Fontevraud Abbey

This post follows the last one on John of Gaunt slightly, in that he was one of the last of the Plantagenet dynasty, one of the most successful and most problematic of English dynasties. It gave England such great kings as Henry II, Edward I and III, and such fools as Richard II and Edward II, plus a couple of misunderstood ones, including Richard I, the Lion-Hearted and his brother John. This dynasty also gave England (though she would hardly like to have been associated with England) the duchess of Aquitaine, Eleanor, and her lands that would be fought over until 1453, three hundred years after her lands became a part of England. Most of the early Plantagenets could not speak English (though it was in a rather primitive vernacular at the time) and really did not want much to do with the land they ruled, except to tax it (Richard I's favorite pastime besides killing) and give birth to constitutional history (Magna Carta and only then at the point of a sword). As such, they are buried at Fontevraud Abbey, near Chinon, in France. Still, these names and their history have a majesty to them that I always found alluring, so after reading a biography of Richard I, I was inspired to jot this little piece down after seeing a picture of the abbey, perhaps wanting to know what it might have been like to witness the majesty in person...

'Whispers at Fontevraud Abbey'

I hear the whispers of their lives,
emerging from these forgotten walls.

Crumbling ruins barely maintained,
Nearly a millennium gone.
Faces and forms carved in simple granite,
A quiet reminder of Bordeaux and Chinon,
that conquering family entombed within.

Tales of troubadours and crusaders
dance from their solemn repose,
Tempered by fire and sword.
They spring from the darkness,
twisted by romance and the passage of time.

Lioness and Lion, Duchess and King,
Eleanor and Richard
Still whisper at Fontevraud Abbey.

C.