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HISTORY

CHATEAUX OF THE LOIRE | ITINERARY : French History

 

Chateaux de la Loire de Chambord

Self-guided Tour : "History of France"

 

chateau Amboise Loire
Royal château of Amboise : the cradle of French Renaissance

 

puce rondeChâteaux of the Loire Valley by car : build your own chronological tour.

 

We suggest to start this tour with the western region of Touraine, in Chinon for example. Then if you go to the east of Loire Valley, you will progressively leave the Middle Ages and discover the French Renaissance.

This itinerary is suitable for historians.

We put forward the names of the most famous historical personalities, who left their mark on the history of the Loire Châteaux.

 

THE MIDDLE AGES

 

In the 11th century :

  1. Keep of Loches, keep of Langeais : Fulk Nerra (count of Anjou),

In the 12th century :

  1. Fortress of Chinon and royal abbey of Fontevraud : Henri II Plantagenêt (Henry II of England) and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart,
  2. Keep of Loches : Richard the Lionheart,
  3. Keep of Villandry : Henri II Plantagenêt (Henry II of England) and Philippe-Auguste (king of France)

In the 15th century :

  1. Fortress of Chinon, logis royal of Loches : Joan of Arc (first meeting with Charles VII at Chinon castle in 1429)
  2. Castle of Langeais : Louis XI, Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany (marriage at Langeais castle in 1491)
  3. Royal castle of Amboise : Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany (death of Charles VIII after he accidentally hit his head on the lintel of a door in 1498)

FRENCH RENAISSANCE

 

In the 16th century :

  1. Castle of Blois : Louis XII and Anne of Brittany, Francis I and Claude of France, Catherine de' Medici, Henri III
  2. Castle of Amboise and Clos-Lucé : Leonardo da Vinci
  3. Château of Chambord : François 1er, Louis XIV
  4. Château of Chenonceau : Henri II (King of France) and Catherine de' Medici, Diane de Poitiers.

CLASSICISM

 

In the 17th century :

  1. Castle of Blois : Louis XIII : his brother Gaston of Orléans and his mother Marie de' Medici
  2. Château of Cheverny : Henri IV, Louis XIII
  3. Château of Beauregard : Cardinal Richelieu, Louis XIV
  4. Château of Chambord : Gaston of Orléans, Louis XIV.

 

Statue of Louis XII King of France, with horse and fleurs de lys, at the Royal Wing

Louis XII, King of France from 1498 to 1515, was born in Blois