Loches Castle
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The hole Castle is a castle on a hill on the left bank of the Indre above the French town hole . The complex, which consists of three building complexes, including one of the oldest donjons in France, is one of the best-preserved European architectural ensembles of the Middle Ages . As early as 1840 the collegiate church belonging to the castle was placed under monument protection as a monument historique , and the donjon followed in 1862. The entrance gate to the palace area was added to the list of monuments in June 1886 , while the Logis Royal was only declared a monument in 1889.
Although the castle is not located directly in the Loire Valley , it is still counted among the Loire castles.
building
The palace complex is surrounded by an almost two-kilometer-long curtain wall. At the northern end of the area is the so-called Logis Royal , while the Donjon complex with its numerous additions is located in the south . On the eastern side, roughly in the middle of the northern half, is the Saint-Ours collegiate church between Logis Royal and Donjon . The so-called Königstor (French: Porte Royale ) from the 15th century is the only entrance to the complex. It is a closed structure that is enclosed by two round towers from the 13th century and has machicolations all around . Today it is used as a local museum.
Donjon complex
The building complex at the southern end of the rock plateau consists of four buildings from different eras. Its well-preserved state of construction is not least due to the fact that it served as a prison until 1926.
Donjon
The well-preserved donjon is the oldest building in the entire palace complex. The square tower, measuring 25 by 15 meters, was built at the beginning of the 11th century from stone blocks without bosses and decorated on the outside with Romanesque pillars . Underground shafts that run through the entire rock plateau testify that its building material was extracted directly at the future location.
In its massive outer walls, which are up to 3.50 meters thick at the base, there are chimneys, stairs and corridors. Some of these corridors end blind and should mislead potential attackers. Once they walked into such a blind aisle, they could easily be put on their forced return. Due to the limited width of the corridor, they faced the defender alone, no matter how many attackers there were in total.
The tower has a height of 36 meters, which is divided into five floors. Only the lower four floors had ceilings, which are no longer preserved today. Some of them were at a height of 7.5 meters. The ground floor, the ceiling of which was previously formed by a vault, probably served as a provisions store and was divided in length by a wall. There is still a well shaft from the early days of the system. The second to fourth floors were used for residential purposes, which is indicated by the furnishing with chimneys. There are several beam holes in the outer wall at the height of the stair tower roof. Bodo Ebhardt interprets this as a reference to a previously existing battlement .
The only entrance to the donjon is at a height of three meters and can be reached via a lower, four-storey gate and stair tower, which is built in front of the donjon on its northern long side. It is accessible via a level entrance on its west side. Just like the donjon, it lacks blankets. From the ground floor with three loopholes in the north wall, a stone staircase with 49 steps leads up to the donjon entrance. The floor above the staircase was occupied by a room, the chimney attachment and arched windows of which are still preserved today. It served as a vestibule to the knight's hall , which was on the same level in the donjon. A semicircular altar niche can still be seen on the third floor, as the castle chapel used to be there.
Tower of Louis XI.
The donjon is west of the semicircular, 25 meter high tower of Louis XI. (French: Tour Louis XI. ) from the Renaissance period . This is also called the New Tower (French: Tour Neuve ) and was built as a prison tower. Its four above-ground floors each house a single, large room. Equipped with battlements and machicolations, its terrace-like roof was designed to serve as a location for cannons.
A reconstruction of a prisoner's cage is on display in a cellar dungeon of the tower , the original of which was commissioned by the historian Philippe de Commynes on behalf of the French King Louis XI. was constructed. Such so-called filettes were cages made of wood and iron, which were only 1.75 meters long and 1.5 meters high and were hung under the ceiling at a height of about two meters. It is possible that Philippe de Commynes himself was imprisoned in his own invention, or at least he languished in the tower of Louis XI for a few years . after revolting against the reign of Anne de Beaujeus . However, it is disputed among historians whether the filettes were actually used for the permanent accommodation of prisoners or merely for their transport. The last authentic filette was destroyed during the French Revolution , so only a replica can be viewed today.
Martelet Tower
In the southwest of the donjon complex there is a polygonal tower called Martelet . Possibly it got its name after Gottfried Martel . Like the tower of Louis XI. it also served as a prison. With a height of 20 meters, it has three floors above ground. Numerous dungeons carved into the rock are spread over several floors underground. The most famous prisoner was the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza , who decorated his cell with numerous frescoes and inscriptions during his eight-year stay . Some of these paintings are still preserved on the west wall of his cell. His famous inscription "Celui qui net pas contan (t)" (German: The one who is not satisfied ) has not been preserved since the 1980s, because the plaster crumbled off at this point on the wall. Other known inmates of the Martelet were Jean de Poitiers, father of Diane de Poitiers , and the Cardinal Jean de La Balue .
Governor's house
The governor's house , which dates back to the 15th century, joins the tower of Louis XI. at its southern end. The large hall of the house is now used for exhibitions.
Logis Royal
The Logis Royal (German: Königliches Logis ) consists of a main building with two wings from different eras and the tower of Agnès Sorel (French: Tour Agnès Sorel ). The oldest part is its south wing, the so-called Alte Logis (French: Vieux Logis ), which is joined to the north by the New Logis (French: Nouveau Logis ) from the 16th century. The tower of Agnès Sorel forms the southeast corner of the building and is connected to the old logis via a low connecting wing .
Outer
The two different construction phases of the building can be read from the current exterior shape of the house, which are particularly visible from the terrace to the east. The facade of the three-storey old logis is characterized by a strict military style and features elements of fortifications such as battlements and loopholes. Its top floor is surrounded at the corners by four round towers and has a southern stepped gable .
The stairs leading up to the portal are lined with stone dog sculptures, which show the function of the complex as a hunting lodge under Charles VIII and Louis XII. clarify. The coat of arms of the French royal family with the three lilies is located above the entrance .
The three-storey Neue Logis forms the northern part of the residential building. Its facade shows features of the flamboyant through a frieze under the eaves . Its top floor has a slightly bent pitched roof with three portholes on the eastern side, which have richly decorated gables. The private chapel Anne de Bretagnes , which forms the northern end of the residential building , is architecturally somewhat detached from the rest of the New Logis , but belongs to it.
The old logis is connected to the round tower of Agnès Sorel , which got its name in the 19th century, via a low, thick wall . From 1809 to 1970 it housed the tomb of Agnès Sorels , the mistress of Charles VII. The four-story tower with a conical helmet was built in the 13th century and has a semicircular stair tower, the carved console of which represents a couple in love.
inside rooms
The main portal of the old logis leads to the hall of Charles VII, which used to be his private apartment. There is a copy of the manuscript that records the trial of Joan of Arc in Rouen in 1431 . The Allégorie de la musique tapestry from Brussels is an eye-catcher . A copy of a portrait of Charles VII, the original of which can be seen in the Louvre , completes the interior.
To the north of this is the Jeanne d'Arc room with a large fireplace, which was used as a ballroom. At the time of Charles VII it reached up to the roof truss and was 14 meters high.
A door in the north wall of the Jeanne d'Arc room is accessible to a room that housed Agnès Sorel's tomb from 1970 to April 2005. On the wall is a copy of her famous portrait of the Virgin of Melun by Jean Fouquet . With the exception of a fireplace, this room is completely unadorned. It is adjoined by a room in which there is a triptych of the Passion of Jesus. Originally from the Saint-Antoine church, it dates back to 1485 and is attributed to the Jean Fouquet school. Flat painting on wood a tempera is characterized by its high level of realism in the depiction.
Next to this room is the room of Charles VIII, in which, in addition to his portrait, one of his wife Anne de Bretagne can be seen, as well as a painting showing Maximilian I of Habsburg with his family.
The now fully restored oratory of Anne de Bretagne can be entered via a separate entrance to the north of the Logis Royal . Under King Ludwig XII. Built for his wife, the chapel has wall reliefs carved out of stone . In addition to the ermine, the coat of arms of the Dukes of Brittany , they show the knot of Saint Francis , which Anne de Bretagne had also adopted as an emblem in her coat of arms. The chapel also has a pointed arch and a small Gothic altar.
Saint-Ours Collegiate Church
The collegiate church belonging to the palace complex stands on the highest point of the rock plateau and is dedicated to Saint Ursus of Auxerre , who led Touraine to Christianity in the 5th century. Built in the 11th century, it was changed in the 12th century. In the 14th and 15th centuries it was rebuilt taking into account the existing structure of the Romanesque predecessor building, so that the church has Gothic elements in addition to Romanesque style elements.
The most unusual feature of the building are its two duben , octagonal towers with pyramid-shaped roofs, which rise between the ribbed portal tower and the main tower. These two components are actually only the roofs of two eight-sided vaults over the central nave yoke , the construction of which became necessary after the first church roof of the 12th century collapsed only shortly after its completion. Although this solution was not used for church buildings, it did not require additional support structures. Due to their very unusual design for sacred architecture, they are still the most distinctive features of the building today.
The church has a three apsidal choir and is equipped with a rich stone sculptural decoration, which shows, among other things, medieval mythical creatures. The archivolt of its richly decorated arched portal of Romanesque origin still shows remnants of the original colored painting and is decorated with the most extensive figure cycle in the Loire Valley. A fresco from the second half of the 12th century depicting St. Brictius , successor to Martin of Tours , can be seen in the crypt under the south choir hall .
Agnès Sorel's tomb
In his will, Agnès Sorel made a generous donation to the Loches monastery, including a sum of 2000 Goldécu . She had also decreed that her heart should be buried in Jumièges Abbey and that her body should be buried in the Saint-Ours church. So there were two tombs for her for a while. The one in Jumièges is no longer preserved, as it was partially destroyed by Calvinists in the 16th century and then completely destroyed during the French Revolution.
description
The tomb was made by order of Charles VII. It consists of a life-size reclining figure made of white alabaster on a tumba made of black marble . This bears an inscription on its upper edge, the letters of which were previously gilded:
Cy gist noble damoyselle Agnès Seurelle en son vivant dame de Beaulté, de Roquesserière, d'Issouldun et de Vernon-sur-Seine piteuse envers toutes les gens et qui largement donnoit de ses biens aux eglyses et aux pauvres laquelle trespassa le IXvème jour de fé fé l'an de grâce MCCCCXLIX, priies Dieu pour lame delle. Amen.
(Here lies the noble lady Agnès Seurelle, mistress of Beaulté, Roquesserière, Issouldun and Vernon-sur-Seine during her lifetime . Day of February passed in the year of the Lord 1449, we pray to God for your soul. Amen.)
To date, it is not clear whether the figure was made by the sculptor Jacques Morel or his contemporary Michel Colombe . It shows a woman in a simple robe who wears a crown. Her head lies on a pillow, which is flanked on the right and left by an angel sculpture. At the feet of the figure lie two lambs, which, based on the first name Agnes - the Latin word agnus means sheep - are supposed to represent gentleness. The hands of the woman's sculpture are folded in prayer.
History of the tomb
Agnès Sorel's tomb was initially in the middle of the church choir, but shortly after the death of Charles VII, the canons wanted to remove it from its exposed place. With reference to their unchaste life and under the pretext that the tomb disturbs them at their masses, they turned to Louis XI. He agreed to a relocation on the condition that the Abbey of Agnès had to return generous donations. And so the grave stayed in place. In the course of the following centuries, however, the church repeatedly asked the respective French king to be allowed to move the tomb to a different location, each time without success. So wrote Louis XV. personally in response to such a request: “Néant, laisser le tombeau où il est” (“No, leave the grave where it is”).
In 1777, however, Louis XVI. at the insistence of the canons and approved the transfer. The grave was then opened for the first time. The fragments of three nested coffins - two made of oak, one made of lead - were revealed, in which the remains of Agnès Sorel's corpse were in good condition; including ash-blonde hair braided in a braid. According to her last will, the mistress was buried without jewels because there was no jewelery in the grave. After being reburied in an urn, the remains were buried again in the tomb, which had meanwhile been moved to the right side of the choir.
During the French Revolution, the tomb was desecrated by revolutionaries in 1793 because they believed it was the burial place of a saint. The tomb was badly damaged and the urn was brought to the rectory cemetery, where it was not rediscovered until 1970.
During the period of the First Empire, the then Prefect of the Department, General François René Jean de Pommereul, had the remains of the tomb brought to Paris and restored there by the sculptor Pierre Nicolas Beauvallet in 1807. Among other things, he replaced the destroyed hands that were once holding a book with their present, praying version. Subsequently, in 1809, the Tumba was re-erected in a kind of crypt in the tower of Agnès Sorel and opened to the public for inspection. It remained there until March 1970 when it was moved to the Logis Royal for reasons of preservation .
On September 28, 2004, the grave was opened a third time and the remains it contained were examined for a criminal investigation. The result of the investigation was that the deceased was actually the mistress of Charles VII and that she had died of mercury poisoning. After completion of the investigation, the tomb was placed in the left aisle of the collegiate church by decision of the General Council of the Département Indre-et-Loire and the urn was buried again on April 2, 2005 in the presence of representatives of the French aristocracy. The Tumba returned to the place of the original burial place after 196 years.
history
Until 10th century
A vicus already existed in Loches in the 5th century , which was first mentioned by Gregory of Tours at the end of that century and razed in 741. In 742 a fortification was mentioned as mota , which was called castrum in later records .
Charles the Bald left the castle to his loyal knight Adeland in 840, who gave it to his granddaughter Roscille. She had married the Count of Anjou , Fulko the Red , the son of Viscount Ingelger , and thus brought the castle to his family. The system came from Fulko the Red via his son Fulko the Good to his son Gottfried Grisonelle . In 962 he had a St. Mary's Church built on the spot where the small, simple church Sainte-Marie-Madeleine had previously stood, which was built in the 5th century by St. Eustochius , Bishop of Tours . This Marienkirche was the predecessor of today's collegiate church Saint-Ours, which was called Notre-Dame until the 19th century . The castrum itself was also rebuilt. It is unclear who the client was. What is certain is that the new building was built to protect against the invasion of the Normans who attacked the Touraine in the 10th century.
11th and 12th centuries
Gottfried Grisonelle's son Fulko Nerra is credited with building the donjon, the construction of which, according to construction researchers, began between 1013 and 1035. During his reign as Count of Anjou (987 to 1040), Fulko had a dense network of fortifications built, which were built at intervals of about 30 kilometers throughout the county and were intended to secure the power of his house. For this reason the donjon in Loches was strongly fortified.
After Fulko Nerra's death, his son Gottfried Martel inherited the castle. Since he died without male descendants, the system first came to his nephew Gottfried the Bearded in 1060 and later to his brother Fulko the Quarrel . In the course of ongoing conflicts with the Counts of Blois-Chartres , the castle has been continuously fortified since it was built by the Counts of Anjou.
In the 12th century, the castle in Loches was the scene of years of siege , when Henry II of England and his two sons Johann Ohneland and Richard the Lionheart fought with the French King Philip II Auguste for possession of the Touraine. When Gottfried der Schöne , grandson of Fulkos the Quarrel, married Matilda of England , granddaughter and heiress of William the Conqueror , into the English royal family in 1128 , the French king claimed the complex for himself and thus triggered a dispute over the property that lasted for decades . Gottfried's son Heinrich II inherited the castle around 1150, but lost it to his son Richard the Lionheart in the course of family disputes in 1189, although he - like all of Loches - had further fortified it. After Richard the Lionheart was captured on his way back from the Third Crusade , his younger brother Johann Ohneland contracted Loches Castle to the French crown in 1193, but it was recaptured by Richard in a coup in 1194 . It only took three hours for the facility to be back in English hands.
As early as 1150, today's collegiate church was built in the Romanesque style near the Donjon. However, since the roof of the nave collapsed shortly after construction was completed, the then prior Thomas Pactius ordered the erection of two eight-sided vaults over the nave and their roofing with two dubs around 1165.
13th and 14th centuries
After the death of Richard the Lionheart, his brother Johann inherited the Locher property, which Philip II Auguste attacked during a Franco-English war in 1204. Johann's castellan Gerard d'Athée fiercely defended the castle, but after a year-long siege he had to hand over the isolated castle at Easter 1205. Philip II appointed the Connétable Dreux IV. De Mello as the new castellan of Loches. The office was associated with corresponding privileges and income, but the award was made on the premise that the French crown could revoke this office at any time and reclaim the lands associated with it. The office passed to his nephew Dreux VI through the childless Dreux V. de Mello, son of Dreux IV. from Mello over. When Louis the Holy claimed Loches back for himself, Dreux VI refused. the return and could not be changed until 1249 against an annual rent of 600 livres . Louis the Saint finally incorporated the complex into the French crown domain . She stayed with her until the French Revolution. It was besieged by English troops during the Hundred Years War , but could not be captured.
15th century
Charles VI von France had begun during his reign at the end of the 14th century to build a new house at the northeastern end of the rocky plateau, but it was only completed under his successor Charles VII. Also let Charles VI. Beginning around 1415 in the area of the donjon the construction of a semicircular prison tower, which was initially called the New Tower , but is now the tower of Louis XI. is called. Charles VII chose the castle together with Chinon as his main residence and added the Martelet Tower to the donjon complex in 1450. He then gave the castle to his mistress Agnès Sorel. Here he is said to have received Joan of Arc in June 1429 after the successful siege of Orléans , which convinced him to be crowned king in Reims .
Although Karl's son Ludwig XI. Having spent part of his childhood at Loches Castle, he did not feel at home there and preferred to live in Amboise Castle . Only his son Charles VIII used the complex as a residence again more often. So he began to expand the Logis Royal to the north, adding a central structure to the 12th and 13th century Königstor and a roof platform on which cannons were placed. However, the expansion of the Logis Royal came under Charles' successor, Louis XII. in conclusion.
From the 16th century
The Counts of Anjou had already used parts of their mighty donjon as a prison. Under Louis XII. began the time when this was the only function of the donjon complex. From the end of the 15th century until the French Revolution it served as a state prison, then until 1926 as a prison for the department . The Logis Royal gradually lost its function as the favorite residence of the French king and was only used as a hunting lodge. Only in the prison area was there still a few construction activities to be recorded. Thus, at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, other smaller structures were added, such as a new gate building that was placed in front of the old stair tower of the donjon. Loches Castle finally lost its importance as a royal residence when Francis I chose Fontainebleau Castle as his preferred residence after the death of his wife Claudia of France in 1524 .
Looted and badly damaged during the French Revolution, the castle then served as the seat of the sub-prefecture - in the meantime it had become state property . A first restoration was carried out in 1806 in order to make the castle rooms usable for the authorities. Further conservation measures took place in the 1880s under the direction of the architect Eugène Bruneau and devoured 48,000 francs in the first year alone. In the early 20th century, inmates of the prison exposed foundations in the area of the donjon complex under the guidance of an amateur archaeologist . The current owner of the facility is the city of Loches.
literature
- Direction du Tourisme du Département d'Indre-et-Loire: The Royal Castle of Loches . Saep Édition, Ingersheim 1982.
- Bodo Ebhardt : Europe's defense construction in the Middle Ages . Volume 1, reprint of the 1939 edition. Stürtz, Würzburg 1998, ISBN 3-88189-243-5 , page 257 f.
- Susanne Girndt (Red.): Castles of the Loire . Bassermann, Niedernhausen 1996, ISBN 3-8094-0290-7 , pages 49-51.
- Wilfried Hansmann : The Loire Valley. Castles, churches and cities in the «Garden of France» . 2nd Edition. DuMont, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-7701-3555-5 , pp. 142-149 (excerpts online ).
- Jean Mesqui: La tour maîtresse du donjon de Loches. In: Edward Impey, Élisabeth Lorans, Jean Mesqui: Deux donjons construits autour de l'an mil en Touraine. Langeais et Loches. Société française d'archéologie, Paris 1998, pages 65–125 ( PDF, 16 MB ).
- Jean Mesqui: Les enceintes du donjon de Loches. In: Congrès Archéologique de France, 155e session, 1997, Touraine. Paris 2003, pages 207-237 ( PDF, 5.6 MB ).
- Armand Lanoux: Castles of the Loire . Éditions Sun, Paris 1980, ISBN 2-7191-0106-X , page 168, 256-257.
- Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos, Robert Polidori : Castles in the Loire Valley . Könemann, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-89508-597-9 , p. 208-213 .
- Eckhard Philipp: The Loire Valley . 3. Edition. Goldstadtverlag, Pforzheim 1993, ISBN 3-87269-078-7 , page 268 f.
- René Polette: Lovable Loire castles . Morstadt, Kehl 1996, ISBN 3-88571-266-0 , pages 68-70.
- Loches et ses édifies . In: Le Magasin pittoresque… . Vol. 44, Paris 1876, pages 137-139.
Web links
- Loches Castle on richesheures.net (French)
- Photos from Base Mémoire
- The Loches donjon complex as a 3D model in SketchUp's 3D warehouse
References and comments
- ↑ a b c Loches Castle in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French), accessed on January 26th.
- ↑ a b c d e Direction du Tourisme du Département d'Indre-et-Loire: The Royal Castle of Loches . Saep Édition, Ingersheim 1982, page 16.
- ↑ Information according to an information board at the donjon.
- ↑ B. Ebhardt: Europe's defense construction in the Middle Ages , page 261.
- ^ Jean-Jacques Deshayes: Loches . Saep Édition, Ingersheim 1986, page 11.
- ↑ a b B. Ebhardt: European fortifications in the Middle Ages , page 257.
- ^ Werner Rau: Mobile travel. Loire Valley . 1st edition. Rau Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-926145-27-7 , page 96.
- ↑ Axel M. Moser, Thorsten Droste: The castles of the Loire . Bucher, Munich and Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-7658-0648-X , page 177.
- ↑ A reference to the title of duchess, which Charles VII bestowed on his mistress, but she had refused.
- ^ A b E. Philipp: The valley of the Loire , page 284.
- ↑ richesheures.net , accessed September 12, 2006.
- ^ W. Hansmann: The Loire Valley , page 144.
- ^ Jean-Jacques Deshayes: Loches . Saep Édition, Ingersheim 1986, page 2.
- ↑ C. Dormois: L'expertise dendrochronologique du donjon de Loches (Indre-et-Loire). Des données fondamentales pour sa datation . In: Archeology Médiévale . No. 27, 1997, pp. 73-89.
- ^ According to a notice in The Academy , No. 453, January 1881, ISSN 0269-3321 , p. 34.
Coordinates: 47 ° 7 ′ 34 ″ N , 0 ° 59 ′ 53 ″ E