The Ritual Master Hello everyone, and welcome to another stroll through medieval sites. For this 19th day of Advent, I’m revealing one of my sanctuaries, a place where I truly feel at home in an inexplicable way : the royal abbey of Fontevraud.
We are in the Loire valley, right between the cities of Saumur and Chinon, both beloved residences of the Plantagenet dynasty.Oh, I haven’t spoken about this word yet, have I ? Henry II’s father, Geoffroy V, used to wear a strand of genêt (broom in English) on the side of his hat, which ended up giving the name of the dynasty who ruled England from 1154 to 1485, right before the Tudors.
The Abbey was founded in 1101 by hermit and monk Robert d’Arbrissel, in what was a scandalous act of freedom at the time. D’Arbrissel decided to create a mixt community of monks and nuns, and place them under the authority of an abbess after his death. This was one of the founding beliefs of d’Arbrissel, that a woman coming from the secular world, a widow or a woman retired from active medieval life, should be the leader of a spiritual community. The line of abbesses to have led Fontevraud is impressive, from 1115 to 1792, 36 abbesses succeeded one another at the head of the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud. Beyond her sometimes royal and almost always noble origins, the abbess actually enjoyed an important status, as head of the Fontevrist order. She traveled to many priories in the West of France and sometimes even to Paris. She was also in charge of all the administrative management of the lands and the collection of taxes.
Henry II and Aliénor of Aquitaine were frequent visitors of the abbey, especially during the years when Henry’s aunt Mathilda of Anjou was abbess. She was Aliénor’s confessor, and became the reason why Aliénor spent so much time here. In Régine Pernoud’s essay Women in the times of the cathedrals we find a very clear description of the order of Fontevraud as well as the several documents attesting to Aliénor’s connection to the abbey through numerous donations given throughout her life.
At the death of Henry, in the nearby fortress of Chinon, the decision was made to bury him at Fontevraud, then at the death of Richard, their second son, Aliénor chose to bring him here as well. Her exceptional longevity made her take all of the decisions as to the dynasty’s necropolis. And towards the end of her life, she retired at Fontevraud for a few last years of peace. This gave her the opportunity to supervise the making of their recumbent effigies, fashionable as funerary decor of noble tombs. The legend tells us that she wanted to be remembered as the intellectual she was, so she chose to be represented while reading, which was not only unusual for women during their life, but also quite original for an effigy. As for her husband, she got her revenge in the end, by choosing to depict him beardless when the social norm of the time dictated a noble man should never be without a beard. Her favourite son, on the other hand, Richard, has a perfect beard. They sit at the heart of the abbey, watching over their lands for eternity.
Fontevraud is the largest monastic complex in Europe, preserved together with the annexes, kitchens and dormitories, and in tomorrow’s video we shall see how this medieval site continues to thrive in the XXIst century. Until then, happy Advent !
