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Origin and history

The priory of the Madeleine de Boumois is a Romanesque church built in the 1st quarter of the 12th century in Saint-Martin-de-la-Place, Maine-et-Loire. Dedicated to Sainte Marie-Madeleine, it was erected at the initiative of Maurice Roinard, lord of Boumois, near his castle. Around 1120 he donated it to the abbey of Saint-Florent de Saumur, where he became a monk. The abbey then established a priory, whose remains still existed at the end of the eighteenth century.

The simple-planed building (a single rectangular nave, narrow forearm span and apse choir) was probably covered with an original cul-de-four, with a nave perhaps lambrissed. Only the church remains today, the other buildings of the priory having disappeared. In the 19th century, it was transformed into a dwelling and stable, and in 1975 it suffered a fire which destroyed its structure. Classified as a Historical Monument in 1964, it preserves traces of its medieval past despite these transformations.

The site is linked to the feudal history of Anjou, illustrating the links between local seigneuries and powerful abbeys like Saint-Florent de Saumur. The chapel, initially private, became a place of worship and monastic life before its post-medieval decline. Its sober architecture reflects the first decades of Romanesque art in Anjou, marked by geometric volumes and a clean decoration.

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