoners were shot there under the Vichy Government. Following closure of the prison came major restoration, an opening to the public in 1985, and completion of the abbey church's restoration in 2006 under architect Lucien Magne.

The abbey was originally the site of the graves of King Henry II of England, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, their son King Richard I of England, their daughter Joan, their grandson Raymond VII of Toulouse, and Isabella of Angoulême, wife of Henry and Eleanor's son King John. However, there is no remaining corporal presence of Henry, Eleanor, Richard, or the others on the site. Their remains were possibly destroyed during the French Revolution."

(Text taken from wikipedia)

Full name of the abbey/monastery/convent: abbaye de Fontevraud Address: l'Abbaye Fontevraud l'Abbaye, France 49590 Religious affiliation: Roman Catholic Date founded/constructed: 1110 Web Site: [Web Link] Status of Use: Converted to Other Use

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