A Visit to Amboise in 1644
Chateau Amboise: Minimes Tower. Showing what remains of the moat in rue de la Concorde.
Extract from John Evelyn's Diary:
2nd May, 1644. We took boat again, passing by Chaumont, a proud castle on the left hand; before it is a sweet island, deliciously shaded with tall trees.
A little distance from hence, we went on shore at Amboise, a very agreeable village, built of stone, and the houses covered with blue slate, as the towns on the Loire generally are; but the castle chiefly invited us, the thickness of whose towers from the river to the top, was admirable.
We entered by the drawbridge, which has an invention to let one fall, if not premonished*.
It is full of halls and spacious chambers, one staircase is large enough, and sufficiently commodious, to receive a coach, and land it on the very tower, as they told us had been done. There is some artillery in it; but that which is most observable is in the ancient chapel, viz, a stag's head, or branches, hung up by chains, consisting of twenty antlers, the beam bigger than a man's middle, and of an incredible length. Indeed, it is monstrous, and yet I cannot conceive how it should be artificial they show also the ribs and vertebrae of the same beast; but these might be made of whalebone.
Leaving the castle, we passed Mont Louis, a village having no houses above ground but such only as are hewn out of the main rocks of excellent freestone**. Here and there the funnel of a chimney appears on the surface among the vineyards which are over them, and in this manner they inhabit the caves, as it were sea-cliffs, on one side of the river for many miles.
We now came within sight of Tours, where we were designed for the rest of the time I had resolved to stay in France, the sojournment being so agreeable.
The Diary Entry is interesting on many levels
'we went on shore at Amboise'.
'towers from the river to the top'
In 1644 many visitors arrived at Amboise by boat. In those days, the Loire reached the Chateau.
A busy, working river, it was the preferred mode of transport. Once outside large cities and towns, roads were little more than cart tracks.
There are so many Chateaux along the Loire, when kings of France lived here, it was known as The Royal River.
....one staircase is large enough, and sufficiently commodious, to receive a coach....
Coaches accessed the Chateau via the Heurtault Tower so it sounds as if Evelyn entered by the drawbridge in the Minimes Tower (rue de la Concorde).
Heurtault Tower, Château Royal d'Amboise.
Minimes Tower, Château Royal d'Amboise.
It raises the question as to why Charles VIII who built the Minimes Tower and the Heurtault Tower needed drawbridges? The Hundred Years War with England was long gone. The Chateau was under no threat.
'Here and there the funnel of a chimney appears on the surface...in this manner they inhabit the caves...'
There was no need for Mr Evelyn to leave Amboise too see troglodytes. Today, almost four hundred years later, they are still lived in. These days they are much sought after upmarket homes.
rue Bretonneau, Amboise.
There are still ancient funnels, chimneys and caves in the old part of town along rue Bretonneau. Some are used as wine caves, some as garages but most are abandoned.
In 1644 John Evelyn was young, rich and fancy free. The twenty-four year old bachelor was spending a year touring France, a country he admired. He was drawn to this area by the Loire Chateaux. As well as Amboise he visited Chateau Chenonceau and Blois.
He spent the rest of the year in Tours where he met Queen Henrietta Marie, wife of Charles I. She was back in her native France drumming up support for her husband's fight against the jumped up, Puritanical, Oliver Cromwell so cowardly he waited for others to sign the King's Death Warrant before he would sign.
No stranger to tragedy, Henrietta's own father, Henry IV, was assassinated by a religious zealot.
Ahead of the young John Evelyn, was a happy marriage followed by sorrow. Five of their eight children would die young.
A committed royalist, Evelyn met the ill fated Charles I.
He was in London when the King's shocking execution was ordered by by a Kangaroo Court***.
Deeply affected by the execution, ashamed of his country, he refused to stay In Cromwell's Republic of England. Evelyn left for Paris where he married the daughter of the English ambassador to France.
In his Diary he recorded the rise and death of Oliver Cromwell and the restitution of the monarchy with the coronation of the late King's son, Charles II.
So who was John Evelyn?
He was born in Surrey, England, into great wealth. The Evelyn family had controlled the manufacture of gunpowder, a highly lucrative industry, ever since his grandfather introduced its production into England during the reign of Elizabeth I.
Brought up by his grandparents in Lewes, Sussex. He refused a place at Eton in favour of the local grammar school.
In 1658 when Cromwell died, Evelyn returned to London with his family.
In 1660 Evelyn wrote in his Diary about the choking air pollution in London.
It was about this time, his close friend Samuel Pepys followed suit and also started a Diary.
In 1665 Evelyn wrote about The Great Plague of London which saw off a quarter of the population. Thousands died every week. The infected were boarded up in their homes. Watchmen guarded the doors, preventing escape.
The tragedy was followed by The Great Fire of London which destroyed half the city. More than 13,000 houses, 87 churches and St. Paul’s Cathedral, were gone.
Evelyn and his friend, Sir Christopher Wren, individually submitted plans for rebuilding the City, known to Londoners as The Square Mile. Because of complications and disputes over land ownership and existing boundaries, both plans were rejected but Wren's plan for St. Paul's was accepted.
Today, Evelyn's Diary is overshadowed by that of Pepys.
Evelyn's Diary is not personal, it's a recording of the life around him.
Pepys wrote about his sex life, his relationship with his wife, his female servants and prostitutes. He gossiped about people in the public eye.
Pepys first reaction to The Great Fire was to bury his valuable Parmesan cheese in his garden.
Was Evelyn envious of his friends fame? Not a bit of it. He supported Pepys when he fell out of royal favour, visited him during his last illness and paid a generous tribute to him after his death.
After an interesting, fulfilling life, John Evelyn lived to, what was then, the grand old age of eighty-five. He died at home in Surrey where he was born.
His legacy is an accurate, factual, invaluable record of 17th-century England.
* Forewarned
** Easily carved
*** An unauthorised and unfair mock trial that ignores recognised standards of law and justice, often reaching a predetermined verdict.
Post by Pamela (BA History of Art). Photography by Mark.
Pamela Shields
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