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  Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine
  and the Loire Country




  _WORKS OF FRANCIS MILTOUN_

  _The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top,
  profusely illustrated, $2.50_

  _Rambles on the Riviera_
  _Rambles in Normandy_
  _Rambles in Brittany_
  _The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine_
  _The Cathedrals of Northern France_
  _The Cathedrals of Southern France_
  _The Cathedrals of Italy_ (_In preparation_)

  _The following, 1 vol., square octavo, cloth, gilt top, profusely
  illustrated. $3.00_

  _Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine and the Loire Country_

  _L. C. PAGE & COMPANY New England Building, Boston, Mass._




[Illustration: A PEASANT GIRL OF TOURAINE]




    Castles and Chateaux
            OF
        OLD TOURAINE
    AND THE LOIRE COUNTRY

      BY FRANCIS MILTOUN

    Author of "Rambles in Normandy," "Rambles in Brittany,"
    "Rambles on the Riviera," etc.

    _With Many Illustrations
    Reproduced from paintings made on the spot_

      BY BLANCHE MCMANUS

      [Illustration]

          BOSTON
    L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
           1906





       _Copyright, 1906_
   BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
         (Incorporated)

     _All rights reserved_

   First Impression, June, 1906

         _COLONIAL PRESS_
   _Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co._
        _Boston, U. S. A._




[Illustration: Ed VELAY]




By Way of Introduction


This book is not the result of ordinary conventional rambles, of
sightseeing by day, and flying by night, but rather of leisurely
wanderings, for a somewhat extended period, along the banks of the Loire
and its tributaries and through the countryside dotted with those
splendid monuments of Renaissance architecture which have perhaps a more
appealing interest for strangers than any other similar edifices
wherever found.

Before this book was projected, the conventional tour of the chateau
country had been "done," Baedeker, Joanne and James's "Little Tour" in
hand. On another occasion Angers, with its almost inconceivably real
castellated fortress, and Nantes, with its memories of the "Edict" and
"La Duchesse Anne," had been tasted and digested _en route_ to a certain
little artist's village in Brittany.

On another occasion, when we were headed due south, we lingered for a
time in the upper valley, between "the little Italian city of Nevers"
and "the most picturesque spot in the world"--Le Puy.

But all this left certain ground to be covered, and certain gaps to be
filled, though the author's note-books were numerous and full to
overflowing with much comment, and the artist's portfolio was already
bulging with its contents.

So more note-books were bought, and, following the genial Mark Twain's
advice, another fountain pen and more crayons and sketch-books, and the
author and artist set out in the beginning of a warm September to fill
those gaps and to reduce, if possible, that series of rambles along the
now flat and now rolling banks of the broad blue Loire to something like
consecutiveness and uniformity; with what result the reader may judge.




Contents


  CHAPTER                                                 PAGE

  BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION                                     v

  I. A GENERAL SURVEY                                        1

  II. THE ORLEANNAIS                                        30

  III. THE BLAISOIS AND THE SOLOGNE                         56

  IV. CHAMBORD                                              94

  V. CHEVERNY, BEAUREGARD, AND CHAUMONT                    110

  VI. TOURAINE: THE GARDEN SPOT OF FRANCE                  128

  VII. AMBOISE                                             148

  VIII. CHENONCEAUX                                        171

  IX. LOCHES                                               188

  X. TOURS AND ABOUT THERE                                 203

  XI. LUYNES AND LANGEAIS                                  221

  XII. AZAY-LE-RIDEAU, USSE, AND CHINON                    241

  XIII. ANJOU AND BRETAGNE                                 273

  XIV. SOUTH OF THE LOIRE                                  301

  XV. BERRY AND GEORGE SAND'S COUNTRY                      313

  XVI. THE UPPER LOIRE                                     330

  INDEX                                                    337




List of Illustrations


                                                          PAGE

  A PEASANT GIRL OF TOURAINE                    _Frontispiece_

  ITINERARY OF THE LOIRE (MAP)                facing         1

  A LACE-MAKER OF THE UPPER LOIRE             facing         4

  THE LOIRE CHATEAUX (MAP)                                   9

  THE ANCIENT PROVINCES OF THE LOIRE VALLEY
  AND THEIR CAPITALS (MAP)                                  15

  THE LOIRE NEAR LA CHARITE                   facing        18

  COIFFES OF AMBOISE AND ORLEANS              facing        20

  THE CHATEAUX OF THE LOIRE (MAP)             facing        30

  ENVIRONS OF ORLEANS (MAP)                                 39

  THE LOIRET                                  facing        42

  THE LOIRE AT MEUNG                          facing        46

  BEAUGENCY                                   facing        50

  ARMS OF THE CITY OF BLOIS                                 58

  THE RIVERSIDE AT BLOIS                      facing        58

  SIGNATURE OF FRANCOIS PREMIER                             60

  CYPHER OF ANNE DE BRETAGNE, AT BLOIS                      62

  ARMS OF LOUIS XII.                                        65

  CENTRAL DOORWAY, CHATEAU DE BLOIS           facing        66

  THE CHATEAUX OF BLOIS (DIAGRAM)                           71

  CYPHER OF FRANCOIS PREMIER AND CLAUDE OF
  FRANCE, AT BLOIS                                          72

  NATIVE TYPES IN THE SOLOGNE                               89

  DONJON OF MONTRICHARD                       facing        92

  ARMS OF FRANCOIS PREMIER, AT CHAMBORD                     99

  PLAN OF CHATEAU DE CHAMBORD                              103

  CHATEAU DE CHAMBORD                         facing       104

  CHATEAU DE CHEVERNY                         facing       110

  CHEVERNY-SUR-LOIRE                                       113

  CHAUMONT                                    facing       116

  SIGNATURE OF DIANE DE POITIERS                           118

  THE LOIRE IN TOURAINE                       facing       134

  THE VINTAGE IN TOURAINE                     facing       142

  CHATEAU D'AMBOISE                           facing       148

  SCULPTURE FROM THE CHAPELLE DE ST. HUBERT   facing       164

  CYPHER OF ANNE DE BRETAGNE, HOTEL DE
  VILLE, AMBOISE                                           168

  CHATEAU DE CHENONCEAUX                      facing       178

  CHATEAU DE CHENONCEAUX (DIAGRAM)                         179

  LOCHES                                                   189

  LOCHES AND ITS CHURCH                       facing       192

  SKETCH PLAN OF LOCHES                                    198

  ST. OURS, LOCHES                            facing       198

  TOURS                                       facing       202

  ARMS OF THE PRINTERS, _AVOCATS_, AND INNKEEPERS,
  TOURS                                                    205

  SCENE IN THE QUARTIER DE LA CATHEDRALE,
  TOURS                                       facing       208

  PLESSIS-LES-TOURS IN THE TIME OF LOUIS XI.               213

  ENVIRONS OF TOURS (MAP)                                  219

  A VINEYARD OF VOUVRAY                       facing       222

  MEDIAEVAL STAIRWAY AND THE CHATEAU DE
  LUYNES                                      facing       224

  RUINS OF CINQ-MARS                          facing       228

  CHATEAU DE LANGEAIS                         facing       232

  ARMS OF LOUIS XII. AND ANNE DE BRETAGNE                  237

  CHATEAU D'AZAY-LE-RIDEAU                    facing       244

  CHATEAU D'USSE                              facing       248

  THE ROOF-TOPS OF CHINON                     facing       252

  RABELAIS                                                 255

  CHATEAU DE CHINON                           facing       258

  CUISINES, FONTEVRAULT                                    265

  CHATEAU DE SAUMUR                           facing       276

  THE PONTS DE CE                             facing       284

  CHATEAU D'ANGERS                            facing       288

  ENVIRONS OF NANTES (MAP)                                 297

  DONJON OF THE CHATEAU DE CLISSON            facing       306

  BERRY (MAP)                                              313

  LA TOUR, SANCERRE                                        317

  CHATEAU DE GIEN                             facing       318

  CHATEAU DE VALENCAY                         facing       322

  GATEWAY OF MEHUN-SUR-YEVRE                  facing       324

  LE CARRIOR DORE, ROMORANTIN                              325

  EGLISE S. AIGNAN, COSNE                                  331

  POUILLY-SUR-LOIRE                           facing       332

  PORTE DU CROUX, NEVERS                      facing       334





[Illustration: ITINERARY OF THE LOIRE (MAP)]




Castles and Chateaux

of Old Touraine

and the Loire Country




CHAPTER I.

A GENERAL SURVEY


Any account of the Loire and of the towns along its banks must naturally
have for its chief mention Touraine and the long line of splendid feudal
and Renaissance chateaux which reflect themselves so gloriously in its
current.

The Loire possesses a certain fascination and charm which many other
more commercially great rivers entirely lack, and, while the element of
absolute novelty cannot perforce be claimed for it, it has the merit of
appealing largely to the lover of the romantic and the picturesque.

A French writer of a hundred years ago dedicated his work on Touraine to
"Le Baron de Langeais, le Vicomte de Beaumont, le Marquis de Beauregard,
le Comte de Fontenailles, le Comte de Jouffroy-Gonsans, le Duc de
Luynes, le Comte de Vouvray, le Comte de Villeneuve, _et als._;" and he
might have continued with a directory of all the descendants of the
_noblesse_ of an earlier age, for he afterward grouped them under the
general category of "_Proprietaires des fortresses et chateaux les plus
remarquables--au point de vue historique ou architectural_."

He was fortunate in being able, as he said, to have had access to their
"_papiers de famille_," their souvenirs, and to have been able to
interrogate them in person.

Most of his facts and his gossip concerning the personalities of the
later generations of those who inhabited these magnificent
establishments have come down to us through later writers, and it is
fortunate that this should be the case, since the present-day aspect of
the chateaux is ever changing, and one who views them to-day is
chagrined when he discovers, for instance, that an iron-trussed,
red-tiled wash-house has been built on the banks of the Cosson before
the magnificent chateau of Chambord, and that somewhere within the
confines of the old castle at Loches a shopkeeper has hung out his
shingle, announcing a newly discovered dungeon in his own basement,
accidentally come upon when digging a well.

Balzac, Rabelais, and Descartes are the leading literary celebrities of
Tours, and Balzac's "Le Lys dans la Vallee" will give one a more
delightful insight into the old life of the Tourangeaux than whole
series of guide-books and shelves of dry histories.

Blois and its counts, Tours and its bishops, and Amboise and its kings,
to say nothing of Fontevrault, redolent of memories of the Plantagenets,
Nantes and its famous "Edict," and its equally infamous "Revocation,"
have left vivid impress upon all students of French history. Others will
perhaps remember Nantes for Dumas's brilliant descriptions of the
outcome of the Breton conspiracy.

All of us have a natural desire to know more of historic ground, and
whether we make a start by entering the valley of the Loire at the
luxurious midway city of Tours, and follow the river first to the sea
and then to the source, or make the journey from source to mouth, or
vice versa, it does not matter in the least. We traverse the same ground
and we meet the same varying conditions as we advance a hundred
kilometres in either direction.

Tours, for example, stands for all that is typical of the sunny south.
Prune and palm trees thrust themselves forward in strong contrast to the
cider-apples of the lower Seine. Below Tours one is almost at the coast,
and the _tables d'hote_ are abundantly supplied with sea-food of all
sorts. Above Tours the Orleannais is typical of a certain well-to-do,
matter-of-fact existence, neither very luxurious nor very difficult.

Nevers is another step and resembles somewhat the opulence of Burgundy
as to conditions of life, though the general aspect of the city, as well
as a great part of its history, is Italian through and through.

The last great step begins at Le Puy, in the great volcanic _Massif
Centrale_, where conditions of life, if prosperous, are at least harder
than elsewhere.

Such are the varying characteristics of the towns and cities through
which the Loire flows. They run the whole gamut from gay to earnest and
solemn; from the ease and comfort of the country around Tours, almost
sub-tropical in its softness, to the grime and smoke of busy St.
Etienne, and the chilliness and rigours of a mountain winter at Le Puy.

[Illustration: _A Lace-maker of the Upper Loire_]

These districts are all very full of memories of events which have
helped to build up the solidarity of France of to-day, though the
Nantois still proudly proclaims himself a Breton, and the Tourangeau
will tell you that his is the tongue, above all others, which speaks the
purest French,--and so on through the whole category, each and every
citizen of a _petit pays_ living up to his traditions to the fullest
extent possible.

In no other journey in France, of a similar length, will one see as many
varying contrasts in conditions of life as he will along the length of
the Loire, the broad, shallow river which St. Martin, Charles Martel,
and Louis XI., the typical figures of church, arms, and state, came to
know so well.

Du Bellay, a poet of the Renaissance, has sung the praises of the Loire
in a manner unapproached by any other topographical poet, if one may so
call him, for that is what he really was in this particular instance.

There is a great deal of patriotism in it all, too, and certainly no
sweet singer of the present day has even approached these lines, which
are eulogistic without being fulsome and fervent without being lurid.

The verses have frequently been rendered into English, but the following
is as good as any, and better than most translations, though it is one
of those fragments of "newspaper verse" whose authors are lost in
obscurity.

    "Mightier to me the house my fathers made,
      Than your audacious heads, O Halls of Rome!
    More than immortal marbles undecayed,
      The thin sad slates that cover up my home;
    More than your Tiber is my Loire to me,
      More Palatine my little Lyre there;
    And more than all the winds of all the sea,
      The quiet kindness of the Angevin air."

In history the Loire valley is rich indeed, from the days of the ancient
Counts of Touraine to those of Mazarin, who held forth at Nevers.
Touraine has well been called the heart of the old French monarchy.

Provincial France has a charm never known to Paris-dwellers. Balzac and
Flaubert were provincials, and Dumas was a city-dweller,--and there lies
the difference between them.

Balzac has written most charmingly of Touraine in many of his books, in
"Le Lys dans la Vallee" and "Le Cure de Tours" in particular; not always
in complimentary terms, either, for he has said that the Tourangeaux
will not even inconvenience themselves to go in search of pleasure. This
does not bespeak indolence so much as philosophy, so most of us will not
cavil. George Sand's country lies a little to the southward of Touraine,
and Berry, too, as the authoress herself has said, has a climate
"_souple et chaud, avec pluie abondant et courte_."

The architectural remains in the Loire valley are exceedingly rich and
varied. The feudal system is illustrated at its best in the great walled
chateau