Omaha daily bee., 1909-06-13

The tiled floors, many Of them In
lovely soft greens and yellows, appeal more
for summer living than for winter.
Langeais has been called the swan sons
Of expiring feudlalsm,'' combining as II
does the military architecture OF the period
with the beginnings OF French domestic
architecture. It's wallis, rising straight and
sheer, with great hooded towers, have a
surrounding gallery or parapet, which
served as a means OF communication from
one part Of the place to another, and at
the same time formed one OF the chief
means OF defense for the chateau.
This parapet is more than sixty feet up
from the ground, and It takes little imagi-
nation to picture a familiar scene Of the
middle ages, when much feudal warfare
waged around the spot, and when the
assailants, hammering on the great gate
below, were pelted with stones, boiling
pitch. burning oil, and other cheerful ele-
ments of warfare by the defenders placed
in the gallery where now the Siegfried
family nightly take an evening stroll.
The chateau from the village street, does
not present the imposing appearance that
its historical interest would lead one to
expect. The village has grown up and
around the chateau, and the narrow little
street phtbes ulItCllg ulOeT It's waits, anu
under the main entrance, so that the draw
bridge, which is still lowered and raised
every night and morning, though the moat
has long been filled up. practically ex-
tends out to the street.
From the courtyard the walls Of the
chateau AXE on a Renaissance aspect. The
p~olygonal towers, the winding stairs, the
gables and pignons of the roof and the
carved stonework, are all of the Renais-
sance. The three stone stairways which
lead to the upper floors are the same as
in the days OF Charles VIII.
The courtyard itself Is a delight. 1t is
paved with colored stene in a formal oar
pet-llke pattern n surrounded by high
vine hung walls, which afford shade for the
occupants Of the carved stone benches
placed at intervals.
Historical Associations.
The great historical interest of Langesis
has to do with Anne of Brittany, for 1t
was here that the wilful little Breton
princess. who at the age Of II years was a
valuable pawn in the complicated game of
politics, was married to Charles VIII and
so united to France the last of the great
feudal states that had stood out.
Prior to this marriage the chateau had
played an interesting and often important
part in affairs. From its beginning in 800
to about 1850 it had a stormy career, being
taken and retaken, battered down and
built up by turns. Finally at about the
date named Louis X gave orders for the
erection of the present building.
The great room where the marriage OF
Charles and the Breton princess took place
is the most interesting in the chateau, and
one in which the servants of the Siegfried
family take the most pride In showing to
visitors. 1t now forms the dining hall of
the establishment. The visitors are also
shown the low door at the end Of the pas
sage leading to the tennis court where
Charles Is said to have struck his head
the blow that caused his death.
Anne did not long remain a widow, for
the term of her marriage contract had set
forth that in the event of Charles death
she was to marry the next king. Charles
cousin succeeded as Louis XII, and speedily
divorced his own wife n married Anne,
who in spite of the passive part she
seemed to play in all the negotiations
about herself was really a masterful little
person, with a great deal of individuality
of her own.
For nearly two centuries Langeais was
held by the crown and was passed back
and forth from one royal favorite to an
other, until in 1765 it was purchased by
the Due de Luynes. At the time Of the
revolution It was confiscated and later
served as a prison. It then passed through
various hands and suffered many vicis-
situdes until It came to the ownership of
M. Siegfried. who accomplished a restora-
ton, which will henceforth be the privilege
of every tourist to view.