The Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud or Fontevrault was a monastery in the village of Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, near Chinon, in the former French duchy of Anjou. It was founded in 1101 by the itinerant preacher Robert of Arbrissel. The foundation flourished and became the center of a new monastic Order, the Order of Fontevraud. This order was composed of double monasteries, in which the community consisted of both men and women — in separate quarters of the abbey — all of whom were subject to the authority of the Abbess of Fontevraud. The Abbey of Fontevraud itself consisted of four separate communities, all managed by the same abbess.
Fontevraud Abbey
Abbey of La Roë
Tomb effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine in Fontevraud Abbey
Tomb effigies of King Richard I of England (right) and Queen Isabella of Angoulême (left)
Robert of Arbrissel was an itinerant preacher, and founder of Fontevraud Abbey. He was born at Arbrissel and died at Orsan Priory in the present department of Cher.
Robert of Arbrissel
North-Western France in the mid-11th century
Abbey of La Roë
Fontevraud Abbey