Abbaye aux Dames, Saintes

The Abbaye aux Dames ("Ladies' Abbey") was the first Benedictine nunnery in Saintes in Charente-Maritime in France.

History The abbey was founded in 1047 by Geoffrey II, Count of Anjou, and his wife Agnes.Penelope D. Johnson, Equal in Monastic Profession: Religious Women in Medieval France, (University of Chicago Press, 1991), 195-196. Agnes later retired to the nunnery and died there.The Chapter Book of the Nuns of Saintes, Hugh Feiss, The Yale University Library Gazette, Vol. 67, No. 1/2 (October 1992), 13.

One of its abbesses was Agnès of Barbezieux (1134–1174), whose relative, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was a generous donor to the abbey.

Madame de Montespan was educated here in the mid-17th century.

It is located next to the town's Arch of Germanicus and was classified a monument historique in 1948. Ancienne abbaye des Dames

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Abbaye aux Dames, Saintes

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