Chinon is a castle located on the bank of the Vienne river in Chinon

Chinon

Chinon is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France well known for Château de Chinon.In the Middle Ages, Chinon developed especially during the reign of Henry II . The castle was rebuilt and extended, becoming one of his favorite residences...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

History

The importance of Chinon derives from its position on the bank of the Vienne river in Chinon, France just before it joins the Loire. From prehistoric times, the rivers of France formed the major trade routes, and the Vienne joins the fertile southern plains of the Poitou

Poitou

Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....

 and the city of Limoges

Limoges

Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....

 to the thoroughfare of the Loire, thus giving access to the sea at the port of Nantes

Nantes

Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....

 on the western coast, and to the Île-de-France

Île-de-France (province)

The province of Île-de-France or Isle de France is an historical province of France, and the one at the centre of power during most of French history...

 in the east. Chinon offers an easy crossing point by means of a central island in the Vienne, and the rocks dominating the shore provided not only a natural fort, but also protection against the annual flooding of the river

The site appears to have been used for a Gallo-Roman castrum; recent excavations during the restoration of the chateau have uncovered arms and ornaments dating from the 1st century AD.
Towards the end of the 4th century, a follower of St Martin

Martin of Tours

Martin of Tours was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints...

, St Mexme, established first a hermitage, and then a monastery on the eastern slope of the town. This foundation flourished throughout Middle Ages, being rebuilt and extended four times; the eventual complex contained a large and highly decorated church, a cloister and a square of canons' residences. Unfortunately the all too familiar pattern of Huguenot

Huguenot

The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...

 damage in the sixteenth century, followed by closure and partial demolition during the Revolution of 1789

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 and onwards has left only a much-damaged facade,and part of the nave, although the building has now been restored as a cultural centre.

The mount of Chinon was first fortified as a stronghold by Theobald I

Theobald I of Blois

Theobald I , called the Cheat or the Trickster , was the first count of Blois, Chartres, and Châteaudun from 960, and Tours from 945....

, Count of Blois

Count of Blois

The County of Blois was originally centred on Blois, south of Paris, France. One of the chief cities, along with Blois itself, was Chartres. Blois was associated with Champagne, Châtillon , and later with the French royal family, to whom the county passed in 1391...

 in the year 954. In the 12th century Chinon, located in (then) County of Anjou

Anjou

Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...

, which was then independent of the kingdom of France, was a primary residence of Henry II

Henry II of England

Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

 (Angevin King

House of Plantagenet

The House of Plantagenet , a branch of the Angevins, was a royal house founded by Geoffrey V of Anjou, father of Henry II of England. Plantagenet kings first ruled the Kingdom of England in the 12th century. Their paternal ancestors originated in the French province of Gâtinais and gained the...

 and King of England) and served with Poitiers and Bordeaux as a key southern capital of the vast Angevin holdings. Henry was responsible for construction of almost all of the massive chateau, encompassing a site over 500 metres long and 75m wide, with a clock tower (14th century) rising 115 feet (35.1 m) high. King Henry died in Chinon castle after being defeated by his sons Richard and John in a rebellion aided by Phillip Augustus of France; he, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...

, and their son King Richard the Lionheart

Richard I of England

Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...

 were all buried at nearby Fontevraud Abbey

Fontevraud Abbey

Fontevraud Abbey or Fontevrault Abbey is a religious building hosting a cultural centre since 1975, the Centre Culturel de l'Ouest, in the village of Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, near Chinon, in Anjou, France. It was founded by the itinerant reforming preacher Robert of Arbrissel, who had just created a...

.

In 1308, three senior officers of the Knights Templar, including the Grand Master,Jacques du Molay, were incarcerated before their condemnation and execution in Paris.

The chateau was a residence of Charles VII

Charles VII of France

Charles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...

, the Dauphin of France in the early 15th century, when Touraine was virtually the only territory left to him in France, the rest being occupied by the Burgundians or the English. Joan of Arc arrived at the castle, at the beginning of her quest to liberate France from the English on March 8, 1429; it was here that she recognized the disguised Dauphin from amongst his courtiers, a feat which helped to persuade him to accede to her urging to declare himself king and raise an army to liberate France.
In 1562 the chateau came briefly into the possession of the Huguenots and was turned into a state prison by Henry IV of France

Henry IV of France

Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....

. After that it was abandoned until 1793 when, during the Reign of Terror

Reign of Terror

The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...

, the castle was temporarily occupied by Vendeans

Revolt in the Vendée

The War in the Vendée was a Royalist rebellion and counterrevolution in the Vendée region of France during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately south of the Loire River in western France. The uprising was closely tied to the Chouannerie, which took place in...

. Soon though, it was left to decay until Emperor Napoleon III began a partial effort at restoration, supervised by Prosper Mérimée(the author of the story 'Carmen'). Today, it is managed by the Town of Chinon and is a major tourist attraction.

Since 1840, the castle has been recognised as a monument historique

Monument historique

A monument historique is a National Heritage Site of France. It also refers to a state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building or a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, or gardens, bridges, and other structures, because of their...

by the French Ministry of Culture.

Description

The castle is divided, along its length, into three enclosures, each separated by a deep dry moat

Moat

A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...

. The easternmost is known as Fort St.-Georges, the central called the Château de Milieu, while the westernmost is known as the Fort du Coudray. In the early 13th century, following the Capetian

House of Capet

The House of Capet, or The Direct Capetian Dynasty, , also called The House of France , or simply the Capets, which ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328, was the most senior line of the Capetian dynasty – itself a derivative dynasty from the Robertians. As rulers of France, the dynasty...

 annexation of Anjou in 1205, a cylindrical keep

Keep

A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...

 similar to those at Rouen

Rouen

Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

 and the Louvre

Louvre

The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

, was added by Philip Augustus

Philip II of France

Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...

, King of France, to the entrance of the Fort du Coudray.

In the keep or donjon, called the Tour de Coudray, Templar

Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

 three knights were imprisoned during the brutal suppression of the Templar Order that occurred in 1308. Some of the prisoners carved odd symbols into the walls of their cells: Hearts, Stars of David, grids, and other geometrical patterns. It is unknown if they were random symbols, or represented a code of some type.

Between 2003 & 2009, the castle was the subject of a massive excavation and restoration project, costing 17 million euros. The royal lodgings (Logis Royales) which have been roofless for two hundred years, have been restored inside and out, and now boast wooden or tiled floors and ceilings, as well as state-of-the-art underfloor heating. The ramparts have been rebuilt, and the Fort St. Georges, which existed only as groundwork, has been rebuilt as a visitor centre and entrance hall. The aim of the restorations is to present a realistic vision of a medieval fortress in a liveable and usable state, with an extended and upgraded museum of finds from the excavations and local memorabilia.

Access has been revolutionised by the construction of a glass-sided lift, which connects the car park just behind the central square with the clock-tower (Tour de Horloge)of the chateau.