RONTEVRAULT, Order of, a religious order instituted about the end of the eleventh century, and taken under the protection of the holy see by Pope Pascal II. in 1106, confirmed by a bull in 1113, and invested by his successors with very extraordinary privileges. This order, which consisted of both monks and nuns, was under the superintendence of an abbess. The order was divided into four provinces, which were those of France, Aquitaine, Auvergne, and Bretagne, in each of which they had formerly several priories. In 1804 this ancient abbey was converted into a prison.