Château de Chinon
History
The Royal Fortress of Chinon stretches along a rocky ridge above the River Vienne, and its story runs through the long struggle between the kings of England and France. A Roman fortification stood on the site by the 5th century, and the first castle here was built in the 10th century by Theobald I, Count of Blois.
The Counts of Anjou took Chinon in 1044, when Geoffrey II of Anjou captured Theobald III of Blois and made him give up his claim, and it soon became one of their principal residences. It grew far more important after 1154, when Henry II, already master of Anjou, became king of England. Ruling an empire that stretched from Scotland to the Pyrenees, he rebuilt most of the castle and added Fort Saint George, which housed his treasury and arsenal and became a center of his government.
The fortress along its ridge above the River Vienne.
The castle also saw the collapse of his family. In 1173 his sons, encouraged by their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, rebelled against him, and Henry the Young King slipped away from Chinon to join the revolt. Eleanor was captured and held at Chinon before being sent to England, where she remained a prisoner until Henry's death. He died at Chinon on 6 July 1189, after another conflict with his sons, including Richard, and with Philip II of France. He was buried at Fontevraud Abbey, and Chinon passed to Richard I, the Lionheart.
Richard spent much of his reign away. In 1191 he joined the Crusade alongside Philippe Auguste, but on the journey home the Emperor of Germany imprisoned him. Philippe seized the chance to attack Normandy, Maine, Poitou, and Anjou, and Richard's brother John made things worse by siding with the king of France. Richard was freed only after a huge ransom was paid. In 1199 an arrow pierced his neck during the siege of Chalus in Limousin, the wound became infected, and he died without an heir, leaving Chinon to John.
John spent heavily on the fortress between 1200 and 1202 and celebrated his marriage to Isabella of Angoulême at Chinon in 1200. He had taken her from her suitor, Hugh de Lusignan, and the marriage gave Philippe the pretext to return to war. The French king besieged Chinon from the autumn of 1204, and on 23 June 1205 it fell after a siege of about nine months, while John was away in England. Hubert de Burgh, who commanded the garrison, was taken prisoner and held until 1207.
The Coudray Tower, built by Philippe Auguste after he took the castle.
Philippe added the Coudray Tower to strengthen his new prize, a round keep in the French style, and John came back to Chinon only in 1214, to sign a truce with him.
About a century later the Coudray Tower found a darker use. In August 1308 Philip the Fair, king of France, had Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and other Templar dignitaries held at Chinon, which kept them out of the hands of Pope Clement V. The pope sent three cardinals to question them with a view to bringing them back into the Church, and the record of their confessions is known as the Chinon Parchment, which stayed secret until 2001.
The Royal Quarters.
The fortress's best-known chapter began after the Treaty of Troyes in 1420 disinherited the Dauphin Charles. He withdrew to Bourges and the lands south of the Loire, and after he became Charles VII in 1422 he made Chinon one of his residences, holding his court here from 1427. In 1429 Joan of Arc came to Chinon to meet him and was lodged in the Coudray Tower. In June 1433 supporters of Arthur de Richemont, Constable of France, seized the king's favorite, Georges de La Trémoille, at Chinon, and Charles VII sent La Trémoille from court and restored Arthur as Constable.
Chinon's royal days ended slowly. Huguenots held the castle in 1562 and used it as a state prison, and in 1631 it passed to the Richelieu family, who owned it until 1789 and let it decay. The great hall was torn down in 1699 and the chapel of Saint George was destroyed in 1763. After the Revolution, imperial decrees of 1808 even handed the ruins to the local council to be demolished and the stone reused. The castle was listed as a historic monument in 1840, and when the town again asked for its demolition in 1854, Prosper Mérimée's intervention began its rescue.
The Clock Tower rising above stretches of ruined wall.
A major restoration took place between 2003 and 2010 at a cost of about €14.5 million. The Royal Quarters were roofed and restored, about 150 meters of ramparts were rebuilt, and a new reception building was added in Fort Saint George.
Castle Highlights
The Royal Fortress of Chinon consists of three castles, separated by deep dry moats: Fort Saint George in the east, the Middle Castle, and Fort Coudray in the west. Fort Saint George holds the reception hall and gift shop and the garden where Henry II's palace and chapel once stood. The shop, toilets and other visitor facilities are in a separate building that you pass through before entering the Middle Castle, where the towers and the Royal Quarters stand; beyond the shop lies the older part of the fortress. A food truck in the heart of the fortress, with a view of the Clock Tower, sells cold drinks, Loire Valley wines, local beers, salads, sandwiches, desserts and ice cream. The best views of the whole fortress may be had from across the River Vienne.
The Royal Quarters in the Middle Castle are the most impressive part of the fortress. Louis I of Anjou began rebuilding them around 1370, they took their final form under Charles VII, and his queen, Marie d'Anjou, lived here from 1435 to 1461. Plantagenet kings occupied the site earlier, and Joan of Arc visited. Before 2003 the Royal Quarters lacked a roof and consisted solely of walls. After extensive repairs, the Royal Quarters were restored with rooms full of interactive displays and audio/video features narrating the castle's history and the story of Joan of Arc. Visitors can now also borrow a HistoPad, a tablet that adds augmented-reality reconstructions as you walk through; these were introduced in 2019.
The Clock Tower and the bridge leading to it.
Several towers stand across the courtyard from the Royal Quarters. The Argenton Tower was built in the late 15th century, with five-meter-thick walls and embrasures for cannon to oppose the new gunpowder weapons of the time. The Clock Tower, which dates back to the 14th century, is the most impressive tower of the castle and serves as the entrance to the Middle Castle, over a drawbridge and through a portcullis. The Main Gate Tower, which stood in the curtain wall a little to the east, has largely disappeared.Its tall, slender shape is unlike the rounded towers common in most castles, and it holds a bell, the Marie Javelle, cast in 1399. The five levels of the tower are reached by a decorative spiral staircase, and all of the castle's towers are open to visitors who are comfortable with heights.
A wooden wheel-and-pulley hoist for raising loads into the castle.
Fort Coudray, at the western end, is dominated by the Coudray Tower. Philippe Auguste built it after he captured the fortress from King John in 1205, and its entrance is on the first floor, as befits a keep. Its name may come from the grove of hazelnut trees, "coudres" in old French, that grew within the fort. It was here that Joan of Arc was lodged in 1429 and the Templar dignitaries were held in 1308. A visit to the Royal Fortress of Chinon can easily take half a day or more, but the Château de Langeais is close by should you have additional time.
