Cathedral of Le Mans--XII-century nave built by notable prelates--Bishop Hildebert de Lavardin (1097 to 1125) a poet and scholar--Guillaume de Passavent made the Angevin vaults (c. 1150)--Geoffrey the Handsome, nicknamed Plantagenet, and his son, Henry II of England, born in Le Mans--Trinité church at Vendôme (note)--Le Mans' Gothic choir built from 1218 to 1254 by Bishop Geoffrey de Loudon--Le Mans ranks next to Chartres and Bourges for its wealth of stained glass--Rayonnant-Flamboyant transept of the XIV and XV centuries--The groups at Solesmes a final expression of Gothic sculpture (1495 to 1550)--Collegiate church at St. Quentin, in size a cathedral, XIII-century choir--Villard de Honnecourt, probably the architect of St. Quentin.
Plantagenet Gothic fused the cupola of Aquitaine and the diagonals of north--Lasted a hundred years, from 1150 to 1250--For clearness divided into three periods: I. Heavy diagonals, II. Eight slight branches, III. Multiple ribs--English fan tracery a derivation of Angevin Gothic.
Cupola churches of Aquitaine: St. Front at Périgieux, begun after a fire, 1120, and finished by 1180--Cahors Cathedral has Romanesque portal of beauty (note)--Cathedral of Angoulême, begun 1109--Its façade a notable page of French decoration--Rich façades distinguish Poitou's Romanesque school--Fontevrault abbey church, built in the first half of the XII century--Plantagenet tombs at Fontevrault--Aliénor of Aquitaine buried there in 1204 beside her husband, Henry II, and her son, Richard Coeur-de-Lion--Aliénor's descendants notable builders of churches.
Cathedral of Angers--Its nave vaulted with First-Period diagonals, about 1150--Anjou rulers a remarkable race--Fulk Nerra, the great builder, died 1040--Choir of Angers Cathedral extended after 1274--In the nave is XII-century glass of St. Denis derivation--Cathedral's Apocalypse tapestries--Fortress of Angers, built by St. Louis, 1228 to 1238--Church of Toussaint had a ramified vault of the Third Period--St. Jean's hospital hall, endowed by Henry II, a gem of Plantagenet art--Choir of St. Serge, 1220 to 1225, a masterpiece of lightness.
Saumur--Another center for the study of Plantagenet Gothic--Historical fête called the _Non-Pareille_ took place in its castle in 1241--St. Pierre's church shows different kinds of Angevin vaults--Church of St. Martin at Candes, a Plantagenet masterpiece--St. Florent-les-Saumur shows one of the first eight-branch vaults--Puy-Notre-Dame and Asnières beautiful examples of Plantagenet art (note)--Plantagenet vaults at Le Mans, Vendôme, Chinon, and Tours.