St Jean D'Angely
The charming town of St Jean d'Angely was built on the site of a Roman Villa, on the shores of the Bouteonne. The town is made up of a network of twisting, narrow cobbled streets and ancient buildings and was an important step on the 'Camino de Santiago' pilgrimage route. The Royal Abbey in St Jean d'Angely was founded in 817 by Pepin of Aquitaine to receive the head of St John the Baptist. The abbey has been restored and rebuilt on a number of occasions during a turbulent history that has seen it looted and devastated by Vikings, besieged by the English during the Hundred Years War and almost entirely destroyed by Protestants during the Wars of Religion.