The Town
A fortress of one kind or another existed at Chinon from the Stone Age until the time of Louis XIV, the age of the most recent of its ruins. It was a favourite residence of Henry Plantagenet, who held title to it long before he inherited the throne of England. He added a new castle to the first medieval fortress on the site, built by his ancestor Foulques Nerra, and died here. His son Richard the Lionheart is also said to have breathed his last in Chinon after being wounded in a battle against the French, though he was probably dead on arrival. Richard's son John, with no English inheritance, stayed in Chinon off and on but after a year's siege in 1204-05, Philippe Auguste finally took the castle and put an end to the Plantagenet rule over Touraine and Anjou. Over two hundred years later, Chinon was one of the few places where Charles VII could safely stay while Henry V of England held Paris and the title to the French throne. Charles's situation changed with the arrival here in 1429 of a peasant girl from Domremy in Lorraine, with a manic light in her eyes and a conviction so strong in her God-given mission that she was able to talk her way into the castle. Joan of Arc proposed, as proof of her divine guidance, that she would be able to recognize the Dauphin. The court officials agreed, no doubt thinking that humiliating this over-precocious 17-year-old would be an entertaining pastime for Charles. To their amazement, despite the Dauphin disguising himself in a crowd of courtiers, Joan instantly went down on her knees before him, begging him to allow her to lead his army against the English. And, to their horror, Charles said yes. Today, all that remains in the Chateau (daily: mid-March to June & Sept 9am-6pm; July & Aug 9am-7pm; Oct 9am-5pm; Nov to mid-March 9am-noon & 2-5pm; 30F/?4.57) is the scene of this encounter, the Grande Salle, with a wall and first-floor fireplace. Visits to this and to the restored Royal Lodgings - both guided - are not wildly exciting. More interesting is the Tour Coudray, over to the west, covered with intricate thirteenth-century graffiti carved by imprisoned and doomed Templar knights. Joan is said to have stayed here, too, and to have watered her horse at the pump and prayed in the church on rue Voltaire after her journey from eastern France. Below, medieval streets vaunt olde-worldeness, overpriced cafes and brasseries, and a wine- and barrel-making museum with tacky, animated models and free tasting of the worst wine. On the first weekend in August there is a reconstruction of a medieval market. The Marche a l'Ancienne on the third Saturday of August is similar tourist fodder, the costumes this time of nineteenth-century peasants and the parades led by live pigs, geese and goats. If you like boats, the models of barges and other vessels that used to carry goods along the Vienne and the Loire in the last century are likely to be the most appealing exhibits of the Musee du Vieux Chinon at 44 rue Haute St-Maurice (June-Sept daily 10am-12.30pm & 2.30-7pm; 30F/?4.57), while textile enthusiasts are sure to be intrigued by the eleventh-century cloth with the words "Happiness to its owner" embroidered repeatedly and mysteriously amid the depictions of birds and animals.
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