Hôtel des Tournelles
Encyclopedia
- Not to be confused with the Château de la TournelleChâteau de la TournelleThe Château de la Tournelle was a now-demolished castle on the quay which gave it its name, on the approximate site now occupied by the La Tour d'Argent restaurant....
.
The hôtel des Tournelles was a now-demolished collection of buildings in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
built from the 14th century onwards, to the north of the site of what is now place des Vosges
Place des Vosges
The Place des Vosges is the oldest planned square in Paris.It is located in the Marais district, and it straddles the dividing-line between the 3rd and 4th arrondissements of Paris.- History :...
. It is named after its many 'tournelles' or little towers.
It was long owned by the kings of France, though they did not often live there. It was here that Henry II of France
Henry II of France
Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
died in 1559 of wounds received in a joust. After his death, his widow Catherine de Médicis abandoned the building (by then old-fashioned) and it was turned into a gunpowder magazine then sold to finance the construction of a palace in the Italian style, known as the Tuileries.
Site and description
At the start of the 15th century, the whole district around it formed a huge rectangle marked out by rue Saint-Antoine, rue des Tournelles, rue de Turenne and rue Saint-Gilles, which was broken from within by the royal estate's park. During the English occupation of Paris from 1420 to 1436, the Duke of Bedford extended it by purchasing eight and a half acres from the nuns of Sainte-Catherine for 200 livres 16 sous, thus extending the property as far as the fortified wall of Paris, then situated on the site of what is now boulevard Richard Lenoir. This extension was annulled in 1437 after the English defeat. The main entrance to the hôtel was at the bottom of what is now impasse Guéménée. It was said to be able to support 6,000 people.Like the Hôtel Saint-Pol
Hôtel Saint-Pol
The hôtel Saint-Pol was a royal residence begun in 1361 by Charles V of France on the ruins of a building constructed by Louis IX. It was used by Charles V and Charles VI.- Description :...
, the hôtel des Tournelles was made up of a collection of buildings spread over an estate of more than 20 acres, including twenty chapels, several pleasure grounds, ovens and twelve galleries housing the Duke of Bedford's famous galerie des courges (so-called due to the painted green squashes or courges decoarting its walls - under its tiled roof his arms, devices and heraldry were shown). It also included a maze called 'Dedalus', two parks planted with trees, six kitchen gardens and a ploughed field. The council chamber was notable for the magnificence of its decoration. Three other rooms bore the names salle des Écossais, salle de brique and salle pavée. One part of the hôtel des Tournelles with the name Logis du Roi had an entrance decorated with the French coat of arms, painted by Jean de Boulogne, known as Jean de Paris. In 1464, Louis XI
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
built a gallery there which connected the house to the Hôtel-Neuf of madame d'Étampes, across rue Saint-Antoine. He also built an observatory for his doctor Jacques Coitier
Jacques Coitier
Jacques Coitier was a French doctor. He was chief physician to Louis XI of France and president of the Chambre des comptes....
. Meangeries based on those at the hôtel Saint-Paul were later added to house some of the animals previously held at the hôtel Saint-Paul. New specimens were imported from Africa, such as lions, giving the enclosures their name d’hôtel des lions du Roi.
No remains survive of the hôtel besides a copy of one of its gates, which forms the south gate of église Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs, and some caves buried below buildings in the district.
History
At the start of the 14th century, the building that became the Hôtel des Tournelles was merely a house facing the hôtel Saint-PolHôtel Saint-Pol
The hôtel Saint-Pol was a royal residence begun in 1361 by Charles V of France on the ruins of a building constructed by Louis IX. It was used by Charles V and Charles VI.- Description :...
. Pierre d'Orgemont
Pierre d'Orgemont
Pierre d’Orgemont was a French politician of the Hundred Years' War era.- Life :...
, seigneur de Chantilly and chancellor of France and the Dauphiné under Charles VI, or his eldest son Pierre, rebuilt it in 1388 - it had been left to the younger Pierre in 1387. This house may have formerly been the property of Jean d'Orgemont, his presumed father. On 19 March 1387 Pierre d'Orgemont divided his lands among his ten children, leaving the maison des Tournelles to his eldest son Pierre, bishop of Paris, who already lived there. After his father's death in 1389, the bishop sold the house on 16 May 1402 for 140,000 écus d’or, to the duc de Berry
John, Duke of Berry
John of Valois or John the Magnificent was Duke of Berry and Auvergne and Count of Poitiers and Montpensier. He was the third son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxemburg; his brothers were King Charles V of France, Duke Louis I of Anjou and Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy...
, brother of Charles V
Charles V of France
Charles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...
. In 1404 the duc de Berry ceded it to his nephew Louis, the duc d’Orléans and younger brother of Charles VI
Charles VI of France
Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
, in exchange for the hôtel de Gixé on rue de Jouy. The duc d’Orléans was assassinated on 23 November 1407 and the hôtel passed to his heirs before becoming the property of Charles VI, who lived there from 1417 onwards. The house thus took the name of the Maison royale des Tournelles.
Treaty of Troyes
The Treaty of Troyes was an agreement that Henry V of England and his heirs would inherit the throne of France upon the death of King Charles VI of France. It was signed in the French city of Troyes on 21 May 1420 in the aftermath of the Battle of Agincourt...
, the English entered Paris on 18 November 1420. After Charles VI's death on 22 October 1422 in Paris, the hôtel was sequestred before becoming the main residence of John of Lancaster, the Duke of Bedford, younger brother of Henry V of England
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
and regent for the kingdom of France until the majority of his nephew Henry VI
Henry VI of England
Henry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars...
. In 1436, after the English left Paris, 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...
gave the hôtel to his Orléans cousins. It thus passed to John of Orléans
John, Count of Angoulême
John of Orléans, Count of Angoulême and of Périgord , 26 June 1399 – 30 April 1467, younger son of Louis I, Duke of Orléans, and Valentina Visconti, and a grandson of Charles V of France. He was the younger brother of the noted poet, Charles, Duke of Orléans, and grandfather of Francis I of...
, count of Angoulême, and was temporarily renamed the hôtel d’Angoulême (not to be confused with the later Hôtel d'Angoulême Lamoignon
Hôtel d'Angoulême Lamoignon
The hôtel d'Angoulême Lamoignon is a hôtel particulier, or grand private house, in the Le Marais district of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, at the corner of number 24 rue Pavée and the rue des Francs-Bourgeois...
) until his death in 1467, upon which it passed to his widow Marguerite de Rohan. In 1486 she left it to her son Charles of Orléans
Charles, Count of Angoulême
Charles d'Orléans, Count of Angoulême was a member of the French Orléans family descended from Louis I de Valois, Duke of Orléans, who was the son of Charles V of France. He was the son of John, Count of Angoulême and Marguerite de Rohan, and was Count of Angoulême from 1467-1496...
, father of Francis I of France
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
, thus making it a royal residence once again. In 1563 it was still called the "hôtel des Tournelles et d'Angoulème".
Different kings of this era stayed for short or long periods at the hôtel - Louis XI
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
made a few brief stays there:
Fleeing his coronation festivities, the new king took refuge there on Tuesday 1 September 1461 after dinner but had already left for Tours by 25 September.
Nor did Louis's successors Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...
and Louis XII of France
Louis XII of France
Louis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...
stay there much, though the latter did die there on 1 January 1515. Francis I of France
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
did not live there, preferring the château de Fontainebleau
Château de Fontainebleau
The Palace of Fontainebleau, located 55 kilometres from the centre of Paris, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The palace as it is today is the work of many French monarchs, building on an early 16th century structure of Francis I. The building is arranged around a series of courtyards...
, the Louvre
Palais du Louvre
The Louvre Palace , on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, is a former royal palace situated between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois...
and the castles on the River Loire. The Hôtel des Tournelles was used as a residence by his mother Louise of Savoy
Louise of Savoy
Louise of Savoy was a French noble, Duchess regnant of Auvergne and Bourbon, Duchess of Nemours, the mother of King Francis I of France...
then by his mistress Anne de Pisseleu, a tradition repeated by Henry II of France
Henry II of France
Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
when he made it Diane de Poitiers
Diane de Poitiers
Diane de Poitiers was a French noblewoman and a prominent courtier at the courts of kings Francis I and his son, Henry II of France. She became notorious as the latter's favourite mistress...
's residence. In 1524 the magician Cornélius Agrippa lived there under the name Agrippa de Nettesheim, as doctor and astrologer to Louise de Savoie, to whom he made dead and living people appear.
The hôtel saw several lavish and unusual festivals, such as the "danse macabre
Danse Macabre
Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre , Danza de la Muerte , Dansa de la Mort , Danza Macabra , Dança da Morte , Totentanz , Dodendans , is an artistic genre of late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: no matter one's...
" on 23 August 1451 before Charles, Duke of Orléans. Henry II celebrated his coronation there in 1547 and then the signing of the Treaties of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559. The last festival held there was also in 1559, to mark the double marriage of Élisabeth de France to Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
and of the king's sister Marguerite de France to the duke of Savoy. On this occasion, a tourney was organised on 29 June on rue Saint-Antoine, the widest street in Paris at the time and thus known as the La Grant rue St Anthoine, with the same dimensions as in the present day. During a joust in front of the hôtel de Sully (level with what is now number 62), Henry II was seriously wounded by an accidental lance thrust by Gabriel de Lorges, count of Montgommery, captain of the king's Scottish guard. Moved to the hôtel des Tournelles, the king died there on 10 July 1559 after terrible agony, despite attempts to save him by the famous surgeon Ambroise Paré
Ambroise Paré
Ambroise Paré was a French surgeon. He was the great official royal surgeon for kings Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III and is considered as one of the fathers of surgery and modern forensic pathology. He was a leader in surgical techniques and battlefield medicine, especially the...
and the surgeon to the king of Spain Andreas Vesalius.
Catherine de Médici, an Italian princess who had grown up in Roman palaces, disliked the Hôtel des Tournelles's medieval appearance and so took Henry's death as a pretext to sell it off. Gaining total power as regent to their young sons, she turned it into an arsenal and then had it closed and demolished. On 28 January 1563, in the name of her son Charles IX of France
Charles IX of France
Charles IX was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. His reign was dominated by the Wars of Religion. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Childhood:...
, she issued letters patent ordering the demolition. This took place in stages and financed her major works on the more modern royal residences in Paris, particularly on the Madrid
Château de Madrid
The Château de Madrid was a Renaissance building in France. It was built in Neuilly, on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, near Paris, in the early 16th century, but fell into disuse in the 17th and 18th centuries and was almost completely demolished in the 1790s.The construction of the château was...
and the Tuileries. Some of the materials were reused in the construction of this palace. The stables weer reused to created the important Marché-aux-chevaux or horse market, where two thousand horses were sold every Saturday. Certain parcels of land from the Hôtel's estate were sold off, though a large estate remained for use in military training. It also became a traditional site for bloody duels - on 27 April 1578, at 5 am, three favourites of Henry III of France
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
beat three favourites of the duke of Guise in a duel there, with all six men ending up killed or seriously wounded. In January 1589 the estate was used to exercise the mercenaries charged with defending Paris against 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....
.
Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully
Maximilien de Béthune, first Duke of Sully was the doughty soldier, French minister, staunch Huguenot and faithful right-hand man who assisted Henry IV of France in the rule of France.-Early years:...
to measure out the site. He donated a parcel of 6,000 toises (yards) to his main noblemen, who built pavilions there, on the condition that they stuck to the layout, materials and main dimensions laid down by the architects Androuet du Cerceau and Claude Chastillon. On 29 March 1605 Henry wrote to Sully:
Thus the place Royale, later known as the place des Vosges
Place des Vosges
The Place des Vosges is the oldest planned square in Paris.It is located in the Marais district, and it straddles the dividing-line between the 3rd and 4th arrondissements of Paris.- History :...
, was born.
External links
- http://fr.structurae.de/projects/data/index.cfm?id=p00570