The Château de Chaumont (), officially Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire, is a castle (''
château
A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...
'') in
Chaumont-sur-Loire,
Centre-Val de Loire
Centre-Val de Loire (; ,In isolation, ''Centre'' is pronounced . ) or Centre Region (, ), as it was known until 2015, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France. It straddles the middle Loire Valley in the interior ...
, France. The castle was founded in the 10th century by
Odo I, Count of Blois
Odo I (also spelled Eudes) ( – 12 March 996), Count of Blois, Chartres, Reims, Châteaudun and Omois, lord of Provins, was the son of Theobald I of Blois and Luitgard, daughter of Herbert II of Vermandois. He received the title of count pal ...
. After Pierre d'Amboise rebelled against
Louis XI, the king ordered the castle's destruction. Later in the 15th century Château de Chaumont was rebuilt by Charles I d'Amboise. Protected as a ''
monument historique
() is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...
'' since 1840, the château was given into state ownership in 1938 and is now open to the public.
History

The name ''Chaumont'' derives from the French ''chauve mont'', meaning "bald hill". The first
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
on this site, situated between
Blois
Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours.
With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the mos ...
and
Amboise
Amboise (; ) is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. Today a small market town, it was once home to the French royal court.
Geography
Amboise lies on the banks of the river Loire, east of Tours. It is also about awa ...
, was built by
Odo I, Count of Blois
Odo I (also spelled Eudes) ( – 12 March 996), Count of Blois, Chartres, Reims, Châteaudun and Omois, lord of Provins, was the son of Theobald I of Blois and Luitgard, daughter of Herbert II of Vermandois. He received the title of count pal ...
, in the 10th century, with the purpose of protecting his lands from attacks by his
feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...
rival,
Fulk Nerra, Count of Anjou. On his behalf the
Norman Gelduin received it, improved it and held it as his own. His great-niece Denise de Fougère, having married Sulpice d'Amboise, passed the château into the Amboise family for five centuries.
Pierre d'Amboise unsuccessfully rebelled against King
Louis XI
Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the ...
and his property was confiscated, and the castle was dismantled on royal order in 1465. It was later rebuilt by Charles I d'Amboise from 1465 to 1475 and then finished by his son, Charles II d'Amboise de Chaumont from 1498 to 1510, with help from his uncle, Cardinal
Georges d'Amboise
Georges d'Amboise (1460 – May 25, 1510) was a French Roman Catholic cardinal and minister of state. He belonged to the house of Amboise, a noble family possessed of considerable influence: of his nine brothers, four were bishops. His fath ...
; some
Renaissance features were to be seen in buildings that retained their overall medieval appearance.
The château was acquired by
Catherine de Medici in 1550. There she entertained numerous astrologers, among them
Nostradamus
Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinisation of names, Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French Astrology, astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed Oracle, seer, who is best known for his book ''Les Prophéti ...
. When her husband,
Henry II
Henry II may refer to:
Kings
* Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014
*Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154
*Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...
, died in 1559 she forced his mistress,
Diane de Poitiers
Diane de Poitiers (9 January 1500 – 25 April 1566) was a French noblewoman and courtier who wielded much power and influence as King Henry II of France, Henry II's Maîtresse-en-titre, royal mistress and adviser until his death. Her position inc ...
, to accept the Château de Chaumont in exchange for the
Château de Chenonceau which Henry had given to de Poitiers. Diane de Poitiers only lived at Chaumont for a short while.

In 1594, at the death of Diane's granddaughter Charlotte de la Marck, the château passed to her husband,
Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon
Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne (28 September 1555 – 25 March 1623), duc de Bouillon (''jure uxoris''), was a member of the powerful House of La Tour d'Auvergne, the Prince of Sedan and a marshal of France. He was a prominent Huguenot figure.
Bio ...
, who sold it to a tax farmer Largentier, who had grown rich on gathering in the salt tax called the ''
gabelle
The ''gabelle'' () was a very unpopular French salt tax that was established during the mid-14th century and lasted, with brief lapses and revisions, until 1946. The term ''gabelle'' is derived from the Italian ''gabella'' (a duty), itself orig ...
''. Largentier eventually being arrested for peculation, the château and the title of ''sieur de Chaumont'' passed into a family originating at
Lucca
Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...
, who possessed it until 1667, when it passed by family connections to the seigneurs de Ruffignac.
Paul de Beauvilliers, duc de Beauvilliers and later duc de Saint-Aignan, bought the château in 1699, modernized some of its interiors and decorated it with sufficient grandeur to house the duc d'Anjou on his way to become king of Spain in 1700. His eventual heir was forced to sell Chaumont to pay his debts to a ''
maître des requêtes ordinaire'' to Louis XV, Monsieur Bertin, who demolished the north wing built by Charles II d'Amboise and the Cardinal d'Amboise, to open the house towards the river view in the modern fashion.
In 1750,
Jacques-Donatien Le Ray purchased the castle as a country home where he established a glassmaking and pottery factory. He was considered by the French as a "Father of the American Revolution" because he loved America. However, in 1789, the new
French Revolutionary government seized Le Ray's assets, including his beloved Château de Chaumont.
Madame de Staël Madame may refer to:
* Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French
* Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel
* ''Madame'' ( ...
acquired the château in 1810. The Comte d'Aramon bought the neglected château in 1833, undertook extensive renovations under the architect Jules Potier de la Morandière of Blois, who was later inspector of the works at the
château de Blois
A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...
; M. d'Aramon installed a museum of medieval arts in the "''Tour de Catherine de Médicis''". By 1851 the "Chaumont suite" of the early-16th century Late Gothic tapestries with subjects of country life emblematic of the triumph of Eternity, closely associated with Chaumont and now at the
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...
, was still hanging in the "''Chambre de Catherine de Médicis''"; the tapestries had been cut and pieced to fit the room.
The castle has been designated as a ''
Monument historique
() is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...
'' since 1840 by the
French Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...
.
Marie-Charlotte Say, heiress to the
Léon Say sugar fortune, acquired Chaumont in 1875. Later that year, she married Prince
Amédée de Broglie (descendant of Madame de Staël), who commissioned the luxurious stables in 1877 to designs by
Paul-Ernest Sanson, further restored the château under Sanson's direction and replanted the surrounding park in the
English naturalistic landscape fashion. She donated Château de Chaumont to the government in 1938. The Château de Chaumont is currently a museum and every year hosts a Garden Festival from April to October where contemporary garden designers display their work in an English-style garden.
Gallery
Image:France_Loir-et-Cher_Chaumont-sur-Loire_Chateau_Chapelle.jpg, The chapel
Image:France_Loir-et-Cher_Chaumont-sur-Loire_Ecuries.jpg, Stables
Image:Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire.jpg, The castle seen from the garden
Image:Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire, une cheminée..jpg, Coat of arms of Louis XII
Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), also known as Louis of Orléans was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples (as Louis III) from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Marie of Cleves, he succeeded his second ...
Image:Chaumont sol.JPG, The floor of the lounge
Image:Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire. Salon..jpg, Lounge of Prince de Broglie
File:Chaumont-sur-Loire -1.JPG, Château de Chaumont
See also
*
List of castles in France
This is a list of castles in France, arranged by Regions of France, region and Departments of France, department.
;Notes:
# The French word ''château'' has a wider meaning than the English ''castle'': it includes architectural entities that are p ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Official website for ChaumontPhotos of Château de Chaumont and other Loire castles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaumont, Chateau De
Castles in Centre-Val de Loire
Châteaux in Loir-et-Cher
Historic house museums in Centre-Val de Loire
Gardens in Loir-et-Cher
Museums in Loir-et-Cher