Fontevrault-l’Abbaye

Fontevrault-l'Abbaye; Richard I

Fontevrault-l’Abbaye, also spelled Fontevraud, village near Saumur, Maine-et-Loire département, Pays de la Loire région, western France. It lies near the confluence of the Vienne and Loire rivers and is surrounded by fields and woods.

Fontevrault-l’Abbaye is the site of the great abbey of Notre-Dame de Fontevrault, which, housing both monks and nuns, was founded in 1099 or 1101 by the Breton hermit Robert d’Abrissel; it was a triple monastery with five separate buildings. The abbey church and three of the monastery’s buildings are still standing.

The order of Fontevrault was inspired by the Benedictine Rule, but the abbess was in complete control. The nuns came mostly from the highest families; and in the 12th century there were three dependent houses belonging to the order in England, several in Spain, and about 100 elsewhere in France.

In 1792 the abbey was suppressed as a religious community. Under Napoleon the buildings were turned into a prison, which was closed down only in 1963, when restoration work was undertaken.

The abbey church and other buildings, including a 12th-century double octagonal kitchen and 16th-century cloisters, are open to the public. In the abbey church, recumbent statues mark the burial places of Henry II of England; his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine; and their son Richard I the Lion-Heart. Pop. (2006 est.) 1,497.