Bourgueil Abbey was a Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 monastery in France (current Indre-et-Loire

Indre-et-Loire

Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.-History:Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

), founded in 990. It was located at Bourgueil

Bourgueil

Bourgueil is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.The inhabitants of the town of Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil are "Nicolaisiens St., San Nicolaisiennes."-Bourgueil wine:...

, in historic Anjou

Anjou

Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...

 and the diocese of Angers. The founder was Emma, countess of Blois

Blois

Blois is the capital of Loir-et-Cher department in central France, situated on the banks of the lower river Loire between Orléans and Tours.-History:...

, daughter of Theobald I of Blois

Theobald I of Blois

Theobald I , called the Cheat or the Trickster , was the first count of Blois, Chartres, and Châteaudun from 960, and Tours from 945....

, and duchess of Aquitaine. It later (1630) was attached to the Congregation of Saint-Maur.

History

Bourgueil was a mansio

Mansio

In the Roman Empire, a mansio was an official stopping place on a Roman road, or via, maintained by the central government for the use of officials and those on official business whilst travelling.-Background:The roads which traversed the Ancient World, were later surveyed,...

set up on the Roman main road from Angers

Angers

Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....

 to Tours

Tours

Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...

. Other Roman routes converged on Burgolium. Before 977, these lands belonged to Thibaut I of Blois. He gave them as dowry for his daughter Emma.. At this point a priory

Priory

A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...

 already existed at Bourgueil.

Emma of Blois, tired of her philandering husband William IV of Aquitaine

William IV of Aquitaine

William IV , called Fierebras or Fierebrace , was the Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou from 963 to his retirement in 990.William's father, William III, abdicated to the abbey of Saint-Cyprien in Poitiers and left the government to...

 (935

935

Year 935 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.-Africa:* A third attempt to conquer Egypt by the Tunisia-based Shi'ite Fatimid dynasty fails....

-995

995

Year 995 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Upon the death of Eric the Victorious, he is succeeded by his son Olof Skötkonung as the first baptized king of Sweden....

), and particularly with his liaison with Aldéarde of Thouars, wife of Herbert I of Thouars, had her rival beaten up and raped.. Emma then fled with her young son, the future William V of Aquitaine

William V of Aquitaine

William V , called the Great , was Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou from 990 until his death. He was the son and successor of William IV by his wife Emma of Blois, daughter of Theobald I of Blois. He seems to have taken after his formidable mother, who ruled Aquitaine as regent until 1004...

, to her brother Odo I, Count of Blois

Odo I, Count of Blois

Odo I , Count of Blois, Chartres, Reims, Provins, Châteaudun, and Omois, was the son of Theobald I of Blois and Luitgard, daughter of Herbert II of Vermandois...

 at the château de Chinon. The penitent Emma founded the Abbey in 990, near Chinon. The family was pious and Eudes was a lay abbot of Saint-Martin de Tours and Marmoutier. There were also political reasons, in the Loire region, for the family to stand up to Hugh Capet.

The rich endowment likely came from several sources: Emma's uncle Herbert III of Omois, but also her husband's estate, which included Brolium, Longua-Aqua, Oziacum , Vendeia... (Le Breuil

Le Breuil-Bernard

Le Breuil-Bernard is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in the Poitou-Charentes region in western France.-References:*...

, Longève, Gazais et La Vendée in Poitou).. William V also contributed. The possessions—land and a large forest, feudal and seigneurial rights down to the waters of the Loire—were later counted as a barony.

From the twelfth centuries the Abbey acquired 42 dependent priories and 64 parishes in the Angoumois

Angoumois

Angoumois was a county and province of France, nearly corresponding today to the Charente département. Its capital was Angoulême....

, Île-de-France

Île-de-France (province)

The province of Île-de-France or Isle de France is an historical province of France, and the one at the centre of power during most of French history...

. The Abbot Baudry de Bourgueil was a poet who praised in verse the wine cultivated locally by the monks.