Geoffroy Grande-Dent | ©Public domainHairy nose and big stump
The tradition says the abbey was raised by the famous fairy Mélusine. Fromont, one of Mélusine’s son, was a monk in Maillezais.
And his brother, Geoffroy Gande-Dent (Geoffroy ″Big-Tooth″, aka the devil), once burnt the abbey...
Do you remember? Mélusine’s kids had all one distinctive sign, pretty unsavoury: Fromont had a hairy stain on his nose and his brother a big stump that looked like a tusk!
Geoffroy attacks!
When Geoffroy knew his brother Fromont had became a monk in Maillezais, he was upset: he hated monks he considered like sinners and cowards.
So one day he rushed towards Maillezais in order to destroy it! There, he cut all the trees in the neighbouring forest and lit a big fire.
With it, he started to burn the abbey when night came. Everything was on fire, including Fromont…
Geoffroy the terrible guy even closed the doors of the abbey and saw everyone roasting…
It was the mighty lords of Lusignan, who, while they were fighting in Crusades, exploited the legend and said the fairy Mélusine was their ancestor. In fact it was the monk Jean d’Arras who wrote the novel Mélusine (1387) for the duke of Berry and popularized the character.