Plessis-lès-Tours castle
Plessis-lès-Tours , formerly Plessis-lez-Tours or Plessis-du-Parc is a castle in the French commune of La Riche in the Indre-et-Loire department ( Center-Val de Loire region ), a western suburb of Tours , the was built in the 15th century and temporarily served as a royal residence. It was partially destroyed during the Revolution, after a restoration campaign (1932) it temporarily housed a museum on the history of Touraine silk weaving and now serves as the headquarters of an acting troupe.
history
The castle, then still called Montils-lez-Tours or Montils-les-Tours , was built by the Maillé family in the 15th century on their properties, which are located between the Loire and its tributary Cher . The Maillés sold the domain in 1463 to the always suspicious King Louis XI. He had it surrounded by a double wall, created a park and enlarged the castle, which he made his favorite place to stay.
When the king fell seriously ill in 1483, he had Pope Sixtus IV summon the former hermit and founder of the order Franz von Paola (1436–1507), who had a reputation for miraculous healings, to his sick bed. The Calabrian monk arrived in Plessis in April of the same year and provided the king with spiritual support until his death there on August 30, 1483. Franz von Paola settled in Plessis, where he, with the help of Louis XI. Son Charles VIII was able to found the monastery called Couvent des Grands Minimes du Plessis in 1489 ; the first community of “least brothers” in France. He died on April 2, 1507 in his monastery, where he was also buried.
Charles VIII and his young wife Anne de Bretagne resided in Plessis after their marriage (1491), where their children Charles Orland, Charles and François were born, none of whom survived. Anne married after Charles VIII had an accident and died in Amboise , his cousin and successor Louis XII. who had Plessis embellished and used as a hunting lodge. The Estates General , convened in the Great Hall of Plessis in 1506 , gave the monarch the title Père du Peuple (German: Father of the People ).
Under Henry III. the castle served Franz von Alençon , the king's brother, and Philipp von Marnix , the emissary of Wilhelm "des Schweigers" of Orange, as a place to stay during the negotiations on the Treaty of Plessis-lès-Tours signed on September 19, 1580 . Through this alliance, the Protestant northern provinces of the Netherlands , united in the Union of Utrecht , who refused to recognize the Catholic King Philip II of Spain as ruler, sought the support of France. They offered Franz von Alençon, who was moderate in religious matters, to raise him to “Prince and Lord” and to give him the title of “Défenseur de la liberté des Pays Bas” (Defender of Freedom in the Netherlands). Franz von Alençon were imposed high financial conditions, which were at the same time associated with the high risk that the richest of these provinces, Holland , Zeeland and Utrecht - which expressly reserved the right to regard the Prince of Orange as their master under certain conditions - from the treaty veered. However, Franz's plan failed.
On April 30, 1589 , Heinrich III. and his brother-in-law, the Huguenot leader Heinrich von Navarra, after lengthy negotiations, to the applause of the war-weary people, their reconciliation through a meeting in the park of Plessis-lès-Tours; a significant event that reunited the Protestants with the Catholics who were loyal to the king and especially against the enemies of the royal family.
In the course of time, Plessis-lès-Tours fell into disrepair, was declared national property after the outbreak of the French Revolution , acquired by a judge from Tours in 1797 and abandoned for demolition. Only part of the two-storey royal residential wing made of brick with a polygonal stair tower with light-colored corner blocks is preserved today.
literature
- Wilfried Hansmann : The Loire Valley. Castles, churches and cities in the «Garden of France» . 2nd Edition. DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2006, ISBN 3-7701-6614-0 , p. 164 .
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 22 ′ 58 ″ N , 0 ° 39 ′ 38 ″ E