**Autreche has a small church which Conant  (266) describes as "a good example of a wooden roofed nave and chancel type of structure." The image top right is also from Conant (265). The church is usually locked but right across from the entry door is the mayor's office. We asked for a key and were able to enjoy a quiet visit. Autreche is about 30 km NE of Tours. It is a very small place, just S of the A10 on D31. Most people visit the region for the chateaux or the wine (Vouvray is our favorite from here).
 
 

Bilazais is about 10 km SE of Thouars on the D145. It is a small agricultural community. It is about 7 km NE of St. Generoux, making this a fruitful corner for Carolingian churches.

The abbey was founded in the 9th C by Foulques (Fulks) de Bonneval. The inlay of some of the stone and of the flint is original decoration. The door and arch date from the 13th C. The abbey church is now inside a psychiatric hospital and drop in visits are not possible, at least it wasn't possible for us. Perhaps if you visit on a weekday during business hours you'll have better luck, or write ahead. (Michelin Loire, 1976) The abbey is about 30 km S of Chartres on the N10.

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The church was originally built by Theodulf, abbot of St. Benoit and bishop of Orleans. Theodulf was probably of Spanish Visigoth origin and came to be one of Charlemagne's main envoys (missi dominici). Under Louis the Pious he was accused of complicity in a Lombard revolt and spent his last years confined to an abbey in Angers. He died in 821. The architect was an Armenian named Odon, who is responsible for its unique Byzantine style.

The original church was 10 meters square with four apses. The west apse came down in the 13th C when the nave was added. The outline of the asp is still evident in the floor. The smaller apses bracketing the east asp were removed in the 19th C renovation. Among the other controversial renovations was the replacement of stained glass with alabaster windows (see photo below).

The mosaic in the ceiling (see below) is original, having been designed by Theodulf in the 9th C.

Germigny is E of Orleans about 35 km. Coming out from Orleans you first come to Chateauneuf-sur-Loire. It is another 8 km, now SE, on the D952.

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The abbey church here is largely 11th century but very well preserved. The church is built on the site of an earlier church and some of those elements are incorporated into this newer church. The 10th C elements are not visible in the picture (from Conant 267) but are just to the right of the visible arm of the church. They are circled in red on the schematic of the church. The are also visible in the aerial view of the abbey, where the different ages of construction are evident.. The Loire is in the background.

The abbey houses the relics of St. Benoit (St. Benedict). Benedict founded Monte Cassino in Italy and died there. That abbey was ruined by the Lombards and Benedict's remains were moved the St. Benoit in Fleury in the 7th C. The abbey here adopted the 'rule of Benedict.' The abbey initially flourished under the Carolingians and developed a great library. However, in the second half of the 9th C it was attacked and sacked by Norman invasions, in 865 and again in 885. They returned again in 897. In spite of these attacks the relics of St. Benedict survived. The abbey recovered in the 10th C and came under Cluny's influence. Gaucelin, the illegitimate son of Hugh Capet, became abbot here in 1004 and the abbey was influential in its time. (For a fuller look at what was happening in France then you can visit the 1004 page.)

There is an attractive late 11th C crypt. The floor mosaics are really attractive, hence the photo, even though they're post Carolingian. This is still a working abbey and it was evocative to attend chanted vespers in a way they've been sung, on this site, for centuries. The abbey is also E of Orleans, 18 km SE of Chateauneuf-sur-Loire on the D60.

The village has a small 10th C church. Conant (265) notes "it shows excellent though restored examples of plain and patterned wall-work." There have been several additions after the 11th C but the church is largely Carolingian in design and flavor. The austere facade is typical. We found the high interior arches unusual. The church is sited next to the ruins of earlier civic buildings. The image to the left is from Conant.
 
 

The village is about 37 km NE of Poitiers. Start off on the N147, bear left at the D18 cut off and at St. Jouin head W 6.5 km.

The church of St. Philbert is one of the oldest in France and goes back to the 9th C. The site itself is older. In the 7th C St. Philbert lived here. He left to found the abbey at Jumieges (a  great Carolingian ruin today). When he died he was subsequently buried here. In 752 the abbey was sacked by the Saracens, but rebuilt soon thereafter. Déas, as the town was known at the time, became a refuge for the monks of Noirmoutier when they fled the Viking invasions. Yet even given its distance from the sea, it too was sacked early in the 9th C.

The abbey was rebuilt in 819 when it received a charter from Louis the Pious. It reads, in part, "Au nom de notre seigneur Dieu et Saveur Jesus Christ, Louis, par la disposition de la divine providence, empereur August, 'Que tous nos fideles sujets sachent que le venerable abbe du monastere de saint Filbert, a cause de incursions barbares, que ravagent le monastere, a bati avex notre consentment et notre secours, un nouveau monastere, dans un pays appele Deas.' Aix la Chapelle, le 16 mars, an IV du regne de Louis le Pieux (819)."

Déas was renamed St. P. de G.L. in 1119. Like so many places, this fell on hard times after the Revolution and was a poultry market in the 19th C. before it was restored in the 20th. It was used for storage during the Revolution and deconsecrated in 1870.

This is an impressive visit and worth the excursion to its rather out of the way location. The interior pictures are from Conant (65, 66). The nave piers were rebuilt about 1000 and the roof is new. The image below shows the ambulatory that is located under the apse. There are several distinctive features. The abbey is known for its Carolingian stone and brick work, most evident on the restored pillars in the interior pictures. There is an attractive crypt with a 7th C stone sarcophagus of St. Philbert. If the text under the schematic below is unclear, the black lines show construction dating from 814-819, the gold from 836, the rose from 836-847 and the gray about 1000.  The facade is austere and overall exterior design simple, although inside there are wonderful vistas of visually overlapping arches.  The church is in a park like setting, with a river behind the rear  garden. The monks were given the right to collect a toll for crossing the river. For some reason this is not in any of the Michelin Green guides to France, which seems a real oversight.