The ruins of Maillezais are no less magnificent than the great churches that still stand. In its day, this cathedral rivaled those in Paris, Reims, Bordeaux... The stones first began to fall in the late Renaissance when the great Protestant soldier Arippa d'Aubigné conquered this center of western catholicism. He would use many of these stones to fortify the walls he saw as vulnerable to the Catholic armies. This was in the late 1500's. The next ruin of the site would come when the Revolution of 1789 declared all the good of the Church forfeit to the new Republic. This site was sold to a stone mason used it as a quarry to build houses in the nearby village of Maillezais. Stones from here are now easily recognizable in the town just below.
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This page last updated on 6/10/2003 2:18:21 PM.