The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-05-11
The FeudaI Castles of France.

Ahe FemOsAl CASGleS OF France.
The London AttenGum has the following no.
tice of work on the Feudal Castles OF the
western provinces of France, by the author of
"Flemish Interiors;" recently published in
London:-
1t was no bad notion which led the writer of
the book now before us to travel among the
relics of feudality in France, and give special
attention to the great fortresses of the Loire.
Touraine is, perhaps for such purpose richer
than any other province, not alone in respect of
the magnifiCenCe of her castles, but the variety
and picturesqueness of her legends Few pro-
vinces are more wealthy in historical illus
trations What in these respects, surpasses
Ambose, which stands upon the rock above
the bridge over the Loire 1t is building of
the sixteenth century, for the most part but
retains the very hall where Louis the Eleventh
met his brother, the King of Siciy to say
nothing of having been the home of Margaret
Of Anjou. Here Charles the Affable was born
and bred; here the poor youth, who was to
be king brief WHILE learned his lessons, paced
the forests and the gardens here was betrothed
Mary of Burgundys daughter, Margaret, to
the future Charles the Eighth, scene which
lives in the pages of De Commines. 1t was
not a religious ceremony, but the notary,
in a loud voice, asked the Dauphin if he
would marry ''Mademoiselle Marguerite d'Au-
triche," and Oice UerSd. Both parties answered
in the affirmative, whereupon she kissed him
three times, and all returned to the castle.
The marriage was afterwards dissolved, Marga-
ret sent home again, and Charles was welded
says Monstrelet, that the king was lettering
with Anne the Queen, and looking at some
tennis-players in the courtyard, when he felt
the first attack of that illness which soon slew
him. story goes that he struck his head
against low doorway, and forgot the incident
for some weeks; then, leading the queen to see
q game at tennis, he swooned on the same spot
and never recovered his senses The pages and
people of the court went to and fro as their
King lay there stunned and passing from life to
death, but no one mustered courage or tender
ness enough to help him away. They seem to
have been much stunned as their master al
though he was greatly beloved. The low-browed
doorway is yet shown where this young king is
reported to have met his death. De Commines'
account differs considerably from this. Queen
Anne, in her first sorrow, vowed to remain a
widow but, as if to justify the sayings of sati-
rists, ere long she married Charles successor,
Louis the Twelfth, an early love. An obstacle
of great weight, being no less important than
Louis first wife, stood in the way of this second
union; Jeanne was divorced, and passed pain
ful existence in u convent at Bourges. Francis
the First spent much of his time at AmbOise.
Margaret, Francis sister, lived long there, and
here compiled that famous work which, more
than anything else, has preserved her name for
us. AT Chateau du Clos, Francis established
Leonardo da Vinci, to be within call, for the
latter place is barely two miles away from the
old residence of the French monarchs by his
will the painter desired to be buried in the
Church OF st. Florentin, at Amboise; but, says
| the author, he is believed to have been inferred
| in that of st. Denis, in the same city. At the
| Castle of Amboise Francis is said to have built
| that strange sloping roadway which supplies
| the place of stairs in the great tower and was
| designed, such is the story, to humor the fancy
| of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, when the
| French King entertained Charles his old enemy,
| while on the way to suppress the revolt of
| Ghent in 1889 Our author has gathered from
| the writers of this time very readable history
| of this remarkable visit and its seemingly mex
| plicable incidents Francis died at Rambouillet,
| another of the fortresses which are treated of
| here. The picture of his death and what led to
| it is well worth noting even by those who are
| familiar with that strange passage of history.
| At Amboise lived, in the very freshness of her
| YOUTH Mary Queen of Scots here, after her
marriage to Francis the Second of France, she
continued to reside as Queen, where many of
| her innocent days were spent.
| Loches, still a grim old ruin, follows upon
these pages next is its fellow Plessisles-T Tours,
| or Plessis-duParc, the reputation of which owes
much to "Quentn Durward." Chaumont, the
| robber-hold of the early Counts of Tourane, a
residence of Catherine de- Medici, she bought
for 10000 livres Tournois in 1850; here the
| astrologer Ruggieri showed her, in ''magie'
mirror, the mode in which the predictions OF
| Nostradamus as to the fate of the royal family
of France were to be fulfilled. Five kings
| passed across the wonderful glass, pacing-eacE
| taking turn for every year of his reign-in a
| pictured vaulted chamber, which was not that
| at Chamount. Awed by the display, Catherine
| left the CASTLE and never returned to it, She
| nevertheless, made use of the distaste which il
| said to have been strengthed by this adventure
to force upon Diane de Potiers an exchange Of
the castle of prophecy for that far liveer resi-
| dence of ChenonceauX; and poor Diane, power
less since the death of Henri DeuX, was com
PEELED to acquiesce in her imperous Majesty
| whim. Nothing could compel the once buXom
| duchess to live at Chaumont. She died at the
| Chateau d'Anet, the widow of De Breze, Senes
chal of Normandy. Her effigy yet weeps al
the tomb of the seneschal in the Cathedral O
Rouen, and above an inscription that records
vow, which was not kept, that she would share
his grave Madame de Stael-such are the
strange changes of old castes-was 'relegated'
| by Napoleon the First to Chaumont
Our author pursues an easy and pleasan
course through the histories of the Castles o
Chambord Rambouillet, ChenonceauX Anet
Montbazon ct Couziers, and Blois. She revive
our memories with pictures of old days anC
long-dead men and women. Nor does she forge
the living; her sketches of the houses and folk
of Touraine in these days are hardly less attrac
tive than those which deal with other times ant
characters.