Editing Fontevraud Abbey (section)

===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.