Sunday, 29 January 2023

Fontevraud Abbey, Anjou, France. Final Resting Place Of Plantagenet King, Richard The Lionheart (Richard Cœur de Lion).



English: The Abbey Church,
Fontevraud, France.
Français: Abbaye Fontevraud.
Photo: 27 July 2010.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)



English: Fontevraud Abbey.
Français: Vue aérienne oblique de l'Abbaye de Fontevraud.
Photo: 8 October 2005.
Source: www.pixAile.com.
Author: Pierre Mairé, PixAile.com.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless otherwise stated.

Fontevraud Abbey, or Fontevrault Abbey (in French: abbaye de Fontevraud), is a Religious Building hosting a cultural centre since 1975, the Centre Culturel de l'Ouest, in the village of Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, near Chinon, in Anjou, France. It was founded by the itinerant reforming Preacher, Robert of Arbrissel, who had just created a new Order, the Order of Fontevrault. The first permanent structures were built between 1110 and 1119.

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.


English: Grand Moutier Cloister, Fontevraud Abbey.
Français: Cloitre du Grand Moutier,
Deutsch: Le Grand Moutier in der Abtei Fontevrault.
Photo: 18 April 2008.
Source: Own work.
File Licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported,
Author: Berrucomons
(Wikimedia Commons)


Fontevraud Abbey,
France.
Photo: 9 August 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Matthias Holländer
(Wikimedia Commons)


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.


Tomb of Richard I of England, at Fontevraud Abbey, near Chinon, Anjou, France. The tomb of Queen Isabella of Angoulême, the second wife of King John of England, lies behind. Richard died at Le Château de Châlus Chabrol, in Châlus, France, of a Cross-Bow wound. His entrails were buried at the Château, while his heart was taken to Rouen Cathedral and the rest of the body to Fontevraud Abbey.
Photo: July 2003.
Source: Own work.
Author: AYArktos.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Fontevraud Abbey.
Available on YouTube at
YOU TUBE

Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy (as Richard IV), Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Poitiers, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany, at various times during the same period.


English: Saint-Benoit Cloisters, Fontevraud Abbey.
Français: Cloitre Saint-Benoit, Abbaye de Fontevraud.
Photo: 18 April 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Berrucomons
(Wikimedia Commons)

He was the third of five sons of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was known as Richard Cœur de Lion, or, Richard the Lionheart, even before his accession, because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior. The Muslims called him Melek-Ric (King Richard) or Malek al-Inkitar (King of England). He was also known, in Occitan, as Oc e No (Yes and No), because of his ability to change his mind.

By the age of 16, Richard the Lionheart had taken command of his own army, putting down rebellions in Poitou, against his father. Richard was a central Christian Commander during The Third Crusade, leading the Campaign after the departure of Philip II of France and scoring considerable victories against his Muslim counterpart, Saladin, although he did not reconquer Jerusalem from Saladin.


France’s Fontevraud Abbey.
The necropolis of The Plantagenets.
Available on YouTube at

Richard spoke “langue d'oïl”, a French dialect, and Occitan, a Romance language spoken in Southern France and nearby regions. He lived in his Duchy of Aquitaine, in the South-West of France, and, while the King spent very little time, perhaps as little as six months, in England, preferring to use his Kingdom as a source of revenue to support his armies, he was seen as a pious hero by his Subjects. He remains one of the few Kings of England remembered by his epithet, rather than regnal number, and is an enduring iconic figure in England and France.


In the early years, the Plantagenets were great benefactors of Fontevraud 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.


English: The Cloisters, Fontevraud Abbey.
Français: Abbaye Fontevraud - Cloître du Grand-Moûtier.
Photo: 27 July 2010.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)

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 title of 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.


English: The West Front,
Fontevraud Abbey.
Français: Abbaye Fontevraud - Eglise Abbatiale,
facade ouest.
Photo: 27 July 2010.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)

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's 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.

Henriette Louise de Bourbon, grand-daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, grew up here. Princess Thérèse of France, daughter of King Louis XV, is also buried here.


English: Fontevraud Abbey.
Français: Abbaye de Fontevraud -
Entrée de la salle capitulaire.
Photo: 27 July 2010.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousMonday, 30 January, 2023

    Such an amazing history, thank you, Zephyrinus; and to think that at one time, Richard the Lion-Heart, Henry II, and Eleanor of Aquitaine were buried in the once-great splendor of this abbey and church (although their remains of the royals were obviously dispersed by the fiendish French revolutionaries). Imagine how amazingly beautiful the abbey church interior must have once been, just by viewing the splendid architecture.

    Perhaps someone will one day create a virtual restoration and post it on YouTube? Wouldn’t that be magnificent? -Note by Dante P

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