THE ORDER OF FONTEVRAUD / GENDER DIVERSITY IN THE MIDDLE AGES… The Royal Abbey of Fontevraud was founded in 1101 by an iconoclastic and visionary preacher, Robert d'Arbrissel. The order it creates has the particularity of being "double" (men and women) and including people of all social origins. The Abbey of Fontevraud is then considered as an "ideal city", a place of exaltation of faith dedicated to prayer and work, in abstinence, silence and poverty. The order of Fontevraud spread rapidly over a vast territory, going from England to Spain.
THE ROYAL ABBEY/ OF ASCETICISM TO WORLDLINESS From 1189, Fontevraud became a royal necropolis, housing the burials of Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard the Lionheart. In 7 centuries, 36 abbesses, often of high nobility, and sometimes of royal blood, succeed each other at the head of the Abbey. Little by little, a relaxation of certain rules is felt, going hand in hand with an openness to worldly life. We are far from the original asceticis

Édifice religieux, Édifice hospitalier, Lieu de spectacles, sports et loisirs, Patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO, Monument historique

station in Saumur (15 km)