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.
In the 12th century, a knight named Ridel d'Azay, who served King Philip II Augustus, built a fortress here 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 several hundred men, and burned it. For centuries afterward, the town was known as Azay-le-Brûlé, meaning "Azay the Burnt."
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. Shortly afterward, Francis I confiscated the unfinished château and gave it to Antoine Raffin, captain of the archers of the royal guard, who made only minor changes.
Nothing noteworthy happened at Azay until the strong-willed Antoinette Raffin, the granddaughter of Antoine Raffin, took over. 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 had been a lady-in-waiting to Queen Margot, Margaret of Valois. She married Guy de Saint-Gelais de Lansac, an illegitimate grandson of Francis I, who was determined to squander her fortune. While she was away, he forced his way past the gate and drawbridge to seize her gold and jewelry. In 1615, when Queen Margot died, Antoinette returned to Azay, where she lived until she died in 1629.
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.
In 1791, Charles, Marquis de Biencourt, bought the entire estate of Azay from Henri de Courtemanche, a descendant of the Vassé family, whose mother, Geneviève de Vassé, had left him the abandoned, derelict château. 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.
During the Franco-Prussian War, the château 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 the French State bought the château in 1905. 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 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.
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.
