ABSTRACT
Considered a masterpiece among the early saints' lives, the Saint Alexis tells the story of a young man who vows himself to God and a life of poverty. The hero flees from Rome on his wedding night, leaving his new bride behind with his father and mother. In exile, Alexis earns a reputation as a holy man but disdains the worldly attention it brings. He returns to Rome, where, unrecognized, he lives out a life of penury and degradation under a staircase of his parents' house. From the 10th century, Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher was the center of an important castellany dependent on the counts of Blois. In the 12th century, the church at Saint-Aignan housed a chapter of secular canons as well as a parish and was dependent on the archbishop of Bourges. Abundant documentation reveals the long history of the monastery of Saint-Chef, well known today for its wall paintings. Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes was one of the oldest abbeys of the Poitou.
