Dateline France, 20 March 1990
Report 15

This report covers our second trip to the Loire valley, visiting areas to
the west of where we were before.

Our first stop was the village of Azay-le-Rideau.  It used to be called
"Azay the Burnt."  When Charles VII was Dauphin (I'm still trying to
figure out exactly why the heir apparent is called the dolphin.  I think
it has something to do with him being considered Prince of some part of
(southern?) France whose symbol is the dolphin.  Somewhat like calling
Prince Charles "Wales", I suspect.), he was insulted by the captain of
the Burgundian guard when passing through this town.  Later on, Charles had
the village burnt to the ground and 350 guardsmen executed.  So much for
turning the other cheek.  There is a modest-sized chateau here, which is
remarkable for an ornate open staircase, as well as how nicely it blends
into its setting, which is sparse woods with a river and small pond by
one side.  It was built in 1520 by someone named Bertholet, but Francois I
later gave it to his captain of the guard.  Kaye liked it because we got
to see the kitchen.  In many chateaus, you only get to see the major
appartments--bedrooms, sitting rooms, dining room, library, ballroom--but
not the lower and upper floors where the servants lived and worked.
(Vaux-le-Vicompte was exceptional for seeing kitchen, pantries and cellars.)
Also in this village, next to the grounds of the chateau, is the church of
St. Symphorien.  It was constructed in the 11th centuary, but in the front
facade you can see embedded portions of a 5th- or 6th-century building.

A large chunk of our time was spent in the city of Chinon, where Rabelais
did much of his writing, and where his character Gargantua is much remembered
in the names of hotels, menu items, and drinks.  There were a couple of
interesting-sounding museums, one on winemaking and another on river
navigation, which we forwent because they were closed for the winter.
Chinon is on the Vienne river, which is a tributary to the Loire.  (The
French distinguish rivers that empty into the ocean (fleuves) from mere
tributaries (rivieres).) There is a well-preserved "Old Town" at the
base of a bluff.  Atop the bluff was a three-part fortress, of which some
large portions of two of the parts still exist.  Henry Plantagenet, King
of England and parts of France, began construction in 1154.  Local legend
has it that Richard Lionheart died here of wounds sustained in the battle
of Chalus, nearby.  John Lackland, the brother of Richard, also had a hand
in the construction, around 1205.  John got his last name from having
lost most of his French holdings and having to make do with the consolation
prize of England.  The fortress walls and remaining buildings dominate
the city when viewed from across the river, giving the whole town a
mediaeval character.

One of the major buildings still standing in the fortress is the
central keep, built by French king Philippe Auguste in the 13th century.
A keep is a heavily fortified building where defenders can retreat if
the outside walls are breached.  Hence, as with this one, it has few low
windows and a small, easily-defended entryway.  This keep was used to hold a
number of Knights Templar prisoner, including Grandmaster Jacques De Molay,
prisoner in 1307.  The Templars assisted pilgrims to the holy land by
erecting a series of "commandries" along the route.  A pilgrim could deposit
money at any one of them, gaining a letter of credit that could be used
to withdraw money elsewhere along the route, reducing the risk of robbery.
Many of these commandries later became banks.  The Templars grew rather
rich, and gained influence by lending money to the Popes.  As a result of
some jealousy of their power and rumor-mongering by their enemies, king
Philip the Fair had all the Knights Templar in France arrested on one
day in 1307.  140 were taken prisoner, of which 56 were burned the next
year in Paris.

The best-preserved building in the fortress is a 14th century clock tower.
It is a 5- or 6-story building, but very narrow.  Each floor is only
one room wide, and not a big room at that.  It still contains a clock,
but it is not a clock with a face.  It only chimes the time, and does it
twice--on the hour, and five minutes after.  (I think this is for late
evening, to give you time to take off your shoes in case you have to count
to 11 or 12.)  The clock tower is a museum on Joan of Arc, which we saw in
a hurry, because the fortress was closing.  It was at the castle of Chinon
in 1427 that Charles VII first met Joan of Arc.  By legend, she had arrived
and waited several days in town and in the keep while Charles decided whether
to meet with her.  When he did, it was in a room full of nobles, where
Charles took care to dress so as to blend into the crowd.  When led into
the hall, Joan was not fooled, and walked directly to Charles and bowed to
him.  One thing that Joan said that got Charles on her side was that he
was really heir to the throne of France.  Up to that time, Charles harbored
doubts to his legitimacy, because Mum messed around a lot.  Joan ultimately
convinced Charles to try to gain the French throne, and set off on her
campaign that culminated in seeing Charles crowned on 1 July 1429 in Reims.
(More on Joan when I report on Rouen.)

The next day we headed down the Vienne and thence down the Loire towards
Angers.  The most amazing site was the miles and miles of troglodyte
dwellings in the limestone cliff that borders the Loire on the south.
Some of these were no more than small sheds carved into the hillside, with
a wood or brick exterior wall.  But some of these cave dwellings are
small mansions, with carved facades in Renaissance style.  Some houses
had the back rooms in the hillside and the front rooms built out.  Others
seemed to have the front decoration carved directly in the original rock.
Amongst the dwellings are wine and mushroom cellars, occupying caves that
were carved out to quarry stone.  Unfortunately, none of these seemed to
opened for tours at the time we were there.  70% of France's mushrooms
are grown in this area, centered at the town of Champigny (hence the
French "champignon" for mushroom).

Along the way we stopped to view the church at Candes-St. Martin, which
dates from the 12th or 13th century, with fortifications added to it
in the 15th century.  So the exterior is a rather unusual combination
of ornament and fortification.

At Saumur, we stopped to visit the chateau, which is the most castle-like
of the chateaus we have visited.  (Many chateaus were originally strongly
fortified castles, but, especially during the reign of the Bourbon kings,
there wasn't much warring internally between regions of France, and many
were rebuilt for looks rather than defenses.  Moats were converted into
ponds or drained, exterior walls came down, interior walls were given
bigger windows, and so on.)  The chateau is in a naturally excellent
location, on a small plateau above the town, with steep slopes on almost
all sides.  The castle was considered an architectural masterpiece of its
time, and looks like a story-book rendering of where the evil prince would
live.  (The castle of the good prince would be a little less foreboding
and have more fru-fru at the roof line.)  There were four or five previous
fortresses before the existing one on this site.  This one was begun by
Louis IX (St. Louis) I think.  It belonged to Louis I Duke of Avignon in
the 14th century, and was used by Louis's XIV and XV.  After the revolution,
it was the residence for the Governor of Saumur, and Napoleon made it into
a prison.  It now houses a decorative arts museum, which specializes in
porcelain and pottery, and an equine museum.  We thought the horse museum
would be pictures of famous horses and riders (Saumur was the home of a
a cavalry school and currently has a famous equestrian group), but it
was much more than that.  It had a series of fossils showing the evolution
of horses' hooves from paws to three toes to one big knuckle.  It also followed
the development of stirrups, spurs, bits, saddles and halters from prehistoric
times to the present, and showed riding tack from around the world.

Heading further down the Loire, we came to a church at Cunault, with towers
from the 11th century and additions from the 15th century.  The inside
is full of tall, tall columns (223 according to a sign), each with a
differently carved capital.  Unfortunately, since the columns are so tall,
you can't reall make out many of the details of the carving.

Shorly after, we crossed to the north bank of the river.  While on the
south bank, everything was limestone, on the north bank it was slate
everywhere.  It is used as siding on houses and barn.  It is also stacked
up to make fences and walls, giving an interesting surface.  Imagine a
wall built from black bricks, each 1/4" by 10".  Just outside of Angers,
we passed through Trelaze, which claims the title of the slate capital of
France, because so much of it is quarried there.  It has a museum of
slate, but we needed to head back north.  (I hate to miss an unusual museum.
In a report or two, I will recount our visit to the Museum of Eyeglasses.)