Pétronille de Chemillé (~1060-1149)

In 1115, she becomes the first abbess of the Abbey of Fontevraud. She leads the community of monks and nuns, a mixed-sex order, which was unprecedented. Her name opens the long line of Fontevraud abbesses (only women will be at the head of the abbey) and expresses the power and liberty of women in the Middle Ages.