The Flags of Château Royal d'Amboise
The oh so photogenic Château Amboise somehow manages to stir the child within us all. It takes us back to the old days when children read fairy tales about kings and queens, princes and princesses and built models of castles.
There it stands, as it has for a thousand years, rising majestically above the Loire with its mighty walls and towers, ramparts, turrets and twisty bits, a fairy tale castle. Like all self-respecting castles, it even has flags flying from the battlements.
One flag shows the iconic fleur-de-lys, french for lily, symbol of the Kings of France until the French Revolution. Tracing its history involves wading through very murky waters indeed. Until fairly recently, academics could not agree whether the fleur is indeed a lily or an iris which is understandable because until the nineteenth century not only was it assumed the iris was of the lily family, it was a lily. We now know it’s a different species.
The consensus seems to be that the icon has less in common with the lily than the iris. The shape is certainly the iris. Of its six petals, three meet at the top, three bend downwards. Besides, lilies are white.
The first king to use the emblem was Louis VII although he is far more famous as the spurned husband of the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine. He wasn’t her idea of a king or a man. She traded him in for the macho testosterone fuelled Henry Plantagenet King of England.
Louis VII wore a plain gown and sandals. He had his head shaved into a tonsure and shared all night vigils with monks praying in the royal chapel rather than in her bed, Eleanor complained ‘I thought I had wed a king and found I had married a monk’. This explains why, whereas warrior kings of Europe chose fierce animals as emblems, Louis, the gentle, pious king of France, chose a humble yellow flower.
Kings of France named Louis signed themselves Loys. Did the iris, la fleur de Loys, transmute into fleur de lys?
There is yet another theory. The river Lys, which starts in northern France was and still is known for the yellow irises which grow along its banks. The flower of the river Lys was an iris.
The yellow flower on a blue background became the arms of France, the emblem of the kings of France and, despite the French Revolution, the enduring symbol of France.
Around 1376, Charles V simplified the design. He changed it from an all-over scattering to a group of three.
The flag next to it on the château has a white background and pattern of black shapes representing the winter coat of the ermine (white fur and a black-tipped tail) is far less controversial. It depicts stylised ermine tails, the Coat of Arms of Anne, Duchess of Brittany, Queen of France married to Charles VIII.
The ermine spot, the conventional heraldic representation of the tail is three tufts at the end converging to a point at the root. Ermine was reserved for use by high-ranking peers and royalty.
Charles and Anne transformed the old fort inherited from Charles’ father Louis XI into a stylish chateau.
Sometimes the château adds a third flag, a red flag with a stylised salamander, emblem of Francois I who grew up here. He refined the Château and turned it into a Renaissance palace.
It would be good one day to also see flags bearing the Coats of Arms of those much put upon Queens, Marie d’Anjou wife of the ghastly Charles VII who betrayed Joan of Arc and Charlotte of Savoy, wife of his equally ghastly son Louis XI. Still, life could not have been all doom and gloom for these gentle souls. They did, after all, live in this lovely Château.
Visit Chateau Amboise and many other magnificent châteaux on a Photograph France Tour or Masterclass Workshop. Click the link below for details
Post by Pamela
