Tour de Nesle
The Tour de Nesle (French, German Nesleturm, also Nigella tower, French also: Tour de Neelles , Tour de Nesles or Tour Nelle , Latin Tornella Nigellae ) was a round tower of the old Paris city fortifications from the 13th century . It was in 1200 during the reign of Philip II. August as westlichster point of the city wall on the left bank of the Seine built and in 1210 the first time as de Tornelle Philippe Hamelin mentioned ( Old French tornelle French =. Tourelle dt =. Small tower, Latin . Tornella Philippi Hamelini supra Sequanam , German Philippe Hamelin Tower on the Seine), named after the provost of the city of Paris at the time .
description
The tower was solidly built, had a diameter of about 9 to 10 meters, a height of about 25 meters (including its stair tower), had 3 ½ floors in addition to the roof platform and a stair tower that towered over the main tower by several meters. It served as a defense and observation tower, but also had an important function at the time: A strong iron chain extended from it over the Seine to the similar-looking corner tower ( Tour du Coin , later Tour du Louvre ), to protect the city from intruders by ship . Another barrier of a similar design was located in the east of the city south of the later Bastille with the round billy tower ( Tour de Billy ) on the right bank of the Seine and a rectangular tower with corner towers ( Le Chardonnet , since the 14th century la Tournelle ) on the left bank of the Seine. Around 1330 the defense tower was named Tour de Nesle after the neighboring manor house, Hôtel de Nesle , built by Lord von Nesle , which was connected to the tower by a wall. A city gate called Porte de Nesle was built into the city wall near the tower in the 16th century, and a bridge led across the moat.
Already under Charles VII the tower was in a desolate condition and because of the city expansion it was no longer part of the city fortifications. The loopholes had long been widened to windows, and bushes had settled on its roof platform. In the 16th century it appeared as a blackish relic opposite the new Louvre wing built on the right side of the Seine. It was often rented out privately for various purposes. Since it had to give way to the building of the Collège des Quatre Nations (today: Institut de France ) on the orders of Cardinal Mazarin as early as 1660 , which included the Bibliothèque Mazarine , the tower is only of contemporary images (by Jacques Callot , from the studio the Perelle family and Israël Silvestre ).
In 1308, the French King Philip IV the Handsome (* 1268, † 1314) bought the Hôtel de Nesle from Amaury de Nesle, whose son Philip V gave it to his wife Johanna of Burgundy in 1319 , who gave it to him in her will from 1325 Sale intended to send the money to the Collège de Bourgogne , part of the University of Paris.
The Tour de Nesle scandal
The Tour de Nesle plays the eponymous role in a drama of adultery from 1314 that deeply affected the Capetians , the royal family of France. The dispute led to the change to the Valois dynasty , which in turn led to the throne claims of the English King Edward III. and thus started the Hundred Years War .
King Philip IV of France had four sons:
- Louis the quarrel (French: Louis X le Hutin) (* 1289, † 1316), who succeeded Louis X in 1314 ,
- Philip the Long (French: Philippe V le Long) (* 1291, † 1322), who ascended the throne as Philip V in 1316 ;
- Charles of La Marche (French Charles IV le Bel) (* 1295, † 1328) who became King of France in 1322 as Charles IV .
- Robert (* 1297, † 1308); he died during his father's reign.
In 1305, Ludwig married Margaret of Burgundy (* 1290), a daughter of Duke Robert II of Burgundy and Agnes of France , who in turn was a daughter of King Louis IX. was. In 1307 Philipp married Johanna von Burgund (* probably 1291), a daughter of Count Palatine Otto IV of Burgundy and Mathilde von Artois , heir to Count Robert II. Karl finally married in 1306 or 1307 Blanka von Burgund (* 1295), a sister Johannas.
Two of the three princesses, Margarete and Blanka, were the main actors in the drama, the third, Johanna, an accomplice. In the spring of 1314 they were accused of adultery with the knights Philippe and Gautier d'Aunay and Johanna of complicity. They were reportedly discovered red-handed with their lovers; the brothers confessed to the torture that the relationship had existed for three years. The meetings between Gautier and Margarete as well as Blanka and Philippe are said to have taken place in the Tour de Nesle or more likely in the Hôtel de Nesle.
Isabella of France (* 1292, † 1358), older sister of the three kings and herself since 1307 as the wife of Edward II. Queen of England - called the she-wolf of France by the English - was involved in the discovery of adultery . A contemporary chronicle reports: “Queen Isabella of England, daughter of Philip the Fair, had two very beautiful exchanges. She gave one to the wife of Ludwig the quarrel, the other to the wife of Karl von La Marche. She was very astonished to see both exchanges on the belts of the two cavaliers some time afterwards. She was silent, but reported the fact to the king, her father, who had his daughters-in-law monitored. ”A little later, the king ordered the arrest of the accused.
Philippe and Gautier d'Aunay were executed on April 19, 1314 by having their skin peeled alive in the market square of Pontoise , then castrated, beheaded and finally displayed on the gallows . Margarete and Blanka were taken to Château Gaillard and imprisoned there. Johanna, who denied everything and was not accused of complicity but only of complicity, was brought to the Dourdan castle . It is thanks to the intervention of her mother Mathilde von Artois that she was later pardoned and was able to take the place at her husband's side again (and gave birth to a son in 1316). However, it is difficult to understand that her husband gave her the Hôtel de Nesle as a gift in 1319.
Philip IV died in November of the same year, Ludwig ascended the throne as Louis X, and Margaret was formally queen - but only for a few months. On April 30, 1315, she was found dead in prison; According to one tradition, she was strangled with the help of her own hair on the orders of her husband. In August 1315 the king married a second time in Paris.
Karl, on the other hand, demanded the dissolution of his marriage, Pope Clement V refused, since adultery was not a reason for divorce. Annulment was also out of the question, as the couple had a daughter and the consummation of the marriage was therefore obvious.
Blanka was still at Château Gaillard when her husband became king in early 1322 and she thus became queen, which was one more reason to forbid her release. But when Karl in a further attempt at Pope Johannes XXII. enforced the divorce, which was pronounced on May 19, 1322, Blanka was taken from prison and allowed to retire to Maubuisson Monastery , where she died in 1326.
According to legend, a French queen of the 14th century is said to have used the tower as a love nest, murdered her lovers in it and thrown them in a sack into the Seine or caused them to jump from the tower and drown.
Literary processing
The drama provided the material for the play La Tour de Nesle by Alexandre Dumas from 1832 and for the historical novel Les rois maudits (German Die Uneligen Koenig 1960) by the French novelist Maurice Druon .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Joseph Petit: Charles de Valois (1270-1325): Thèse Présentée à la Faculté des Lettres de l'université de Paris . In: Elibron Classics Series . Adegi Graphics LLC, 1999, ISBN 1-4212-2241-8 , pp. 200 (French, limited preview in Google Book search).
Coordinates: 48 ° 51 '27 " N , 2 ° 20' 14" E