FONTEVRAULT
130
FONTEVRAULT
who was supreme in all temporalities, but in matters
spiritual was forbidden to interfere with the priests,
who were under the confessor general. The head of
the Gilbertines was a canon, the "Master" or "Prior
of All", who was not attached to any one house; his
power was absolute over the whole order. All three
orders were primarily founded for nuns, the priests
being added for their direction or spiritual service, and
in all three the nuns had control of the property of the
order. The habit of the Fontevrist nuns was a white
tunic and surplice with a black girdle, a white guimp
and black veil; the cowl was black. The monks wore
a black tunic with a surplice and above it a hood and
capuce; from the centre of the last, in front and be-
hind, hung a small square of stuff known as the
"Robert". In winter the monks wore an ample
cloak without sleeves. The original habit was in both
cases more simple.
II. The Rule. — It appears certain from the biog- raphy of Blessed Robert, which is known as the "Vita Andreae", that the Rule was written down during the founder's hfetime, probably in 1116 or 1117. This original Rule dealt with four points: silence, good works, food, and clothing, and contained the injunction that the abbess should never be chosen from among those who had been brought up at Fonte- vrault, but that she should be one who had had ex- perience of the world (de conversis sororibus). This latter injunction was observed only in the case of the first two abbesses and was abrogated by Innocent III in 1201. We have three versions of the Fontevrist Rule (P. L., CLXII, 1079 sqq.), but it is clear that none of these is the original, though it is probable that the second version is a fragment or possibly a selection with additions by the first abbess, Petronilla (for the argument see Walter, op. cit. infra, pp. 65-74) This Rule was merely a supplement to the Rule of St. Bene- dict and there were no important variations from the latter in the ordinary conventual routine, though some additions were necessitated by the conditions of the "double" life. The rules for the nuns enjoin the utmost simplicity in the materials of the habit, a strict observance of silence, abstinence from flesh meat even for the sick, and rigorous enclosure. The separation of the nuns from the monks is carried to such a point that a sick nun must be brought into the church to receive the last sacraments. The subjection of the monks is very marked. They are men " who of their own free will have promised to serve the nuns till death in the bonds of obedience, and that too with the reverence of due subjection. . . . They shall lead a common conventual life with no property of their own, content with what the nuns shall confer upon them." The very scraps from their table are to be "carried to the nuns' door and there given to the poor". A fugitive but penitent monk "shall ask par- don of the Abbess and through her regain the fellow- ship of the brethren." The monks cannot even re- ceive a postulant without the permission of the abbess.
III. History of the Order. — At the death of Rob- ert d'Arbrissel, in 1117, there are said to have been at Fontevrault alone 3000 nuns, and in 1150 even 5000: the order was approved by Paschal II in 1112. The first abbess, Petronilla of Chemillg (1115-1149), was succeeded by Matilda of Anjou, who ruled for five years. She was the daughter of Fulk, King of Jerusa- lem, and widow of William, the eldest son of Henry I, of England. The prosperity of the abbey continued under the next two abbesses, but by the end of the twelfth century, owing to the state of the country and the English wars, the nuns were reduced to gain- ing their livelihood by manual work. The situation was aggravated by internal dissensions which lasted a hundred years, and prosperity did not return till the beginning of the fdurteciitii century, under the rule of Eleanor of Brittany, grand-daughter of Henry III of England, who had taken the veil at the Fontevrist
priory of Amesbury, in Wiltshire. The next abbess
was Isabel of Valois, great-grandchild of St. Louis, but
on her death there succeeded another period of trouble
and decadence largely due to the disaffection of the
monks who were discontented with their subordinate
position. During the fifteenth century there were
several attempts at reform, but these met with no suc-
cess till the advent to power, in 1457, of Mary, sister of
Francis II, Duke of Brittany. The order had suffered
severely from the decay of religion, which was general
about this time, as well as from the Hundred Years
War. In the three priories of St-Aignan, Breuil, and
Ste-Croix there were in all but five nuns and one monk,
where there had been 187 nuns and 17 monks at the
beginning of the thirteenth century, and other houses
were no better off. In 1459, a papal commission de-
cided upon a mitigation of rules which could no longer
be enforced, and nuns were even allowed to leave the
order on the simple permission of their prioress. Dis-
satisfied with the mitigated life of Fontevrault, Mary
of Brittany removed to the priory of La Madeleine-
lez-Orleans in 1471. Here she deputed a commission
consisting of religious of various orders to draw up a
definite Rule based on the Rules of Blessed Robert, St.
Benedict, and St. Augustine, together with the Acts of
Visitations. The resulting code was finally approved
by Sixtus IV in 1475, and four years later it was made
obligatory upon the whole order. Mary of Brittany
died in 1477, but her work was continued by her suc-
cessors, Anne of Orleans, sister of Louis XII, and Re-
n^e de Bourbon. The latter may well be styled the
greatest of the abbesses, both on account of the num-
bers of priories (28) in which she re-established disci-
pline, and the victory which she gained over the rebel-
lious religious at Fontevrault by the reform, enforced
with royal assistance in 1502. The result was a great
influx of novices of the highest rank, including several
princesses of Valois and Bourbon. At Rente's death
there were 160 nuns and 150 monks at Fontevrault.
Under Louise de Bourbon (1534-1575), a woman of
sincere but gloomy piety, the order suffered many
losses at the hands of the Protestants, who even be-
sieged the great abbey itself, though without success;
many nuns apostatized, but twelve more houses were
reformed. Eleanor of Bourbon (1575-1611) saw the
last of these troubles. She had great influence with
Henry IV, and her affection for him was so great that,
towards the end of her life, when he was assassinated,
her nuns dared not tell her lest the shock should be too
great.
The Abbess Louise de Bourbon de Lavedan, aided by the famous Capuchins, Ange de Joyeuse and Jo- seph du Tremblay, sought to improve the status of the monks of St-Jean de I'Habit and made various at^ tempts to establish theological seminaries for them. Her successor Jeanne-Baptiste de Bourbon, an illegiti- mate child of Henry IV by the beautiful Charlotte des Essarts, has the credit of finally giving peace to the order. In 1641 she obtained royal letters confirming the reform and finally quashing the claims of the monks, who sought to organize themselves indepen- dently of the authority of the abbess. The following year the Rule approved by Sixtus IV was printed at Paris. The " Queen of Abbesses", Gabrielle de Roche- chouart (1670-1704), sister of Mme. de Montespan and friend of Mme. de Maintenon, is said to have trans- lated all the works of Plato from the Latin version of Ficino. The abbey school was frequented by the chil- dren of the highest nobility, and her successors were entrusted with the education of the daughters of Louis XV. The last abbess, Julie Sophie Charlotte de Par- daillan d'Antin, was driven from her monastery by the Revolution; her fate is unknown. Towards the end of the eighteenth century there were 230 nuns and 60 monks ;it I'\int('vr;uilt, and at the Revolution there were still 20(1 nuns, but the monks were few in number and only formed a community at the mother-
