Some Memorable Mayors of Amboise
Royal Château Amboise
When the office of Mayor was created in France seems to have been lost in the mists of time, however, we do know that in 1558 the first mayor of Amboise was Élie Deodeau, Controller of the Queen’s Household, the Queen being Catherine de Medici.
Whether he carried out his duties simultaneously is not known. What we do know is that he must have been kept busy because Amboise in 1558 was a booming, prosperous city and had been ever since 1461 when Louis XI moved the royal family into the Château.
Deodeau must have liked being Mayor and must have been quite good at it because he was appointed Mayor again in 1582 and again in 1588.
Between his terms of office came Georges Morin in 1584, a cloth merchant. As the main supplier to the Royal Court of Louis XI and to his son Charles VIII, Monsieur Morin became very rich indeed.
He imported oriental carpets, tapestries, damasks, silks and taffetas from Flanders, Italy and Germany. The eclectic mix from different countries constituted the style of the Royal Court in Château Amboise.
His son, Pierre Morin, was appointed Treasurer to Louis XII. He built a prestigious house, Hôtel Morin, in stone. Bricks and wood were for the ordinary people. He employed local architects, Jacques Cocqueau and Pierre Nepveu who had once worked on Château Chambord and Château Chenonceau.
Hôtel Morin (Left)
Bordering the Loire at the entrance to the city the Hôtel Morin was one of the first monuments in Amboise. Impressive then, impressive still, his home is now le Musée de l' Hôtel Morin. Pierre Morin also became a mayor but not of Amboise, he was mayor of Tours.
In 1589 the mayor of Amboise was François le Franc, the tenant farmer of Chanteloup who had the honour of supplying fruit to the Duke of Alençon, the black sheep of the family of Henry II and Catherine de Médici. The fruit farmer must have done very well because he bought Chanteloup and built a fine house there with a private chapel.
When his grand-daughter, Marie-Madeleine le Franc, sold it in 1695. the new owner created a beautiful estate. Chanteloup was no longer a simple country house.
The next Mayor of note was Amboise born and bred Charles Guinot who left such a legacy that the Quai des Violettes, an important thoroughfare, was renamed Quai Charles Guinot. A statue of him once graced Hôtel Morin when it was the Hotel de Ville. Where is it now? Charles Guinot was mayor for twenty-seven years from 1860.
Quai Charles Guinot
Guinot, an entrepreneur in the construction of railways, was appointed Senator for Indre-et-Loire in 1879, a post he held for fourteen years. He died in 1893 and was buried in the old St Ursulines cemetery.
In 1861 Félix Faure, whose father was a furniture maker, was sent to the Dumee Tannery in the Quai des Marais in Amboise to learn the trade. In 1865 he married Guinot’s niece in Amboise. Faure became President of France in 1895 until his death in 1899 of a heart attack in the arms of his mistress.
In 1896 came Ernest Mabille, born, bred and died in Amboise. He also has a street named after him. He was Head of the famous Maison Mabille started by his father a large manufacturer of wine presses.
He successfully championed the cause of Captain Alfred Dreyfus wrongly found guilty of being a German spy. Mabille, a very popular mayor for ten years, helped eradicate Phylloxera, a microscopic aphid that destroys grapes, from local vineyards.
Mabille wine press
Emile Gounin, son of a craftsman, an industrialist in the shoe industry, was mayor of Amboise from 1919 to 1953. Avenue Emile Gounin commemorates his name. Born nearby he died in Amboise in 1967.
Gounin was a mover and shaker in the electrification of the Department particularly in the countryside which eventually led to the creation of EDF in 1946. He founded Amboise HLM (Habitations à Loyer Modéré) a rent-controlled housing cooperative.
Émile Gounin belonged to the Darius Resistance Network during World War II. Members who came from Amboise, Tours, Loches and Chinon were from very different backgrounds, officials, artisans, the professions, farmers and industrialists. In 1944 the Darius network was merged with Liberation Nord.
Emile Gounin died in Amboise at the grand old age of ninety-two. Despite his amazing achievements his, unlike his next but one successor, is not a household name but to be fair, the name Debre is hard to beat.
Michel Debre, Prime Minister of France from 1959 until 1962 under General de Gaulle, was the historic mayor of Amboise for more than twenty years 1966 to 1989. It was Debre who drafted the Constitution of the Fifth Republic. His father was the famous Professor Robert Debré, founder of modern paediatrics in France. The hospital in Amboise is named in his honour.
His son Bernard said his father ‘awakened, transformed and opened up the town of Amboise’. He unveiled the plaque dedicated to his father on what was renamed Place Michel Debré. His father who was ill, stayed in the car and watched the ceremony.
Max Ernst fountain
It is to Michel Debre Aboisiens owe a debt of gratitude for the beautiful avenue of trees along Quai General de Gaulle, the Sandy Calder iconic mobile gracing the art gallery, the mighty river god statue on the isle d’Or and the magnificent Max Ernst fountain. It was Michel Debré who granted German born Max Ernst his life time dream of becoming a Frenchman. He transformed Amboise, built middle schools, high schools, gymnasiums, swimming pools, a bridge, the Verrerie district and persuaded large companies to come here.
St Denis, Amboise
Suffering from Parkinson's disease, Michel Debre died in 1996 at home in Montlouis-sur-Loire. He is buried in Amboise. Tribute with military honours was paid to him during a ceremony in the presence of President Jacques Chirac in Saint Denis. Prime Minister, Alain Juppé, members of his government, former Prime Ministers and many personalities of the Gaullist era attended.
Post by Pamela Shields, Photography by Mark Playle.
