Chenonceau and Loches

Bonsoir tout le monde!

My computer has been giving me serious grief and so what was going to be an exuberant and excited blog post is now going to be more of a tired and exasperated one.

Today was spent engaged in what could be my favourite occupation, castle exploring!

 

This is me looking happy at Chateau Chenonceau. 

For anyone who likes Game of Thrones, this castle is basically the Twins where the Freys live.

For those who don’t like Game of Thrones – imagine a castle….which is a bridge! 

It is  a pretty amazing castle…it was originally a fortress but in the 16^th Century it was rebuilt in the Renaissance style. 

This castle’s main claim to fame is the noble women who have lived here. Henri II (of France) gave this castle to his “favourite” (mistress) Diane de Poitiers in 1547. Diane was considered to be immensely beautiful as well as very intelligent. Unfortunately for her, however, the King’s wife was a Medici – Catherine de Medici to be exact. After Henri died Catherine became queen regent and kicked Diane out of Chenonceau and made it her own. 

 

This is Diane de Poitier's bedroom. 

Since then, Chenonceau has been the residence of numerous other nobles and served as a hospital in World War One. The River Cher, which Chenonceau is built over, marked the boundary between Free France and Occupied France in the Second World War. The Resistance used the Castle to smuggle goods and people – and, horrifyingly, a German artillery brigade was stationed near Chenonceau to destroy it should it be used in an invasion. 

Chenonceau was full of tourists (I know I can’t talk) so we headed off – stopping for  a quick crepe!

We spent the rest of the day in the Royal City of Loches, which was much more of my kind of place!

For a start, this castle was actually a castle – as in a defensive mechanism! 

It was also a prison....

Loches was home to a castle since the 4^th Century but in the 10^th Century the Counts of Anjou, whose decendents would become the Angevin rulers of England and France, built the Keep/Castle. 

 

This castle was important strategically in a number of struggles throughout French History. Fulk Nerra used it as a strong hold in his conflict with the Counts of Blois.

 

I like to imagine that this is how Fulk would have seen it!

The Plantagenets held it, then John lost it (of course he did!) and then Richard I “Lionheart” won it back (of course he did!)…and then John lost it again after Richard died.

This castle was also where Joan of Arc met the Dauphin for the second time, after the battle of Orleans and convinced him to go to Paris to be consecrated as King!

There is a part of the keep which extends about thirty metres underground. It was used as a prison, but the very lowest level was a quarry from which the castles stones were collected. The hollowed out tunnels were kept because they allowed access to the castle in a siege! 

 

This is actually the torture chamber! Creepy.  The iron bar is where they chained people up. 

 

This is one of the cells, complete with wax prisoners...and wax rats!

 

This is the pathway down to the tunnels and in between the cells. Imagine walking down here in chain mail.

 

This cell was decorated by Ludovico Sforza who was imprisoned here. Ludovico was the Duke of Milan, who commissioned Da Vinci's the Last Supper. He managed to get captured by the French and died here in the 16th Century.

 

 And finally... here is a picture I bought from Loches. It had been part of an exhibition about female warriors.