Amboise

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When Francis I ascended the French throne, he presented the barony of Amboise with its hundred and forty-six fiefs to his mother, Louise of Savoy.

Numerous authorities state, however, that Margaret spent most of her time in study with her preceptors, and in the devotional exercises which then had so large a place in the training of princesses.

still she was by no means indifferent to the pastimes in which her brother and his companions engaged gaston de foix the nephew of the king william goffier who became admiral de bonivet philip briand sieur de chabot florange the young adventurer charles de bourbon count of montpensier and anne de montmorency two future constables of france surrounded the heir to the throne with whom they practised tennis archery and jousting or played at soldiers pending the time when they were to wage war in earnest margaret was a frequent spectator of these pastimes and took a keen interest in her brother's efforts whenever he was assailing or defending some miniature fortress or tilting at the ring it would appear also that she was wont to play at chess with him for we have it on high authority that it is she and her brother who are represented thus engaged in a curious miniature preserved at the bibliothque nationale in paris in this design executed by an unknown artist only the back of francis is to be seen but a full view of margaret is supplied the personage standing behind her being artus goffier her own and her brother's governor whatever time margaret may have devoted to diversion she was certainly a very studious child for at fifteen years of age she already had the reputation of being highly accomplished shortly after her sixteenth birthday a great change took place in her life on august third fifteen o eight louise of savoy records in her journal that francis this day quitted amboise to become a courtier and left me all alone margaret accompanied her brother upon his entry into the world the young couple repairing to blois where louis the twelfth had fixed his residence there had previously been some unsuccessful negotiations in view of marrying margaret to prince henry of england henry the eighth and at this period another husband was suggested in the person of charles of austria count of flanders and subsequently emperor charles v louis the twelfth however had other views as regards the daughter of the count of angouleme for he knew that if he himself died without male issue the throne would pass to margaret's brother hence he decided to marry her to a prince of the royal house charles duke of alenon this prince born at alenon on september second fourteen eighty nine had been brought up at the chateau of mauve in la perche by his mother the pious and charitable margaret of lorraine who on losing her husband had resolved like louise of savoy to devote herself to the education of her children it had originally been intended that her son charles should marry suzanne daughter of the duke and duchess of bourbon the celebrated peter and anne de beaujeu but this match fell through owing to the death of peter and the opposition of anne who preferred the young count of montpensier afterwards constable de bourbon as a son-in-law the a yet higher alliance then presented itself for charles it was proposed that he should marry anne of brittany the widow of king charles the eighth but she was many years his senior and moreover to prevent the separation of brittany from france it had been stipulated that she should marry either her first husband's successor louis the twelfth or the heir-presumptive to the throne either course seemed impracticable as the heir francis of angoulme was but a child while the new king was already married to jane a daughter of louis the eleventh brittany seemed lost to france when louis the by promising the duchy of valentinois to caesar borgia prevailed upon pope alexander the sixth to divorce him from his wife he then married anne of brittany while charles of alenon proceeded to perfect his knightly education pending other matrimonial arrangements in fifteen o seven when in his eighteenth year he accompanied the army which the king led against the genoese and conducted himself bravely it was during this italian expedition that his mother negotiated his marriage with margaret of angouleme the alliance was openly countenanced by louis the twelfth and the young duke of valois as francis of angouleme was now called readily acceded to it margaret brought with her a dowry of sixty thousand livres payable in four instalments and charles who was on the point of attaining his twenty-first year was declared a major and placed in possession of his estates the marriage was solemnized at blois in october fifteen o nine margaret did not find in her husband a mind comparable to her own differences of taste and temper brought about a certain amount of coolness which did not however hinder the duchess from fulfilling the duties of a faithful submissive wife in fact although but little sympathy would appear to have existed between the duke and duchess of alenon their domestic differences have at least been singularly exaggerated during the first five years of her married life margaret lived in somewhat retired style in her duchy of alenon while her husband took part in various expeditions and was invested with important functions in fifteen thirteen he fought in picardy against the english and imperialists commanded by henry the eighth being present at the famous battle of spurs and early in fifteen fourteen he was appointed lieutenant-general and governor of brittany margaret at this period was not only often separated from her husband but she also saw little of her mother who had retired to her duchy of angouleme louise of savoy as mother of the heir-presumptive was the object of the homage of all adroit and politic courtiers but she had to behave with circumspection on account of the jealousy of the queen anne of brittany whose daughters claude and rene were debarred by the salic law from inheriting the crown louis the twelfth wished to marry claude to francis of angoulme but anne refusing her consent it was only after her death in fifteen fourteen that the marriage was solemnized It now seemed certain that Francis would in due course ascend the throne, but Louis XII abruptly contracted a third alliance, marrying Mary of England, the sister of Henry VIII.

Soon afterwards, the Constable de Bourbon, in conjunction with Pescara and Lannoy, avenged his grievances under the walls of Pavia.

On this occasion, as at Marignano, the Duke of Alençon commanded the French reserves, and had charge of the fortified camp from which Francis, listening to Bonivet, sallied forth despite the advice of his best officers.

The king bore himself bravely, but he was badly wounded, and forced to surrender, after La Palisse, Le Sum, Bonivet, La Tremouille, and Bussy d'Amboise had been slain before his eyes.

Charles of Alençon was then unable to resist the advice given him to retreat, and thus save the few Frenchmen who had escaped the arms of the imperialists.

On this occasion, as at Marignano, the Duke of Alençon commanded the French reserves, and had charge of the fortified camp from which Francis, listening to Bonivet, sallied forth despite the advice of his best officers.

The king bore himself bravely, but he was badly wounded, and forced to surrender, after La Palisse, Le Sum, Bonivet, La Tremouille, and Bussy d'Amboise had been slain before his eyes.

Charles of Alençon was then unable to resist the advice given him to retreat, and thus save the few Frenchmen who had escaped the arms of the imperialists.

With four hundred lances he abandoned the camp, crossed the ticino and reaching france by way of piedmont proceeded to lyons where he found louise of savoy and margaret it has been alleged they received him with harsh reproaches and that unable to bear the shame he felt for his conduct he died only a few days after the battle there are several errors in these assertions which a contemporary document enables us to rectify The Battle of Pavia was fought on February 14, 1525, and Charles of Alençon did not die till April 11, more than a month after his arrival at Lyon.

as the duke and duchess of alenon were not at court that day the chancellor related this strange business to the regent mother of the king and the duchess and she sent in all haste for the provost of paris who made such speed that he at once seized the proctor and the sorcerer without constraint or torture they freely confessed their guilt and their case was made out and laid before the king certain persons wishing to save their lives told him that they had only sought his good graces by their enchantments but the king holding his sister's life as dear as his own commanded that the same sentence should be passed on them as if they had made an attempt on his own person however his sister the duchess of alenon entreated that the proctor's life might be spared and the sentence of death be commuted to some heavy punishment this request was granted her and st aignan and galerie were sent to the galleys of st blancard at marseilles where they ended their days in close captivity and had leisure to ponder on the grievousness of their crimes the wicked wife in the absence of her husband continued in her sinful ways even more than before and at last died in wretchedness i pray you ladies consider what evil is caused by a wicked woman and how many evils sprang from the sins of the one i have spoken of you will find that ever since eve caused adam to sin all women have set themselves to bring about the torment slaughter and damnation of men for myself i have had such experience of their cruelty that i expect to die and be damned simply by reason of the despair into which one of them has cast me and yet so great a fool am i that i cannot but confess that hell coming from her hand is more pleasing than paradise would be from the hand of another parlamente pretending she did not understand that it was touching herself he spoke in this fashion said to him since hell is as pleasant as you say you ought not to fear the devil who has placed you in it if my devil were to become as black as he has been cruel to me answered simontault angrily he would cause the present company as much fright as i find pleasure in looking upon them but the fires of love make me forget those of this hell however to speak no further concerning this matter i give my vote to madame oisy to tell the second story i feel sure she would support my opinion if she were willing to say what she knows about women Forthwith all the company turned towards Wazir, and begged of her to proceed, to which she consented, and, laughing, began as follows.

"'It seems to me, ladies, that he who has given me his vote has spoken so ill of our sex in his true story of a wicked woman, that I must call to mind all the years of my long life to find one whose virtue will suffice to gainsay his evil opinion.' However, as I have bethought me of one worthy to be remembered, I will now relate her history to you.

FIRST DAY, TALE II In the town of Amboise there was a muleteer in the service of the Queen of Navarre, sister to King Francis, first of that name.

She being at Blois, where she had been brought to bed of her son, the aforesaid muleteer went thither to receive his quarterly payment whilst his wife remained at Amboise in a lodging beyond the bridges.

But from Dinan, a more history-loving traveler will take the diligence to the nearest station on the main railroad and retrace the way as far as Laman.

diverging their southward to Tours, and so follow for a time the Loire, along which so many kingly châteaux are found, either going via Bourges, Moulins, Lyon, and Geneva into Switzerland, or taking Amboise, Chenonceau, Blois, and Orléans on the return route for Paris.

Tours has a fine Gothic cathedral with a strikingly rich ornamental facade dating from the 15th century, besides some stained glass that will arrest the visitor for a long morning before going on to Amboise, where the castle conspicuous on the great cliff was long the residence of the French kings.

One can mount from below to the summit of this height, by following a broad, winding passage, up which carriages were wont to drive the ascent is made so gradually within the tower.

From these walls were hung the bodies of the Huguenots, slaughtered by the Duke de Guise, and from the balcony Catherine de' Medici and Mary, Queen of Scots, watched the execution of still more of these victims.

The little chapel in the garden has a most beautiful carving over its doorway of St. Hubert and the Stag, with the cross between its horns, and the groined roof and frieze of stonework is of the most delicate sculpture.

The building in the form of a cross was erected for Anne of Brittany and restored by Louis-Philippe.

It is said, too, that Leonardo da Vinci spent the last years of his life at Amboise, in the Chateau de Clou.

Car elle se raccrochait de sa vertu chancelante à la Vierge, aux sculptures, aux tombeaux, à toutes les occasions.

Alors, afin de procéder dans l'ordre, le Suisse les conduisit jusqu'à l'entrée près de la place, où, leur montrant avec sa canne un grand cercle de pavés noirs, sans inscription ni ciselure : voilà, fit-il majestueusement, la circonférence de la belle cloche d'Amboise.

Elle pesait quarante mille livres.

Il n'y avait pas sa pareille dans toute l'Europe.

Et à gauche, celle qui porte un enfant, la Sainte Vierge.

Maintenant, tournez-vous de ce côté.

Voici les tombeaux d'Amboise.

Ils ont été tous les deux cardinaux et archevêques de Rouen.

On this occasion, as at Marignano, the Duke of Alençon commanded the French reserves, and had charge of the fortified camp from which Francis, listening to Bonivet, sallied forth despite the advice of his best officers.

The king bore himself bravely, but he was badly wounded, and forced to surrender, after La Palisse, Le Sum, Bonivet, La Tremouille, and Bussy d'Amboise had been slain before his eyes.

Charles of Alençon was then unable to resist the advice given him to retreat, and thus save the few Frenchmen who had escaped the arms of the imperialists.

With four hundred lances he abandoned the camp, crossed the ticino and reaching france by way of piedmont proceeded to lyons where he found louise of savoy and margaret it has been alleged they received him with harsh reproaches and that unable to bear the shame he felt for his conduct he died only a few days after the battle there are several errors in these assertions which a contemporary document enables us to rectify The Battle of Pavia was fought on February 14, 1525, and Charles of Alençon did not die till April 11, more than a month after his arrival at Lyon.

"'It seems to me, ladies, that he who has given me his vote has spoken so ill of our sex in his true story of a wicked woman, that I must call to mind all the years of my long life to find one whose virtue will suffice to gainsay his evil opinion.' However, as I have bethought me of one worthy to be remembered, I will now relate her history to you.

End of section 9 FIRST DAY TALE II.

In the town of Amboise there was a muleteer in the service of the Queen of Navarre, sister to King Francis, first of that name.

She being at Blois, where she had been brought to bed of her son, the aforesaid muleteer went thither to receive his quarterly payment whilst his wife remained at Amboise in a lodging beyond the bridges.

On this occasion, as at Marignano, the Duke of Alençon commanded the French reserves, and had charge of the fortified camp from which Francis, listening to Bonivet, sallied forth despite the advice of his best officers.

The king bore himself bravely, but he was badly wounded, and forced to surrender, after La Palisse, Le Sum, Bonivet, La Tremouille, and Bussy d'Amboise had been slain before his eyes.

Charles of Alençon was then unable to resist the advice given him to retreat, and thus save the few Frenchmen who had escaped the arms of the imperialists.

With four hundred lances he abandoned the camp, crossed the ticino and reaching france by way of piedmont proceeded to lyons where he found louise of savoy and margaret it has been alleged they received him with harsh reproaches and that unable to bear the shame he felt for his conduct he died only a few days after the battle there are several errors in these assertions which a contemporary document enables us to rectify The Battle of Pavia was fought on February 14, 1525, and Charles of Alençon did not die till April 11, more than a month after his arrival at Lyon.

just as the corpse, having been laid out and shrouded, was placed at the door to await the burial company, the poor husband arrived and beheld his wife's body in front of his house before he had even received tidings of her death.

He inquired the cause of this, and found that he had double occasion to grieve, and his grief was indeed so great that it nearly killed him.

This martyr of chastity was buried in the church of Saint-Florentin, and, as was their duty, all the upright women of Amboise failed not to show her every possible honour, deeming themselves fortunate in belonging to a town where so virtuous a woman had been found, and seeing the honour that was shown to the deceased, such women as were wanton and unchaste resolved to amend their lives.

this ladies is a true story which should incline us more strongly to preserve the fair virtue of chastity we who are of gentle blood should die of shame on feeling in our hearts that worldly lust to avoid which the poor wife of a muleteer shrank not from so cruel a death some esteem themselves virtuous women who have never like this one resisted unto the shedding of blood it is fitting that we should humble ourselves for god does not vouchsafe his grace to men because of their birth or riches but according as it pleases his own good will he pays no regard to persons but chooses according to his purpose and he whom he chooses he honors with all virtues and often he chooses the lowly to confound those whom the world exalts and honors for as he himself hath told us let us not rejoice in our merits but rather because our names are written in the book of life from which nor death nor hell nor sin can blot them out There was not a lady in the company but had tears of compassion in her eyes for the pitiful and glorious death of the muleteer's wife.

After the overthrow of the Duke of Milan began his Italian wanderings.

at one time he contemplated entering the service of an oriental prince instead he entered that of caesar borgia as military engineer and the greatest painter of the age became inspector of a despot's strongholds but his restless nature did not leave him long at this returning to florence he competed with michelangelo yet the service of even his native city could not retain him his fame had attracted the attention of a new patron of the arts prince of the state which had conquered his first master in this his last venture he forsook italy only to die three years later at amboise in the castle of the french king The inner nature of Leonardo remained as untouched by the many encountered as by the events which were then stirring Europe.

Alone he influenced others, remaining the while a mystery to all.

The most gifted of nations failed to understand the greatest of her sons.

But I speak of it as I saw it last, full, tranquil, powerful, bending in large slow curves and sending back half the light of the sky.

Nothing can be finer than the view of its course which you get from the battlements and terraces of Amboise.

As I looked down on it from that elevation one lovely Sunday morning, through a mild glitter of autumn sunshine, it seemed the very model of a generous, beneficent stream.

The most charming part of Tours is naturally the shaded quay that overlooks it and looks across, too, at the friendly faubourg of Saint-Symphorien and at the terraced heights which rise above this.

The only disappointment I had there was the discovery that the castle, which is the special object of one's pilgrimage, does not overhang the river, as I had always allowed myself to believe.

It overhangs the town, but it is scarcely visible from the stream.

That peculiar good fortune is reserved for Amboise and Chaumont.

The Chateau du Blois is one of the most beautiful and elaborate of all the old royal residences of this part of France, and I suppose it should have all the honours of my description.

The living was of the best, and I became fat as a monk.

we made a great deal of music and acted comedies this is the only description as ruchot gives of one of the most romantic houses in france and of an episode that must have counted as one of the most agreeable in his uncomfortable career the eighteenth century contented itself with general epithets and when jean jacques has said that chenonceau was a beau lieu he thinks himself absolved from further characterisation we later sons of time have both for our pleasure and our pain invented the fashion of special terms and i am afraid that even common decency obliges me to pay some larger tribute than this to the architectural gem of touraine fortunately i can discharge my debt with gratitude in going from tours you leave the valley of the loire and enter that of the cher and at the end of about an hour you see the turrets of the castle on your right among the trees down in the meadows beside the quiet little river the station and the village are about ten minutes walk from the chateau and the village contains a very tidy inn where if you are not in too great a hurry to commune with the shades of the royal favourite and the jealous queen you will perhaps stop and order a dinner to be ready for you in the evening a straight tall avenue leads to the grounds of the castle what i owe to exactitude compels me to add that it is crossed by the railway line the place is so arranged however that the chteau need know nothing of passing trains which pass indeed though the grounds are not large at a very sufficient distance i may add that the trains throughout this part of france have a noiseless desultory dawdling almost stationary quality which makes them less of an offence than usual it was a sunday afternoon and the light was yellow save under the trees of the avenue where in spite of the waning of september it was duskily green three or four peasants in festal attire were strolling about on a bench at the beginning of the avenue sat a man with two women as i advanced with my companions he rose after a sudden stare and approached me with a smile in which to be johnsonian for a moment certitude was mitigated by modesty and eagerness was embellished with respect he came toward me with the salutation that i had seen before and i am happy to say that after an instant i ceased to be guilty of the brutality of not knowing where there is only one place in the world where people smile like that only one place where the art of salutation has that perfect grace this excellent creature used to crook his arm in venice when i stepped into my gondola and i now laid my hand on that member with the familiarity of glad recognition for it was only surprise that had kept me even for a moment from accepting the genial francesco as an ornament of the landscape of touraine what on earth the phrase is the right one was a venetian gondolier doing its chenonceaux he had been brought from venice gondola and all by the mistress of the charming house to paddle about on the cher our meeting was affectionate though there was a kind of violence in seeing him so far from home he was too well dressed too well fed he had grown stout and his nose had the tinge of good claret he remarked that the life of the household to which he had the honour to belong was that of a casa regia which must have been a great change for poor cecco whose habits in venice were not regal otherwise he was the sympathetic cecco still and for five minutes after i left him i thought less about the little pleasure-house by the cher than about the palaces of the adriatic but attention was not long in coming round to the charming structure that presently rose before us the pale yellow front of the chteau the small scale of which is at first a surprise rises beyond a considerable court at the entrance of which a massive and detached round tower with a turret on its brow a relic of the building that preceded the actual villa appears to keep guard the court is not enclosed or is enclosed at least only by the gardens portions of which are at present in a state of violent reformation therefore though chenonceau has no great height its delicate faade stands up boldly enough this faade one of the most finished things in touraine consists of two stories surmounted by an attic which as so often in the buildings of the french renaissance is the richest part of the house the high-pitched roof contains three windows of beautiful design covered with embroidered caps and flowering into crocketed spires the window above the door is deeply niched it opens up upon a balcony made in the form of a double pulpit one of the most charming features of the front chenonceau is not large as i say but into its delicate compass is packed a great deal of history history which differs from that of amboise and blois in being of the private and sentimental kind the echoes of the place faint and far as they are to-day are not political but personal chenonceau dates his residence from the year fifteen fifteen when the shrewd thomas boyer a public functionary who had grown rich in handling the finances of normandy had acquired the estate from a family which after giving it many feudal lords had fallen into poverty erected the present structure on the foundations of an old mill the design is attributed with i know not what justice to pierre nepfe alias trinco the audacious architect of chambord On the death of Boyer, the house passed to his son, who, however, was forced, under cruel pressure, to surrender it to the crown, in compensation for a so-called deficit in the accounts of the late superintendent of the treasury.

Francis I held the place till his death, but Henry II, on ascending the throne, presented it out of hand to that mature charmer, the admired of two generations, Diana of Poitiers.

diana enjoyed it till the death of her protector but when this event occurred the widow of the monarch who had been obliged to submit in silence for years to the ascendancy of a rival took the most pardonable of all revenges with which the name of catherine de medici is associated and turned her out of doors diana was not in want of refuges and catherine went through the form of giving her chaumont in exchange but there was only one chenonceau catherine devoted herself to making the place more completely unique the feature that renders its soul of its kind is not appreciated till you wander round to either side of the house if a certain springing lightness is the characteristic of chenonceaux if it bears in every line the aspect of a place of recreation a place intended for delicate chosen pleasures nothing can confirm this expression better than the strange unexpected movement with which from behind it carries itself across the river the earlier building stands in the water it had inherited the foundations of the mill destroyed by thomas the first step therefore had been taken upon solid piles of masonry and the ingenious catherine she was a raffine simply proceeded to take the others she continued the piles to the opposite bank of the cher and over them she threw a long straight gallery of two stories this part of the chateau which looks simply like a house built upon a bridge and occupying its entire length is of course the great curiosity of it forms on each floor a charming corridor which within is illuminated from either side by the flickering river light the architecture of these galleries seen from without is less elegant than that of the main building but the aspect of the whole thing is delightful i have spoken of chenonceau as a villa using the word advisedly for the place is neither a castle nor a palace it is a very exceptional villa but it has the villa quality the look of being intended for life in common this look is not at all contradicted by the wing across the chair which only suggests intimate pleasures as the french say walks and pairs on rainy days games and dances on autumn nights together with as much as may be of moonlighted dialogue or silence in the course of evenings more genial still in the well-marked recesses of windows It is safe to say that such things took place there in the last century during the kindly reign of Monsieur and Madame Dupin.

The wall is not so blank, however, but that it contains a door which opens on a rusty drawbridge.

This drawbridge traverses the small gap which divides the end of the gallery from the banks of the stream.

the house therefore does not literally rest on opposite edges of the chair but rests on one and just fails to rest on the other the pavilion would have made that up but after a moment we cease to miss this imaginary feature we passed a little drawbridge and wandered a while beside the river from this opposite bank the mass of the chteau looked more charming than ever and the little peaceful lazy where two or three men were fishing in the eventide flowed under the clear arches and between the solid pedestals of the part that spanned it with the softest vaguest light on its bosom this was the right perspective we were looking across the river of time the whole scene was deliciously mild the moon came up we passed back through the gallery and strolled about a little longer in the gardens it was very still i met my old gondolier in the twilight he showed me his gondola but i hated somehow to see it there i don't like as the french say de a gondola in a little flat french river the image was not less irritating if less injurious than the spectacle of a steamer in the grand canal which had driven me away from venice a year and a half before we took our way back to the grand monarque and waited in the little inn parlor for a late train to tours we were not impatient for we had an excellent dinner to occupy us and even after we had dined we were still content to sit awhile and exchange remarks upon the superior civilization of france where else at a village inn should we have fared so well where else should we have sat down to our refreshment without condescension there were two or three countries in which it would not have been happy for us to arrive hungry on a sunday evening at so modest a hostelry at the little inn at chelanso the cuisine was not only excellent but the service was graceful we were waited on by mademoiselle and her mamma it was so that mademoiselle alluded to the elder lady as she uncorked for us a bottle of we were very comfortable very genial we even went so far as to say to each other that vouvray mousseux was a delightful wine from this opinion indeed one of our trio differed but this member of the party had already exposed herself to the charge of being too fastidious by declining to descend from the carriage at chaumont and take that back-stairs view of the castle chapter eight without fastidiousness it was fair to declare on the other hand that the little inn at aze le rideau was very bad it was terribly dirty and it was in charge of a fat majeure whom the appearance of four trustful travellers we were four with an illustrious fourth on that occasion roused apparently to fury i attached great importance to this incongruous hostess for she uttered the only uncivil words i heard spoken in connection with any business of my own during a tour of some six weeks in france breakfast not at azale rideau therefore too trustful traveller or if you do so be either very meek or very bold breakfast not save under stress of circumstance but let no circumstance whatever prevent you from going to see the admirable chateau which is almost a rival of chenonceau the village lies close to the gates though after you pass these gates you leave it well behind a little avenue as at chenonceau leads to the house making a pretty vista as you approach the sculptured doorway azay is a most perfect and beautiful thing i should place it third in any list of the great houses of this part of france in which these houses should be ranked according to charm for beauty of detail it comes after blois and chenonceau but it comes before amboise and chambord on the other hand of course it is inferior in majesty to either of these vast structures Like Chenonceau, it is a watery place, though it is more meagrely moated than the little chateau on the Cher.

It consists of a large square corps de logis, with a round tower at each angle, rising out of a somewhat too slumbrous pond.