Louis XI and Château Amboise.

Garçonnet Tower, Rue de la Concorde, Amboise

On March 12 2022 at the planting of fifty mulberry trees in the grounds of Château Royal d'Amboise, the name of Louis XI was brought to mind because it was there, over five hundred years ago, he launched a successful silk industry.

This was just one of his ambitious, practical and successful plans to ‘make France great again’ after a hundred years of England’s devastating assaults on his country. It is often forgotten that it was Louis who finally brought the seemingly never-ending conflict to an end. Children were born, grew up and died during the invasions. He managed to do what no king of France before him had thought of. Just as the king of England once paid the Danes to leave them alone, Louis paid England to go away and stay away.

Louis was a can-do king. A high achiever. He was also secretive, suspicious to the point of paranoia and, very mildly speaking, misanthropic. When he inherited the gloomy old Château he set about making it into a comfortable home. He had the windows enlarged to let light in to the cold dark rooms and opened up the grounds to get the panoramic views of the Loire and the town below we so enjoy today.

The only entrance to the Chateau, which was of necessity used by everyone, was what became known later as The Lions Gate (lions prowled the moat) which was (still is) a fair old schlep from the Loire landing stages.

Louis XI Private Entrance to the Garçonnet Tower

Privacy being a priority Louis built his own private entrance (in what is now rue de la Concorde). His tower and the door are still there. It’s not known when it got the epithet Garçonnet Tower (little boy tower), could it have been when his son built the big boy towers, Minimes and Heurtault? Too complicated now perhaps to rename it The Louis XI Tower?

When he had it built, Louis used red bricks. Cheaper and easier to use than stone, he lined his Tower with them. One source says he needed so many, he started another of his enterprises by opening brick works. Where the king leads, his subjects follow. Louis kick started the fashion for the red bricks we see in old buildings all over Amboise.

Louis verged on religious mania. A far from well man he was always calling on some saint or other for a cure for his very real ailments. Praying alongside the locals in St. Florent, the parish church in the Château grounds, was out of the question so he built a private chapel in the donjon. Too small for special occasions such as the baptism of his son the dauphin, he began building a bigger chapel on top (his son finished it). Louis dedicated it to Saint Blaise (since re-dedicated to Saint Hubert).

When, finally, one of his most fervent prayers were answered and his wife Charlotte of Savoy gave birth to a healthy son (Charles) at the Château, so paranoid was Louis of losing him to prevalent infectious diseases, he banned the locals from St. Florent. He ordered the town to build its own church.

When St. Florent was destroyed during the French Revolution the town church was re-dedicated to Saint Florentin.

Louis was very fond of the town. He completed his growing up there. When he was ten years old he was allowed to live with his mother, Marie of Anjou, and his sisters in the Château. Louis was not fond of much but was very close to his mother. He came here for her blessing straight after his coronation.

His subjects were unimpressed with their new king. Louis was thirty-eight, unattractive with skinny, bandy legs. He spent so many years of his life on a horse, once on the ground he could barely walk so skipped along. He dressed like a peasant. Those who had never seen him were astonished; ‘Benedicite! his horse and dress are not worth twenty francs’.

Louis lived in Amboise and in Tours but didn’t stay anywhere long. He was always on the move, his eyes and ears were everywhere. He wanted to know everything going on in his realm. He would set out at dawn with a few courtiers dressed like pilgrims. His archers and baggage followed at a distance. Paranoid, he made sure he was never followed. He often ordered a bridge to be broken and the gates of a city be closed after him. Ambassadors who were ordered to him often had to cross France only to find they were granted a quick audience in some peasant’s hut.

In the cities where he stopped he lodged with whoever was in charge. He arrived unannounced through alleys. He never held or attended ceremonies, balls, banquets or tournaments. He never ordered festivals except where necessary for important visitors from overseas. He lived like a private gentleman. When in Tours he ate not at Court but in a tavern on the market square. Sometimes he invited minor nobles and the local bourgeoisie to join him.

Portrait of Louis XI, Château de Beauregard

There is a fine statue of him in the courtyard of Musée Morin, the town museum (the sculptor has flattered him). Visitors may be mystified by his hat which is best described as a bowler. Louis was epileptic so wore a hard hat to protect his head during a seizure. Some were lined with beaver for extra protection when he was on horseback. Under the hat he wore two bonnets. He had a wooden headboard with him at all times. Doctors told him he must keep his head elevated so he slept sitting up. At night he wore two white, sometimes black, bonnets over which a red one was securely held in place with six strings.

Unlike kings of France such as Francis I, Louis XI was not the flamboyant look at me type. He disliked war. He did not have a victorious Battle of Marignano on his C.V. but achieved something far more impressive. He ended one that had ravaged and bankrupted France for one hundred and eighteen years. Louis was such a fascinating, complicated, mysterious man it’s a shame he is not better known.

Post by Pamela