Editing Fontevraud Abbey (section)

==History==

===Founder===
{{Main article| Robert of Arbrissel}}
[[File:La Ro%C3%AB %2853%29 Abbaye 05.jpg|thumbnail|250px|Abbey of La Roë]]
[[File:Church of Fontevraud Abbey Eleanor of Aquitaine effigy.jpg|thumbnail|250px|Tomb effigy of [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]] in Fontevraud Abbey]]
[[File:Fontevraud Abbey map-en.svg|thumbnail|450px|Map of the Abbey]]
[[Robert of Arbrissel]] had served as the [[Archpriest]] of the [[Diocese of Rennes]], carrying out the reformist agenda of its bishop. When the bishop died in 1095, Robert was driven out of the diocese due to the hostility of the local clergy. He then became a hermit in the forest of [[Craon, Mayenne|Craon]], where he practiced a life of severe penance, together with a number of other men who went on to found major monastic institutions. His eloquence and asceticism attracted many followers, for whom in 1096 he founded a monastery of [[canons regular]] at [[La Roë]], of which he was the first [[abbot]]. In that same year [[Pope Urban II]] summoned him to [[Angers]] and appointed him an apostolic missionary, authorizing him to preach anywhere. His preaching drew large crowds of devoted followers, both men and women, even lepers. As a result, many men wished to embrace the religious life, and he sent these to his abbey. When the canons of that house objected to the influx of candidates of lower social states, he resigned his office and left the community.<ref name=CE>[[Catholic Encyclopedia]] ''Robert of Arbissel''</ref>

===Fontevraud===

Around 1100 Robert and his followers settled in a valley called ''Fons Ebraldi'' where he established a monastic community. Initially the men and women lived together in the same house, in an ancient ascetic practice called [[Syneisaktism]]. This practice had been widely condemned by Church authorities, however, and under pressure the community soon segregated according to gender, with the monks living in small [[priories]] where they lived in community in service to the nuns and under their rule. Sometime before 1106, [[Fulk IV, Count of Anjou]] gave a significant property gift to the abbey.{{sfn|Mews|2006|p=135}}

They were recognized as a religious community in 1106, both by the [[Bishop of Angers]] and by [[Pope Paschal II]]. Robert, who soon resumed his life of itinerant preaching, appointed [[Hersende of Champagne]] to lead the community. Later her assistant, Petronilla of [[Chemillé]], was elected as the first abbess in 1115.

Robert wrote a brief Rule of Life for the community, based upon the [[Rule of St. Benedict]]. Unlike the other monastic orders characterized by [[double monasteries]], the monks and nuns of the Order of Fontevrault followed the same Rule. In his Rule, Robert dealt with four principal points: silence, good works, food and clothing, encouraging the utmost in simplicity of life and dress. He directed that the [[abbess]] should never be chosen from among those who had been brought up at Fontevrault, but that she should be someone who had had experience of the world (''de conversis sororibus''). This latter injunction was observed only in the case of the first two abbesses and was canceled by [[Pope Innocent III]] in 1201. At the time of Robert's death in 1117, there were about 3,000 nuns in the community.<ref name=CE />
 
In the early years the [[Plantagenet]]s were great benefactors of the abbey and while Isabella d'Anjou was the [[abbess]], King [[Henry II of England|Henry II]]'s widow, [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]], made the abbey her place of residence.<ref name="Melot 1971"/> Abbess Louise de Bourbon left her crest on many of the alterations to the abbey building which she made during her term of office.
[[File:Richard1TombFntrvd.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Tomb effigy|Tomb effigies]] of King [[Richard I of England]] (right) and Queen [[Isabella of Angoulême]] (left)]]

===Decline===
With the passing of the Plantagenet dynasty, Fontevrault and her dependencies began to fall upon hard times. At the end of the 12th century, the Abbess of Fontevrault, Matilda of Flanders (1189–1194), complained about the extreme poverty which the abbey was suffering. As a result, in 1247 the nuns were permitted to receive inheritances to provide income for their needs, contrary to monastic custom. The fragile economic basis of the Order was exacerbated by the devastation of the [[Hundred Years War]], which lasted throughout the 14th century. A [[canonical visitation]] of fifty of the priories of the Order in 1460 showed most of them to be barely occupied, if not abandoned.

===Later history and suppression===

Due to financial pressures the youngest four of the six daughters of [[Louis XV]] were sent to the abbey to be raised. Each was brought up at the abbey until the age of 15.

The Order was dispersed during the [[French Revolution]]. In November 1789, all property of the [[Catholic Church in France]] was declared to be the [[Biens nationaux|property of the nation]]. On 17 August 1792, a Revolutionary decree ordered evacuation of all monasteries, to be completed by 1 October 1792. At that time, there were still some 200 nuns and a small community of monks in residence at Fontevraud. The last abbess, Julie Sophie Charlotte de Pardaillan d'Antin, is said to have died in poverty in Paris in 1797.<ref name=WIP>{{cite web|url=http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/womeninpower/Womeninpower1740.htm|work=Women in Power|title=Reigning Abbess Julie Sophie Charlotte de Pardaillan d'Antin of the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud (France)}}</ref> The abbey became a prison in 1804.<ref name="Melot 1971"/>

The prison was planned to hold 1,000 prisoners and the former abbey 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 reputation of being the "toughest in France after [[Clairvaux Prison|Clairvaux]]" (also a former abbey). Political prisoners were subjected to the harshest conditions. Under the [[Vichy Government]], some [[French Resistance]] prisoners were shot there.

In 1963 it was given to the [[French Ministry of Culture]],<ref name="Melot 1971"/> and a major restoration was undertaken. In 1975 the Centre culturel de l'Ouest was formed to preserve the abbey and promote it as a cultural venue. The complex was opened to the public in 1985. Restoration of the abbey church according to the earlier restoration under the architect [[Lucien Magne]] was completed in 2006.<ref>
{{cite web
 |title       = Transformation de l'Abbaye en Prison
 |publisher   = l'Abbaye de Fontevraud
 |url         = http://www.abbayedefontevraud.com/histoire/cite-penitentiaire/transformation-de-l-abbaye-en-prison
 |access-date  = 19 August 2012
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120820090020/http://www.abbayedefontevraud.com/histoire/cite-penitentiaire/transformation-de-l-abbaye-en-prison
 |archive-date = 20 August 2012
}}</ref>

The order was revived by Mme Rose in 1806 as one for women only and following a modified rule.<ref>Cross, F. L., ed. (1957) ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church''. London: Oxford University Press; p. 512</ref>