Anne of Orléans, Abbess of Fontevraud

For other uses, see Anne of Orléans.

Valois-Orleans coat of arms

Anne d'Orléans (1464 – 1491 in Poitiers) was a French abbess. She was the youngest child of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves. Her only brother became King Louis XII of France in 1498.

Life

Anne became abbess of Fontevraud in 1477. This was an abbey in which both monks and nuns lived, but which was always ruled by an abbess. She continued the work of her predecessor Marie de Bretagne in reforming the order.

She also became abbess of Holy Cross Abbey in Poitiers until her death in 1491. The election that followed her death resulted in a violent contest between the brothers of two candidates for abbess.

Bibliography

• Jennifer C. Edwards, “My Sister for Abbess: Fifteenth-Century Power Disputes over the Abbey of Sainte-Croix, Poitiers,” Journal of Medieval History 40, no. 1 (2014): 85–107.
• Jennifer C. Edwards, Superior Women: Medieval Female Authority in Poitiers' Abbey of Sainte-Croix (Oxford, 2019).