page_title: Roman Catholic Diocese of Maillezais
section_title: The abbey of Maillezais
hierarchical_section_title: Roman Catholic Diocese of Maillezais / History / The abbey of Maillezais
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Maillezais Vendée Pays de la Loire.- France This building is indexed in the Base Mérimée, a database of architectural heritage maintained by the French Ministry of Culture,&#160;under the reference PA00110162 . беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎&#160;| বাংলা&#160;| brezhoneg&#160;| català&#160;| Deutsch&#160;| Ελληνικά&#160;| English&#160;| Esperanto&#160;| español&#160;| euskara&#160;| suomi&#160;| français&#160;| magyar&#160;| italiano&#160;| 日本語&#160;| македонски&#160;| Nederlands&#160;| português&#160;| português do Brasil&#160;| română&#160;| русский&#160;| sicilianu&#160;| svenska&#160;| українська&#160;| العربيَّة&#160;| +/−
context_page_description: The former Catholic diocese of Maillezais in north-west France was erected in 1317, by Pope John XXII, and ceased to exist in 1648 when it was incorporated into the new diocese of La Rochelle. The town of Maillezais is now found in the department of Vendée, and most of the territory of the former diocese belongs to the diocese of Luçon.
context_section_description: The Benedictine monastery of Maillezais was founded in about 989 by Gauzbert, Abbot of St-Julien de Tours, at the request of William IV, Duke of Aquitaine, and his wife Emma.
  The seventh abbot of Maillezais, Abbot Pierre (about 1100), who followed Richard Cœur de Lion to the Third Crusade, composed a book on the foundation of the monastery of Maillezais, He claimed to be a lover of Cicero. He also wrote a prefatory epistle for the Historia Hierosolymitana of Archbishop Baldric of Dol. One must also mention the Chronicon Malleacense.
  On 13 May 1197, by a solemn bull Officii nostri, subscribed by eighteen cardinals, Pope Clement III took the monastery of Maillezais under papal protection, listing all of its dependencies and properties. He also confirmed the dependence of the monastery on the Bishop of Poitiers for episcopal functions, such as the consecration of altars, the provision of holy chrism, and the consecration of monks and clerics. By the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Abbey of Maillezais owned priories and churches in the dioceses of Saintes, Luçon, Nantes, Poitiers, and Bordeaux, in addition to their holdings in Maillezais.
  An anonymous monk of Saint Pierre de Maillezais wrote a historical work entitled, De monsterii Malleacensis devastatione facta a Gaufredo de Leziniaco, ca. 1332. Geoffroy de Leziniac (Luzignan) "la Grand' Dent" was the nephew of Guy de Lusignan, who became King of Jerusalem (1186–1192), and nephew of Aimery, who was Guy's successor (1197–1205). Geoffroy la Grand' Dent was compelled to seek absolution for his misdeeds against the abbey of Maillezais from Pope Gregory IX at Spoleto in 1232.
  François Rabelais, who had begun a career in religion as a Franciscan at Fontenay-le-Comte, became, in 1524, with the special permission of Pope Clement VII, a Benedictine monk in the monastery of Maillezais. He became a friend of Geoffroy d'Estissac (1518–43), Bishop of Maillezais. He was gone before 1530, however, when he was at the University of Montpellier, studying medicine; by 1532 he was at the University of Poitiers, studying law. On 15 July 1532, François Rabelais, M.D., wrote to clarissimo doctissimoque Bishop d'Estissac, of his intention to dedicate his commentary on Hippocrates and Galen to the bishop.
caption: View of the cathedral ruins from the south transept tower
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