The castle of Blois is, in itself, an architectural retrospective, from the Middle Ages to Louis XIII, but it is the Renaissance that made it an authentic royal residence!
In this new episode of the Europe 1 Studio podcast “At the heart of History”, Jean des Cars concludes his journey along the Loire by retracing the history of this elegant and refined building which has known dark hours ...
The assassination of the Duke of Guise, the escape of Marie de Medicis, the exile of Gaston d'Orléans… In this new episode of the Europe 1 Studio podcast "At the heart of history", Jean des Cars tells you the facts major historical events that took place on the banks of the Loire, behind the motley walls of the Château de Blois ...
In 1588, it was in Blois that the fate of France was played out.
Henri de Guise, lieutenant general of the kingdom, leader of the Catholic party called the League, all powerful in Paris and supported by the King of Spain, forced King Henry III, third son of Catherine de Medici, to summon the States General .
These are held in the huge Room of the States of the castle of Blois.
The Duke of Guise and the Catholic party are simply calling for the suppression of the Protestant religion.
The five hundred representatives gathered in Blois are all committed to their party.
The duke wants to obtain either the downfall of the king, or his total submission.
The latter will have to accept that the decisions taken in Blois by the three orders become laws of the kingdom.
Henri III is furious.
It is an affront to his royal authority.
He saw only one solution to win: to get rid of his rival and cousin, the very popular Duke of Guise, nicknamed the Scarred after an injury inflicted during a battle thirteen years earlier against the Huguenots.
The king can count on his close guard: forty-five gentlemen without fortune who will be immortalized by Alexandre Dumas in his famous novel “The forty five”.
He chooses twenty to eliminate Guise.
Eight of them, armed with daggers hidden under their coats, stand in the sovereign's room.
Sitting on chests, they seem to be chatting peacefully.
The other twelve, armed with swords, are in the old cabinet, a room to the left of the council chamber.
In the oratory of the new cabinet, to the right of the king's chamber, two priests pray, at the request of Henri III, for the success of this fatal plan.
The Duke of Guise is now in the council chamber, in the company of some high figures of the Court.
He got up at six in the morning, after having spent the night with his mistress, Charlotte de Sauves, one of the prettiest representatives of the famous “flying squadron” imagined by Catherine de Medici to elegantly and gallantly distract the young men of the Court.
After these hours of pleasure, the duke is cold and hungry.
While warming himself next to the fireplace, he nibbles some plums which he kept in his bezel.
The Council begins.
Henri III's secretary warns him that the king is waiting for him in the old cabinet.
To get there, Guise must cross the sovereign's room because two days earlier the door connecting the room with the council room had been walled up, in view of the forfeit.
The duke enters the room.
The conspirators greet him, then he goes towards the old cabinet but he sees, at the end of the corridor which leads there, men waiting for him, sword in hand.
He tries to retreat but the swordsmen who were in the room cut him off, throw themselves on him and wrap his cloak around his sword so that he cannot draw it.
But the man is tall and strong: he manages to overthrow four of his attackers and wounds one of them on the forehead with his bezel.
It was then that the other conspirators rushed in and stabbed him with swords, some thirty, one might say.
The duke falls at the foot of the king's bed, murmuring: “Have mercy, my God” ... A certain Loignac finishes him off by thrusting his sword into his back.
Henri III then comes out of the curtain where he had hidden himself.
After having slapped the corpse, he pronounces a phrase which has become famous: “My God!
how great he is!
He is even greater dead than alive… ”
Stomping his foot on the duke's stomach, in a sort of trance he said again: “We are no longer two.
I am king now… ”
Then, perked up, he rushes into his mother's room, Catherine de Medici, located on the first floor.
He happily announces to her the death of the Duc de Guise.
The Queen Mother never had over her third son the power she had over the other two.
He said to him: "I no longer have a companion, the King of Paris is dead."
She answers him, dismayed: "God grant that you did not become the king of anything at all."
The next day, December 24, 1588, the Cardinal of Lorraine, Archbishop of Reims and brother of the Duke, locked up immediately after the assassination of his brother, was also executed by three men.
A week later, Catherine de Medici dies, undoubtedly devastated by the unforgivable fault of her last son.
On January 16, 1589, the Estates General ended in indescribable political chaos.
The anger of the Catholics is terrible after the death of their leader.
In retaliation, on August 1, 1589, Henri III was assassinated at Saint Cloud by a fanatic monk, Jacques Clément.
The king does not expire until the next day.
France is upset by this regicide.
It is a real civil war.
As Henri III had no children, the next heir is Henri de Navarre.
He was a Protestant, but he still managed to conquer the throne of France at the cost of civil war and conversion.
Blois was the scene of an abominable assassination with terrible consequences.
However, originally, the castle was designed for the pleasure and pleasure of the kings who had embellished it….
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1440: Charles d'Orléans inherits the castle of Blois
On a hill overlooking the right bank of the Loire at the gateway to Sologne, a keep was built in the 9th century by Robert le Fort.
It is the first castle of Blois.
In 975, Thibault Ier, count of Chartres, seizes it and becomes count of Blois.
The castle grew with the construction in the 13th century of the Salle des Etats Généraux, which made it one of the most beautiful in the region.
In 1392, the last count of the area, Guy de Châtillon, sold the county of Blois to the Duke of Orleans, brother of King Charles VI.
Ambitious and intriguing, the Duke of Orleans is the rival of the Duke of Burgundy, Jean Sans Peur.
In 1404, this rivalry turned to hatred.
In November 1407, in Paris, Louis d'Orléans was assassinated on the orders of Jean Sans Peur.
These are the beginnings of a civil war which will oppose the Armagnacs who wanted to avenge the Duke of Orleans to the Burgundians, supporters of Jean sans Peur, Duke of Burgundy.
The widow of the Duke of Orleans, Valentine Visconti, retired to Blois and engraved on the walls: “Nothing is more to me, more is nothing to me”.
In 1439, Charles VII, who restored his royal authority thanks to Joan of Arc, summons the Estates General in Orleans where he resides.
Some princes, at the instigation of Dunois, companion of Joan of Arc and bastard of the Duke of Orleans, contest the royal reforms.
Among these, the Duke of Alençon, Louis de Bourbon, and especially the Dauphin, future Louis XI.
This revolt is organized at the castle of Blois.
Charles VII reacted strongly with his army.
He overpowered the princes and the rebels in July 1440 and sent his son into exile in Dauphiné.
This plot fomented in Blois received the name of “Praguerie” in reference to a revolt of the Czechs, in Prague.
That same year 1440, Dunois's half-brother, the eldest of Louis d'Orléans' legitimate sons, Charles, inherited the castle where he spent his youth.
Charles d'Orléans, twice widower, prisoner of the English for twenty-five years after Azincourt, became a poet in his jails.
He was 46 when he returned to France.
He moved to Blois in 1450 with his very young wife Marie de Clèves, 14, with whom he was very much in love.
In their residence, the Duke and Duchess of Orleans organize poetic games where everyone can compete.
Twelve poets are given a theme and a first line, and each one has to improvise the rest.
François Villon will be one of them.
In 1462, the Duchess of Orleans finally gave a son to her husband.
It was about time: Charles is 71 years old!
The young Louis of Orleans, will grow up in Blois.
It was there that in 1498, riders from Amboise announced the accidental death of Charles VIII.
The late king has no male heir.
It is therefore Louis, Duke of Orleans, 36, who becomes King of France under the name of Louis XII.
Louis XII embellishes Blois for his wife Anne de Bretagne
After a few twists and turns, and with the agreement of the Pope, Louis XII, separated from his first wife, remarried the widow of Charles VIII, the Duchess Anne of Brittany.
It is obviously a political union which makes it possible to maintain Brittany in the kingdom of France.
But oddly enough, it is also a marriage of love.
An astonishing story will then take place: Anne of Brittany leaves the castle of Amboise that Charles VIII had embellished for her to settle in the castle of Blois of which Louis XII made his royal residence.
And just like Charles VIII in Amboise, Louis XII does major embellishment work there for his new wife.
He added new royal residences to the castle.
It will take ten years to complete construction.
The two new wings are built of brick and tufa, topped by slate roofs.
Galleries adorned with arcades in the shape of basket handles will serve the rooms and apartments on the ground floor.
The entrance portal of the Louis XII wing is Gothic in style.
A half-height niche houses an equestrian statue of the sovereign.
Like his predecessor Charles VIII, Louis XII went to war in Italy.
He will be equally amazed by his discoveries and the Louis XII wings of the Château de Blois are a harmonious blend of ending Gothic and the beginnings of the Italian Renaissance ...
The wedding of the future King Francis I
In 1504 and 1505, Louis XII, back from Italy, tired and depressed, signed two treaties in Blois by which he renounced his claims on Italy.
To his daughter Claude, engaged despite her very young age to Charles of Habsburg, the future Charles V, he gave as a dowry, not only the Milanese, but also Genoa, Burgundy and Brittany.
A desaster !
Quickly, the king comes to his senses.
Advised by his wife Anne of Brittany, in 1506 he summoned the States General which annulled the clauses of the marriage contract of Claude and the future Charles Quint.
The princess is going to change her fiancé!
The three sons that Queen Anne gave to Louis XII are dead.
The heir to the throne is therefore a cousin, François d'Angoulême (the future François Ier), whom the king installed in Amboise, with his mother and his sister.
Claude will marry her, which will allow France to keep Burgundy and Brittany.
As for Italy, all hopes are still allowed!
The wedding takes place: François d'Angoulême marries Princess Claude.
On January 9, 1514, Queen Anne died in Blois.
In October, Louis XII remarried to the 16-year-old sister of the King of England Henry VIII, Mary.
He's 52 ... He died a year later.
Fortunately for François d'Angoulême, the late king had not had time to conceive an heir with Mary!
Francis I's Italian dream comes true in Blois
On January 1, 1515, François I succeeded his stepfather and cousin Louis XII.
With his young wife Claude, he moved to Blois, which he appreciated as much as Amboise.
From 1515 to 1524, for Blois, it was the golden age of the Renaissance that Louis XII had already introduced through his contacts beyond the Alps.
During this period, François Ier entrusted the architect Jacques Sourdeau with the construction of the magnificent wing, which will bear his name.
It is, without a doubt, the most beautiful part of the castle.
This time, there will be no more bricks but only white stone.
On the part of the building which dominates the Loire, here is the superb facade of the boxes.
Let Balzac describe it to us: “The balconies on which we walk, the galleries, the sculpted windows whose embrasures are as vast as boudoirs, resemble the painted fantasies of the decorations of our modern operas, when painters make them palaces of fairies. ”
The façade facing the courtyard is equally spectacular.
An extraordinary and famous spiral staircase is added to it.
The Blois staircase joins the two main buildings.
It rises in a hollowed-out octagonal cage, forming a series of four balconies.
The Court can attend there the arrival of the great personages during the sumptuous festivals given by the King-Knight.
This masterpiece allows the monarch to appear in all his glory.
The elegant and seductive ruler can stop as he ascends or descends in each open loggia in the tower.
Blois becomes the theater staging royal power.
The Court is populated by lovely women to whom the monarch is very sensitive, he who had said that “a Court without ladies is a garden without beautiful flowers”.
As if to approve it, the poet Ronsard writes: “Blois, birth of My Lady, Stay of the Roys and my will, Live Love in your city forever.”
Blois is a huge royal celebration.
But in July 1524, Queen Claude died there at the age of 25.
In eight years, she had given seven children to Francis I.
Alas, at the time of his death, the king was not present: he was a prisoner of Charles V in Madrid.
She gave her name to the tastiest plum.
The sovereign mourns her for a long time, although he has deceived her a lot.
He remarried with the sister of Charles V, Eléonore de Habsbourg.
The two rivals are now brothers-in-law!
François I, patron monarch, not only supported and attracted immense artists.
He left his mark on Blois and Fontainebleau, not to mention the admirable Chambord.
He ordered the printers to give him a copy of every new book that appeared.
This is the origin of our Legal Deposit.
But the memories of his memorable celebrations will be swept away by the tragedy of the assassination of the Duke of Guise in 1588, which I told you at the beginning of this story.
Previously, we used to say “Château de Blois, château des Rois”.
We now say “Château de Blois, castle of dread” ...
A sort of curse will then befall the castle that the kings will abandon.
But two picturesque characters will soon be talking about Blois again ...
Marie de Medici escapes from the castle of Blois
On April 26, 1617, Marie de Médicis was exiled by her son, Louis XIII, in this cursed castle.
This is the consequence of the Day of Dupes when the king had his mother's Prime Minister, Concini, executed and decided to take power.
Marie de Médicis therefore settled in Blois, rather comfortably.
She arrives there with her ministers, also exiles, but also her ladies-in-waiting, chambermaids, singers and musicians, doctors, cooks and part of her personal guard.
The Queen Mother furnishes her exile by organizing dinners, concerts, ballets and other comedy shows.
She also took the opportunity to set up against her son some high figures, including Richelieu.
In reality, she hates being imprisoned in Blois and prepares her escape.
On the night of February 20 to 21, 1619, the widow of Henri IV was ready.
She must escape through a window of her apartment before joining a coach downstairs, at the end of the bridge over the Loire.
At three in the morning, it is dark and it is cold.
Marie rolls up her dress and steps over the window followed by her maid, one of her dwarfs and two Italian servants.
This is where the burlesque takes over: the Medici has grown a lot, his overweight prevents him from going as fast as he should!
Arriving on the castle terrace, she is dizzy.
You have to wrap her in a coat, tie a rope around her to lower her down the ramparts, for about thirty meters… The fugitive lands in the rubble!
Passers-by, certain that it is about a love escape, launch saucy comments!
Marie is in heaven!
On the way, she lost one of her cassettes but a valet will find it later.
The escapees cross the bridge over the Loire in an icy mist.
And there, disaster!
No coach!
In fact, he is there, a little behind.
The mist hid it.
Everyone climbs inside somehow.
And whiskers!
Direction the castle of Loches.
Obviously, Louis XIII is furious at the escape of his mother who tries to make him believe that she has been kidnapped!
It is Richelieu, passed over to the king's side, who will finally succeed in reconciling mother and son.
Blois falls back into oblivion.
Seven years later, Louis XIII gave it to his younger brother, Gaston d'Orléans.
The exile of Gaston d'Orléans, rebellious prince
Gaston has always been jealous of his brother, he never ceases to intrigue.
Opposed to Richelieu, he compromises with the Spaniards then he takes part in two conspiracies against Louis XIII, that of Chalais and that of Cinq-Mars.
This ex-favorite of the king will be beheaded.
As for Gaston, the sovereign can no longer support him.
He exiles him to Blois.
The prince will then undertake major works which he entrusts to Mansart.
He demolished the wing in which Marie de Médicis lived to replace it with the Gaston d'Orléans wing, in a 17th century style, perfectly classical.
He is convinced that his sister-in-law, Anne of Austria, is sterile and that when his brother dies, he will become king.
Alas, all her hopes were lost when the queen finally gave birth to a son, Louis, the future Louis XIV, in 1638, after 23 years of marriage!
The work will remain with the construction of the Gaston d'Orléans wing, fortunately for Blois because the turbulent prince was preparing to destroy the Louis XII and François I wings to make the castle a completely classic residence ...
In 1642, after the death of Richelieu, Gaston d'Orléans returned to favor with his brother.
He distinguished himself on the battlefields against the Spaniards before falling back into disgrace… Mazarin again assigned him to residence in Blois in 1652. He died there in 1660.
Blois then also fell out of favor, to the point that the castle deteriorated.
Louis XVI orders to sell it or, in the absence of a buyer, to demolish it.
His transformation into a barracks will save him.
He suffered some insults during the Revolution but nothing definitive.
In 1808, its condition was worrying and the prefect of Loir-et-Cher recommended its demolition.
But the Council of Public Buildings is opposed to it.
Blois is saved again!
In 1810, Napoleon transferred the ownership of the castle to the city of Blois.
It is a poisoned gift because she cannot afford to maintain it.
It was not until Louis-Philippe that a major restoration campaign began in 1845. The King of the French had apartments fitted out there which he did not enjoy for long.
But the castle will now be maintained.
A new restoration took place in 1990. Various paintings remain, however, which relate the assassination of the Duke of Guise, as if the curse of the castle was indelible ...
Bibliographic resources:
Jean-Christian Petitfils, Louis XIII (Perrin, 2008)
Jean-Pierre Babelon (director), Le Château en France (Berger-Levrault / Caisse Nationale des Monuments Historiques, 1986)
Jean des Cars, The castles of the Loire (Perrin, 2009)
"At the heart of History" is a Europe 1 Studio podcast
Author and presentation: Jean des Cars
Production, distribution and editing: Timothée Magot, Salomé Journo
Director: Jean-François Bussière
Graphics: Karelle Villais