Fontevrault, abbey kitchen, vaults.
Photograph courtesy of Whitney S.
Stoddard.
church and under the single rule of an abbess. It attracted generous benefactions, notably
from Henry II Plantagenêt and his son Richard the Lionhearted, who attributed his release
from prison to the nuns’ prayers. Both kings were buried at Fontevrault in the cimetière
des rois, along with Henry’s wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and his daughter-in-law Isabelle
d’Angoulême, who ended her days here as a nun.
The abbey church, consecrated in 1119, is Romanesque in style and has a barrel-
vaulted choir with ambulatory and three radiating chapels, a transept likewise barrel-
vaulted, and an aisleless nave vaulted with a series of cupolas. This is the northernmost
example of this latter stylistic feature, seen so often in southwestern France. The church
was transformed into a prison after the Revolution, and its nave was divided into three
stories. Restoration was undertaken at the beginning of the 20th century.
Also largely intact are the 16th-century cloister, chapter house, and refectory.
Particularly remarkable at Fontevrault is the 12th-century octagonal kitchen, the Tour
d’Évrault, each of whose original eight apsidioles had its own chimney. (Three have
since disappeared.)
John B.Cameron
[See also: ROBERT D’ARBRISSEL]
Crozet, Réne. “L’église abbatiale de Fontevraud.” Annales du Midi 48(1936):113–50.
Erlande-Brandeburg, Alain. “Le ‘cimitière des rois’ à Fontevrault.” Congrès archéologique (Anjou)
122(1964):482–92.
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