Heritage : Blois

For centuries, the Château de Blois kept the many secrets of the various kings of France and their courts.

The first prince to have made Blois a royal residence was Charles of Orleans, the poet. He moved there when he came back from England where he had spent 25 years in captivity. He brought up his son - the future Louis XII - there.

In 1498, Louis XII was crowned and Blois became the capital of the kingdom. The King had a wing built to the castle in flamboyant Gothic style. He stamped his emblem - a porcupine - on many stones and sat on a throne at the top of the portal that had the form of an equestrian statue. The queen, Anne of Brittany, had a very moral influence on the court; she thus created, "la Cordelière", an order of chivalry meant to reward the most virtuous ladies of her retinue.

After the porcupine, came François I's salamander which was also stamped on the castle's walls. After his victory in Marignan in 1515, he started the renovation of the north wing in the purist French Renaissance style. The castle was adorned with the loggia facade and the beautiful spiral staircase designed by Dominique de Cortone. After Queen Claude's death the works were stopped.

In between the two wings, inside the original fortress dating back to the 13th century, is the General Estates room, one of the oldest rooms of the castle.

Henry III, Catherine de Medici's son and King of France from 1574 to 1589, convened the General Estates twice in Blois; once in 1576 and then in 1588. The King's power and authority were harmed by the "Ligue", a powerful Catholic organisation led by Henri de Guise, known as "le Balafré" ("gashed face"). In 1558, the Parisian members of the Ligue rebelled and Henry III had to flee to Chartres. After a while, he convened the General Estates in Blois and decided that in such a climate of suspicion and rebellion, he would have the Duke de Guise and his brother, the cardinal of Lorraine, assassinated.
The assassination took place on the second floor of the François I wing during the night of the 22nd to the 23rd of December 1588. The Duke de Guise succumbed to the many stabs given by the Royal guard and collapsed at the foot of Henry III's bed.
The Ligue chose the brother of the Duke de Guise, the Duke de Mayenne as leader and continued its struggle against the Royal power. Henry III was then assassinated by a Dominican monk on the first of August 1589.

The Château de Blois is often associated with this remarkable time of religious wars. This is probably why the architect Félix Duban restored the castle, during the 19th century, following the style of the Henry III period.

During the 17th century, Blois became the scene of King Louis XIII's and his brother Gaston d'Orléans's intrigues. Mary of Medici, their mother, was exiled there in 1617 and is said to have escaped in 1619 thanks to a rope ladder! After various plots, Gaston d'Orléans settled in Blois and started construction works under the supervision of François Mansard: between 1635 and 1638, a new wing was built in the classical style.

In 1842, the castle was listed as a historical building thanks to the influence of the Romantic writers.

The Château de Blois on the web :

The history of Blois since the Middle Ages, the history of the castle and of the banks of the Loire.