Another day another abbey

Today after having slept a good 12 hours and being the avid historians that we are, we went off to visit two abbeys from the 9th century. These abbeys are really well preserved even if they are more than a thousand years old.
The first was the Abbey of Saint Savin (don’t ask me who he was because I don’t have a clue, probably some martyred early christian) What is so remarkable about the abbey church is that the ceiling and walls still have the original 10th century frescos. They are stunning and when you consider their age and their condition having survived wars, revolutions and natural disasters it boggles the mind that they are still there to be admired. We always assume that the buildings, churches and castles were dull grey stone but if this church is anything to go by they were very colourful.
The second abbey was founded pretty much at the same time as the first. The Abbey of Nouaillé-Maupertuis. Although is is less well preserved than  Saint-Savin it is none the less a fine example of a romanesque church. What makes it stand out is the fact that it is site of one of the greatest battles of the medieval age... the battle of Poitiers, which never happened at Poitiers.
This battle was one of a trio of battles that marked the hundred years war between the French and the English. There was the battle of Crecy in the Normandy, the battle of Poitier and the battle of Agincourt (Shakespear’s Henry V for you Shakespeareans) In all three battles the English won in a big way. Was the the English knights that were so much better than the French knights? Nope, what really made the difference was the commoner with his long bow, that and the fact that the English were much better tacticians and better disciplined.
The Black Prince (son of Edward III and grandson of Isabella of France (nicknamed the She-Wolf of France) and Edward the II*) didn’t lose a man while King Jean II of France lost 5000 men and was captured by the English. This cost the French a fourth of their kingdom and a huge ransom. In fact the Franc which was the French currency before the Euro was based on the measure of gold asked for by the English. Franc meaning freedom.
Today all there is, is a field with a small stone monument commemorating the battle and the lives lost on that long ago day in 1356.
Here are some photos of what we saw and did.

* For those of you who are more historically minded, here are the reasons behind the Hundred Years War (which lasted 116 years to be exact). It makes for interesting reading. Everything goes back to Edward I of England (of Braveheart fame). He was a great king and did much for his country but he was also in a bitter feud with Philip IV of France who was also a strong king. The English throne had gained lands in France from Eleanor of Aquitaine (mother of Richard I) and Philip really didn’t like that and would rather have them for himself. So finally a compromise was reached where Edward I married his son to the daughter of Philip IV. So Edward II married Isabella of France. Edward was a lousy king and had a leaning towards the boys rather than the girls. Soon Isabella was fed up and finally got rid of her husband by raising an army, and getting into bed with arguably England’s best general Roger Mortimer who was Edward II’s sworn enemy. Her son who became Edward III was of both Plantagenet (from his father’s side) and Capet (from his mother’s). Now we are finally coming to the point, when Philip IV died he left his kingdom to his sons, who died one after another without leaving an heir. Finally there were no Capets left, so Edward III being a Capet on his mother’s side decided to claim the throne of France since he was the only remaining Capet descended in a straight line from Philip. This obviously didn’t suit the nobles of France who named Philip of Valois, Philip IV nephew king. Having his mother’s character, this didn’t sit well with Edward III, who promptly declared war on the French.
Addendum: An interesting fact is that Philip IV was the one that destroyed the Templars and when he had the Grand Master burned at the stake, the Grand Master cursed all his line and cried that the pope and Philip would both die before a year had passed and Philip’s line would end with with his sons. Also the Templars were arrested on Friday the 13th which is why today it is unlucky.