Places: Fontevrault Abbey, Chinon, France

The Plantagenets may have been a family on the move, going from one castle to another as needs be, the early members of the dynasty had a spiritual home, the Abbey of Fontevrault.

This abbey, with its village of Fontevraud l'Abbaye near Chinons in Anjou was in the heart the early Plantagenet possessions.  It was a double monastery, which meant that it housed both monks and nuns, albeit in separate compounds.  And, both sets of religious were under the direction of the Abbess, who was always either a royal or noble woman.  The Abbey was founded in 1101, by an itinerant preacher called Robert of Arbrissel.  With noble patronage, he founded the Order of Fontevrault, with this abbey as the motherhouse.  Under the Rule of St. Benedict, the Abbey was a strictly-run sanctuary of contemplation and prayer.  Eleanor of Aquitaine was the first member of the Plantagenet family to take the Abbey under her patronage.  In her declining years, she would sojourn at the Abbey, finally taking the veil before her death.  This was a common practice for nobles of the time, to make one last bid for the salvation of their soul by taking Holy Orders before dying.  Eleanor's daughter, Joanna, would do the same in 1199.

The later Plantagenets would turn their patronage to other orders and churches but Fontevrault continued to enjoy royal patronage, particularly under the Bourbon family.  Several Bourbon women served as Abbess.  In 1789, the Revolutionary government of France ordered the confiscation of all property of the church.  In 1792, the community at Fontevrault was dispersed and its last Abbess died in poverty in Paris.  At that time, the mortal remains of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II of England, Richard I of England, Isabella of Angouleme (wife of Henry I), Joanne of Sicily and her son Raymond of Toulouse were scattered to the four winds.  The gisants or tomb effigies were damaged, and some, such as Joanna's effigy which was intended to kneel at the head of Henry's tomb, were never replaced.  The Abbey was later used as a prison (1804-1963), and some members of the French Resistance in World War II were shot there.  After 1963, the Abbey was turned over to the French Ministry of Culture and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.