Priory of Notre-Dame d’Agudelle
Saint-Eutrope d’Agudelle / Agudella / Aygudella
(Agudelle, Charente-Maritime)
Before the year 1116, Rannulfus Barbotin and his wife Emperia donated the site of Agudelle to Robert of Arbrissel and the Abbey of Fontevraud (Maine-et-Loire), with the intention of founding a nunnery there—a project that never came to fruition. Following an agreement with Petronille de Chemillé († 1149), abbess of Fontevraud, a hermit named Lambert settled on the site. He would later become the first abbot of Notre-Dame de La Couronne (Charente) and, in 1136, bishop of Angoulême.
In 1116, the bishop of Saintes approved Lambert’s settlement, and the monastic foundations of Notre-Dame d’Agudelle and Saint-Jean de La Palud were developed. From the latter, the abbey of La Couronne would eventually emerge. A dispute then arose between the abbess of Fontevraud and Lambert over rights to the site. It was resolved in 1129 with the recognition of Agudelle as a priory dependent on La Couronne, in exchange for certain revenues in favour of Fontevraud. The priory remained active until the Revolution, although from 1630 the title of prior was associated with that of parish rector.
- BABINET DE RECOGNE, Gustave (1880). Chartes Saintongeaises de l’abbaye de la Couronne (1116-1473). Archives Historiques de la Saintonge et de l’Aunis, vol. VII
- BAUDRILLART, Alfred (1909). Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques. Vol. 1. París: Letouzey et Ané
- BEAUNIER, Dom (1910). Abbayes et prieurés de l'ancienne France. Vol. 3: Auch, Bordeaux. Abbaye de Ligugé
- BLANCHET, Abbé (1888-89). Histoire de l’Abbaye Royale de N.-D. de la Couronne en Angumois. Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique de la Charente, vol. IX-X
- EYGUN, François (1979). Saintogne romane. La nuit des temps, 33. Zodiaque
- MARTINIÈRE, M. de la (1911). Une falsification de document au commencement du XIIe siècle. Le Moyen âge, vol. 24
- NANGLARD, Jean (1893). Pouillé historique du diocèse d'Angoulême, 2. Bulletin et mémoires de la Société archéologique et historique de la Charente, vol. 3
Agudelle lies south of Saintes