^{page 274 note a} Built by Bishop Normand de Douay. See Bodin, Reeherches sur l'Anjou; and De Caumont, Bulletin Monumental, vol. i. p. 354.

^{page 275 note a} Foulques Nerra, the founder, was a great builder, and paid three visits to the Holy Land. These dates are given by Mr. Godard, on the authority of the charters which were in his possession at the time of the meeting of the French Society of Antiquaries under Monsieur de Caumont in 1841.—Bulletin Monumental, vol. vii. p. 531. See also Hiret, Des Antiquités d'Anjou; Gallia Christ, vol. iv. p. 792.

^{page 276 note a} Bulletin Monumental, vol. vii. p. 531.

^{page 276 note b} After the dedication of the church of Ronceray by Pope Calixtus II. in 1119, the Pope mounted on a tomb in the adjoining cemetery of St. Laurent, and addressed the people assembled on the occasion, exhorting them to repentance and confession, remitting the seventh part of their penances, and endowing the church with this privilege in perpetuity, that whosoever should come to it in pilgrimage on the anniversary of the dedication should have the same benefit. Gall. Christ, vol. iv. p. 794.

^{page 277 note a} Bulletin Monumental, vol. i. p. 353.

^{page 278 note a} Bulletin Monumental, vol. vii. p. 530.

^{page 278 note b} The abbey of St. Aubin founded before 1000. A charter of that date is extant—Bull. Mon. vol. vii. p. 467. According to the Gallia Christiana it was founded about A.D. 960: vol. iv. p. 23.

^{page 278 note c} This concealment is said to have been made by the Benedictines when they rebuilt the abbey in the seventeenth century. Since the Revolution the abbey has been turned into the prefecture, and the plaster was removed by order of the prefect. See a memoir by M. Godard, Bulletin Monum. vol. iii. p. 208.

^{page 278 note d} The charter of foundation is printed by Hiret, Antiquitez d'Anjou, p. 314.

^{page 279 note a} The abbey was founded in 711.—Gall. Christ, vol. iv. p. 820. The church was re-built between 1036 and 1056, by Vulgrain, the abbot of the monastery, afterwards Bishop of Le Mans.—Bull. Mon. vol. vii. p. 468. But this date will not apply to any part of the present structure.

^{page 280 note a} De Caumont, Bull. Monumental, ii. 330.

^{page 283 note a} Mr. Gaily Knight considers the church as the one commenced by Foulques, fifth Earl of Anjou, but does not give his authority for this date. The abbey is said to have been founded by “Robertus or Rotbertus de Arbrusculo” in 1100, and consecrated in 1119. The Acts of Donation and Consecration are given at length in the Gallia Christiana, vol. iv. pp. 409–416. The authorities there quoted are the Chronicum Turonense; Chronicum Malleacense; and Guillelmus Neubrigensis, lib. 1 Rerum Anglicarum, cap. 15. The second abbess was Matilda, daughter of Foulques or Fulk fifth Earl of Anjou and King of Jerusalem, the virgin widow of Henry I. of England (who was drowned before the marriage was consummated). She presided over the Abbey from 1148 to 1164; and it appears, from the complimentary letter of Petrus Cellensis (lib. ii. ep. 10), that a considerable part of the buildings was erected or completed in her time. “Sienim sanctius adoraris in animabus sanctis, quam in templis lapideis, et manufactis, etc.”

^{page 285 note a} See De Caumont, Cours. vol. vi. p. 338. Since the above was written I have had an opportunity, in a subsequent visit to France, of discussing this point with M. De Caumont himself, and he is now convinced that it is a kitchen.

^{page 285 note b} The Charter of Foundation is printed in De Caumont's Bulletin Monumental, vol. vii. p. 543.

^{page 285 note c} De Caumont, Bulletin, vol. iii, 432. Also at Parthenay; see Letter II., p. 293.

^{page 287 note a} Gallia Christiana, vol. iv. p. 514: ex Chron. Malliacens.

^{page 288 note a} According to M. Thiollet's observations, a small portion on the north side, which was evidently the lower part of a tower, is of earlier character than any other part of the building, and belongs to a previous structure: and, as it is not probable that this earliest part is older than the eleventh century, it follows that the greater part is of the twelfth.

^{page 289 note a} Gall. Christ, vol. i. p. 206.

^{page 289 note b} Ibid. vol. iv. p. 653.

^{page 290 note a} Ex Chronico Malliacens. ap. Besly, Histoire des Comtes de Poitou.—Bull. Mon. vol. ix. p. 399.

^{page 290 note b} For a full account of this church and its sculpture, see Bullet. Mon. vol. iv. pp. 435–444.

^{page 291 note a} Annales d'Aquitaine par Bouchet, p. 57.

^{page 292 note a} For an account, of this glass see Bulletin Mon. vol. ix. p. 599.

^{page 293 note a} There was an endowment to defray the expense of the light. See Bull. Mon. vol. vi. p. 12. See also Letter I., p. 285.

^{page 293 note b} A detailed account of the sculptures of this rich west front, which is of Byzantine character, is given by M. de Caumont in the Bull. Mon. vol. vi. p. 336.

^{page 294 note a} See Bullet. Mon. vol. ix. p. 417.

^{page 294 note b} See also Bullet. Mon. vol. ix. p. 419.

^{page 295 note a} Teste Chronico Malleacensi: Gall. Christ, vol. iv. p. 817.