Note 363 — Chapter III · ANJOU AND BLOIS. 987–1044.

The foundation-charter, dated July 14, 1128, is in Hiret, Antiquitez d’Anjou, pp. 100, 101. The whole history of the church is fully discussed by M. d’Espinay, in the Revue Historique de l’Anjou, vol. xii. (1874), pp. 49–64, 143–155. A grotesque legend, which yet has a somewhat characteristic ring, was told of the origin of this nunnery. Fulk one day, watching a potter at his work, was seized with a desire to try his hand. He succeeded in producing a well-shaped pan, which he carried home in triumph and gave to his wife, telling her that it was made by the man whom she loved best. Hildegard, mistaking the jest for a serious charge, vowed to disprove it at once by undergoing the ordeal of water, and flung herself out of the window and into the river, before her husband could stop her. The spot where she came to land was marked by the abbey of our Lady (Revue hist. de l’Anjou, as above, pp. 54, 55, and note 1; Marchegay, Eglises, p. 279 note.) Its later name of “Ronceray” was derived from a bramble-bush (ronce) which forced its way through the pavement of the choir, despite all attempts to uproot it. This however was in the sixteenth century.