Abbey of Notre-Dame d’Angles
Angla / B. Maria de Angelis / Angulis / Notre-Dame-des-Anges
(Angles, Vendée)
The priory of Notre-Dame d’Angles may have been founded in the second half of the 11th century. It was an Augustinian house that, in the mid-14th century, became an abbey. Details of its history are lacking due to the loss of its documentation, but its founder is believed to have been Guillaume II, lord of Talmont.
The first known abbot is Pierre de Maignart, in 1349, and the last regular abbot was Robert Allidas, in 1551. Afterwards the abbey had commendatory abbots. In 1371 there is record of serious destruction caused by the Hundred Years’ War. In 1409 its abbot was present at the Council of Pisa. At the end of the 16th century the establishment was severely affected by the Wars of Religion, when the community dispersed. It never recovered and the site remained in the care of a cleric as a simple parish, although it retained the title of abbey until the Revolution.
The church survives, with a single nave divided into two bays, dated between the 12th and 13th centuries. It has the particular feature of several large statues placed above the capitals, where the ribs of the vaults rest. It is not known which figures they represent: perhaps knights or royal figures, or possibly allegorical representations. According to M. Dillange, they might be interpreted as representations of virtues, although no secure identification exists. The transept and the chancel, with three apses, are earlier. The church also has a crypt.
Illustration from Notre-Dame d'Angles. Congrès Archéologique de France (1996)
- AILLERY, Eugène (1860). Pouillé de l'évêché de Luçon. Fonyenay-le-Comte: Robuchon
- BAUDRILLART, Alfred (1924). Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques. Vol. 3. París: Letouzey et Ané
- BEAUNIER, Dom (1910). Abbayes et prieurés de l'ancienne France. Vol. 3: Auch, Bordeaux. Abbaye de Ligugé
- DILLANGE, Michel (1976). Vendée romane. La nuit des temps, 44. Zodiaque
- DUBORG-NOVES, Pierre (1996). Notre-Dame d'Angles. Congrès Archéologique de France. Vendée. París: Société Française d’Archéologie
- MARCHEGAY, Paul (1868). Les possesseurs de l'abbaye d'Angles á la fin du XVIe siècle. Annuaire départemental de la Société d'émulation de la Vendée. Napoléon: Ivonnet
- MARCHEGAY, Paul (1877). Cartulaires du Bas-Poitou (département de la Vendée). Les Roches-Baritaud (Vendée)
- SAINT-MAUR, Congregació de (1720). Gallia Christiana in provincias ecclesiasticas distributa. Vol. 2. París: Typographia Regia
The church stands in the centre of the commune of Angles, west of Luçon, near the sea