Theme Week Chateaux of the Loire Valley – Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire
Thursday, 23 June 2011 - 03:44 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische UnionCategory/Kategorie: General, Architecture, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time: 4 minutes
© Peter Dutton
The first château-fort on this site between Blois and Amboise was a primitive fortress built by Eudes II, Count of Blois, in the 10th century with the purpose of protecting Blois from attacks from his feudal rivals, the counts of Anjou. On his behalf the Norman Gelduin received it, improved it and held it as his own. His great-niece Denise de Fougère, having married Sulpice d’Amboise, passed the château into the Amboise family for five centuries. The castle was burned to the ground in 1465 in accordance with Louis XI’s orders and was later rebuilt by Charles I d’Amboise from 1465–1475 and then finished by his son, Charles II d’Amboise de Chaumont from 1498–1510, with help from his uncle, Cardinal Georges d’Amboise; some Renaissance features were to be seen in buildings that retained their overall medieval appearance.
The Château de Chaumont was purchased by Catherine de Medici in 1560, a year after her late husband Henry II’s death. There she entertained numerous astrologers, among them Nostradamus. In 1559 she forced Diane de Poitiers, her late husband’s long-term mistress, to exchange the Château de Chenonceau for the Château de Chaumont. Diane de Poitiers only lived at Chaumont for a short while.
The duc de Beauvilliers bought the chateau in 1699, modernized some of its interiors and decorated it with sufficient grandeur to house the duc d’Anjou on his way to become king of Spain in 1700. His eventual heir was forced to sell Chaumont to pay his debts to a maître des requêtes ordinaire to Louis XV, Monsieur Bertin, who demolished the north wing built by Charles II d’Amboise and the Cardinal d’Amboise, to open the house towards the river view in the modern fashion.
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