The Château de Chenonceau in the Loire Valley in France is a haven of art and glamour and formal gardens. It’s also a place rich in history, and its history is dominated by women. The site as we know it was constructed under the watchful eye of Katherine Briçonnet starting in 1513, and since then the castle has been the site of forbidden romance, revenge, intellectual and artistic growth, and rebellion.
The château has such a rich and amazing history that I’m just going to mention some highlights, ones that might fit quite nicely into a romance novel or novel of historical fiction. Behold some of the different faces of the Château de Chenonceau:
- The Love Triangle Château
Henry II was madly in love with his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. Not content to woo her with flowers and candy, he gave her the château in 1535. Since Henry’s wife, Catherine de Medici, wanted it for herself, this was incredibly tactless, but when it came to Diane, Henry was not a tactful guy. Diane was a pivotal figure in the chateau’s history. She ordered its famous bridge to be built across the Cern River and oversaw the planting of the gardens and orchards.
When Henry II died in 1559, he left behind his very annoyed widow, Catherine, who is rumored to have had the motto “Hate and Wait.” She seized the castle from Diane, although she gave Diane a different one (under the circumstances, that seems generous of her, although apparently Diane was not fond of her new place).
Catherine loved the château and she liked outdoing her romantic rival. She funded a huge expansion of the buildings and gardens and hosted France’s first fireworks display there. As Queen, Catherine had had very little power, but as Queen Regent after Henry’s death, she became incredibly powerful, and notorious, in the political life of Europe.
- The Haunted Gothic Castle of The White-Robed Tragic Heroine
I haven’t actually heard that the castle is haunted, but I’m sure it is, based on the fact that it was owned for quite some time by Louise of Lorraine, Catherine de Medici’s daughter-in-law. [Note: in the case of The Château de Chenonceau, the words ‘castle’ and ‘château’ seem to be used interchangeably depending on who is writing about the location].
Louise had the suckiest life that a person could have and still be rich. Her parents died when she was a baby and she was an unloved orphan who was told to stay out of the way. Henry III proposed to her because she looked like Henry’s recently dead true love, Marie de Clèves. She wasn’t interested in politics and she couldn’t have children, which led to immense depression and stress for her. She did seem genuinely fond of her husband, however.
In 1589, Henry III was assassinated. Louise spent the rest of her days wearing white, the traditional mourning color for French queens. “The White Queen” wandered the halls of Château de Chenonceau, which she draped with black tapestries embroidered with bones. If the idea of an emotionally wrenching, white-clad tragic figure wandering castle hallways between black skeleton tapestries doesn’t scream “HAUNTING” I don’t know what does.
- The Château of Very Smart People
The château changed hands a few times before being sold to Claude Dupin in 1733. His wife, Louise Dupin, used the estate to host literary salons. These salons attracted all the great thinkers of the Enlightenment including authors, philosophers, and naturalists. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was Louise’s secretary, and Voltaire was a frequent guest.
During the French Revolution, Louise saved the château by pointing out that the bridge was the only bridge across the Cher River for many miles and thus was indispensable.
- The Castle of WWI Nursing and WWII Resistance
During WWI, the castle was owned by the Menier family, who had built a hugely successful chocolate business. During WWI, they turned the castle into a hospital. If you are thinking of writing a romance about a sexy WWI nurse and her sexy patient, here’s your setting.
In WWII, the line between Nazi Occupied France and Free France ran along the Cher River – the river that the castle is built on. Part of the castle was in German territory but the end of the gallery was in Free France.
German guards patrolled the castle grounds, but Simone Menier smuggled Jewish and French people through the castle to safety. The château was bombed by Germans in 1940 and Allies in 1944.
Today you can visit the château and take a variety of tours including a night walk of the illuminated gardens. You can also explore the hedge maze, and for a fee you can take any number of tours inside the buildings.
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These links have details, and so many photos!
Two in France.com.au
I visited Chenonceau when I studied in France back in Fall 2009. It’s even more gorgeous in person. Didn’t hear any stories about it being haunted though.
We also visited Azay-le-Rideau and Chambord in the same day trip.
Loved this! I also visited Chenonceau as a high school student wayyyy back when. It was my first time leaving the States, and needless to say, France totally knocked my socks off – thanks in no small part to this chateau and its pretty amazing history. If I’m ever lucky enough to go back, I’d love to do the illuminated night tour. How cool!
Also, anyone have any recs for books (preferably novels/fictional) about Diane de Poitiers? Would love to explore this era of French history.
I recall reading several jean plaidy books about Catherine de Medici when I was a teen and Diane figured prominently in those. A quick check of Amazon also shows that Princess Michael of Kent has written an account of Diane, Henri and Catherine.
According to a sometimes salacious TV program some years ago that detailed the histories of various castles, Chenonceau amongst them, Catherine de Medici drove herself insane with jealousy (a “fact” that cannot be corroborated because it didn’t happen). Per the show, IIRC, she had their (hers & Henry’s) initials carved all over the house… not realizing that the layered design showed Diane’s instead.
If ever I get to France, this is on my list of sites to visit.
Twenty years ago, if you went to Chenonceau in the off season (March), you could take a self-guided tour. The guide would hand you a copy of the tour booklet, and you were free to wander. There were other guides around to keep you from making off with the furnishings, but mostly you were on your own to see what you liked and read as much or as little of the booklet as you chose.
There were very few other tourists around the day we went through, so in many ways it felt like being back in the days of Diane and Marie. There were fires in many of the fire places, so many of the rooms were as warm as though the inhabitants had just stepped out. Most of the rooms had overflowing bouquets of hyacinth whose perfume kept the rooms from smelling as musty as places with ancient furniture are liable to smell. Ever since that day, the scent of hyacinths takes me back to that marvelous place.
I went to Chenonceau a year and a half ago and really enjoyed it! Beyond just seeing a chateau and how beautiful it was, it was very cool to go down to the basement and see the kitchens, which were pretty nicely restored. It also had a lot of furniture still in place, which I couldn’t say for all the chateaux my mom and I visited!
I got to visit Chenonceau waaaayy back in … 1985? Among other Loire Valley castles on a student tour in between sessions of study at the university in Caen. Want to go back!
If that is an accurate portrait of Diane de Poitiers, my goodness, what a knockout.
We visited the Loire Valley in September and when we were deciding which Chateaus to visit, we saw the photo of Chenonceau and knew we HAD to go there. It did not disappoint. We also visited the Chateau de Chaumont, which was where Diane de Poitiers ended up after Catherine kicked her out of Chenonceau. It was lovely also, but not in the same league as Chenonceau.
I’m a huge fan of Judith Merkle Riley (ANY one of her books is worth reading), and the Diane/Henri/Catherine situation is a major part of “The Master of All Desires”. Plus it has Nostradamus, hassled by everybody looking for fortunes!
On this topic, I do recall a rather blah 1956 movie called “Diane” which starred Lana Turner as Diane de Poitiers, Marisa Pavan as Catherine and a very young Roger Moore as Henri. It should have been good as the script was apparently written by Christopher Isherwood. The plot covered essentially the situation described above, but it was considered an expensive studio failure. The costumes and scenery were quite lovely, though. (Turner was quoted as saying Diane de Poitiers was “quite modern, she wasn’t afraid to use her head, but was never caught with her brains showing.”)
@ chacha1:
If that is an accurate portrait of Diane de Poitiers, my goodness, what a knockout.
I kinda think it isn’t–especially considering that she was some 20 years older than the king. (It is no surprise that the word “cougar” shows up a lot on web pages about her!) I looked and looked and couldn’t find any concrete information about the painting–provenance, date, artist, what-have-you. But it really doesn’t look like a mid-16th-century portrait, does it. More like an idealization by someone in a later century who never set eyes on her.