Priory of Notre-Dame de Cunault

Cunault is known from the year 845, when the Carolingian ruler Charles the Bald (823–877) granted the site to Count Vivien of Tours († 851). At that time, it is already described as a monasteriolum and noted for housing the relics of Saint Maxenceul, regarded as a disciple of Saint Martin of Tours (c. 316–397). Shortly afterwards, in that same year, the count granted Cunault to the abbot of Déas, and in 858 this place received the community from that monastery.

In the 10th century, the relics of Maxenceul returned to Cunault and, by the 11th century, as conditions stabilised, the monks gradually recovered their former possessions from Tournus, with the support of the counts of Anjou. By the mid-11th century, a priory of considerable size and prestige had developed. It also benefited from possessing the relics of Saint Maxenceul, together with others attributed to the Virgin Mary, which attracted strong popular devotion. This situation continued until the Hundred Years’ War and the establishment of the commendatory regime in the mid-15th century.

The 11th-century church must have been more modest in scale. On the north side stands a bell tower with a doorway, whose base belongs to that earlier structure. The present building is divided into three aisles of irregular proportions. It consists of eleven bays, leading to a chancel surrounded by an ambulatory that connects with the side aisles. This ambulatory originally had three radiating apses, of which the central one has disappeared. The western bays of the aisles are slightly later, dating from the 13th century, already in the Gothic period. The floor levels vary, a feature also reflected in the height of the aisles, which gradually decrease towards the chancel. The rich sculptural decoration, both inside and outside, is also noteworthy.