Note 198 — Chapter VII · Plantagenet Gothic Architecture[174]

Montierneuf was founded in 1078 by Guillaume VIII (d. 1086). Only eight of the nave’s eleven bays remain. The chevet was rebuilt in the XIV century. The abbey was sacked in 1562. St. Porchaire’s tower is all that remains of an XI-century church, a contemporary of Notre Dame-la-Grande and Montierneuf. It was to be destroyed in 1843, but luckily some visiting archæologists saved it. From St. Porchaire’s belfry rang the summonses of Poitiers University. De Cherge, “Mémoire historique sur l’abbaye de Montierneuf de Poitiers,” in Mém. de la Soc. des antiquaires de l’Ouest, 1844; Deux étudiants de l’Université de Poitiers, Francis Bacon et René Descartes, 1867, p. 65.