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onventional beliefs, promoted by contemporaries of any historical period, may be the preferred face of an era or society, but reality proves the image brittle.

One of the most interesting examples of an accepted conflict with convention is the Order of Fontevraud, founded at the turn of the twelfth century by a charismatic, controversial priest from southeast Brittany, Robert of Arbrissel.  This new Order might have become like other double houses of monks and nuns except for one unique aspect: the head of the abbey, and all daughter houses, would be a woman.  In an interesting example of pragmatism, Robert required that Fontevraud’s abbess must have lived in the world, like a widow, and have experience managing practical business matters to better rule a religious institution.  Thus Robert set his new Order up to survive and made it attractive for competent women of high ranks to join and exercise their abilities.

Did Robert understand the equality of the sexes, or did he seek only to find an acceptable way to promote his ideals and a pragmatic method of guaranteeing his living example survived?