Château d'Azay-le-Rideau
History
Château d'Azay-le-Rideau is a Renaissance château built on an island in the Indre River in France's Loire Valley. Gilles Berthelot, a financier to King Francis I, built it between 1518 and 1527 on the site of an older fortress.
A knight named Ridel d'Azay, who served King Philip II Augustus, built a fortress here in the 12th century to guard the road between Tours and Chinon where it crossed the Indre. In 1418, the future King Charles VII was fleeing Burgundian-occupied Paris for Bourges when he passed through the town. Angered by the insults of the Burgundian soldiers, he stormed the fortress, executed its garrison of about 350 men, and burned it. The town was known as Azay-le-Brûlé, meaning "Azay the Burnt," until the 18th century.
The two wings of Berthelot's L-shaped château, with their corner turrets.
Gilles Berthelot, the Mayor of Tours and treasurer of the king's finances, assembled the property over several years. In 1513, King Louis XII elevated it into a seignorial estate, which allowed Berthelot to begin building a new château, and work started in 1518. In his formal acknowledgment of vassalage to the king, Berthelot wrote that he had "pulled to the ground" part of the old castle and put up in its place "two large portions of building of dressed stone with loopholes, machicolation, and turrets set on cul-de-lampes," which are decorative stone supports. These are the two wings that make up the château's L shape today. Because he was often away, his wife, Philippa Lesbahy, supervised the work. The builders drove timber piles into the muddy riverbed for the foundations, and stone had to be brought by boat from a quarry about 100 kilometers away, which slowed construction.
Work halted in 1526 or early 1527, when Berthelot fell out with the king and hastily fled the kingdom after being charged with the same corruption as his peers, Jacques de Beaune and Thomas Bohier. Bohier, the General of Finances, had built Château de Chenonceau. Beaune, the king's chief financier and Berthelot's cousin, was executed in 1527. Berthelot fled to Metz, then Cambrai, where he died two years later. He had only had time to lay out two wings of his château, which is why it has its L-shaped plan today. Francis I confiscated Berthelot's possessions, and in June 1528, he gave the rights to seize them to Antoine Raffin, called Poton, the Seneschal of Agen, Seigneur of Xaintrailles, and a captain of the guards who had fought at the king's side at the Battle of Pavia. Raffin took over the unfinished château and made only minor changes.
Nothing noteworthy happened at Azay until the strong-willed Antoinette Raffin, the granddaughter of Antoine Raffin, took over. She had been a lady-in-waiting to Queen Margot, Margaret of Valois, who was expelled from court in 1583 and had to reduce her household, and it may have been then that Antoinette came to live at Azay. In 1601, she came into possession of the château, which she richly refurbished and redecorated. She also added a domed chapel, built against the side of the old church of Azay.
Antoinette married Guy de Saint-Gelais de Lansac, an illegitimate grandson of Francis I, but he was seriously in debt, and their marriage was in trouble. She obtained a judicial separation of their property in 1603. The following year, she wrote to the bailiff at Chinon that Guy “took possession of the said castle of Azay, principal residence of the said lady, assisted by eight to twelve captains.” While she was away, he forced the door and the drawbridge, broke into the treasure chamber, and carried off her gold and jewels. In 1615, when Queen Margot died, Antoinette returned to Azay, where she lived until she died in 1629.
The Indre beside the château.
King Louis XIII stayed at the château on June 27th, 1619, on his way from Paris to visit his mother, Marie de' Medici, at Blois. According to the account of the king's physician, Jean Héroard, Louis spent the afternoon "on the River Indre in a little boat." He then went on a hunt in the forest of Chinon, and the royal musicians gave a concert at bedtime.
Henri de Courtemanche, a descendant of the Vassé family, had inherited the abandoned, derelict château from his mother, Geneviève de Vassé, and put the estate up for sale in 1787. The French Revolution delayed the sale, and Charles, Marquis de Biencourt, finally bought the entire estate of Azay on September 29th, 1791. From 1791 to 1899, four generations of Biencourts breathed new life into it. They restored it, added a tower at the east corner, and laid out the English-style park, working with the Swiss architect Pierre-Charles Dusillon, who also worked at nearby Château d'Ussé.
The Biencourt Salon, named for the family that restored the château.
The château had one more brush with disaster during the Franco-Prussian War, when it served as a Prussian headquarters. According to a popular story, a chandelier fell onto the dining table where Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia was sitting. He suspected an assassination attempt and ordered the château burned, and only the assurances of his officers that it was an accident saved it.
Financial difficulties forced the Biencourts to sell in 1899, and their collection of portraits was dispersed. The French State bought the château in 1905 and listed it as a historic monument, and in 1939 and 1940 it housed part of the French Education Ministry. Today, the Centre des monuments nationaux manages it, and it is part of the Loire Valley's UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was listed in 2000.
Castle Highlights
The château reflected in the Indre.
The château seems to rise straight out of the water, and its reflection in the Indre makes it appear to float. The writer Honoré de Balzac called it "a faceted diamond, set in the Indre." The corner turrets, machicolations, and covered walkways look like defenses, but they are decorations and never served in war. Together with Italian-style details, such as the carved pilasters and the tall, steep slate roof with stacked dormer windows, they make a classic example of the early French Renaissance.
The grand staircase is the highlight inside. It stands in the middle of the château, not tucked away in a corner tower, and it climbs several floors in straight flights with landings, turning at square corners like a spiral staircase with square corners. The flights climb in opposite directions, a type that was already common in Italy but new to France in 1518. Before 1520, it was used at Azay, Bury, and Chenonceau, but not at Blois. Its entrance looks like a Roman triumphal arch, and it is decorated with the initials of Gilles Berthelot and Philippa Lesbahy. The royal salamander of Francis I and the ermine of Queen Claude of France stand out clearly on the plain panels of wall beneath the windows, which are called allèges. The rooms include the Biencourt Salon, the Billiard Room, the kitchen, the Library, and the Small Dining Room, with furniture and tapestries from the Renaissance and later. Ceiling medallions carved with the profiles of French kings, from Louis XI to Henri IV, decorate some of the rooms. In the attic, the château's timber roof framework, restored in 2010 and 2011, is now on display.
A footbridge leads into the English-style park.
Outside, the English-style park surrounds the château, and a path leads around the water for views of its reflection. Before you go, check the Centre des monuments nationaux website for opening times. Other Loire châteaux, including Villandry and Ussé, are within a short drive.
