Once Upon a Time
May 2008
On October 16, 1793, Marie Antoinette, the most visible symbol of the excesses of the French aristocracy, was guillotined in the Place de la Révolution in Paris. Although the Queen’s death was cheered by the crowds, there were mourners, among them her trusted friend and governess of her children, the Duchesse (then Marquise) de Tourzel. After she heard the sentence of death pronounced, Marie Antoinette pressed a treasured pendant—a spider embedded in a prehistoric oval of amber—into Tourzel’s hands, saying, "It has always brought me luck." Tourzel herself narrowly escaped the guillotine, and this rare charm survived to be handed down through generations. It is just one of thousands of objects bookmarking the pages of French history housed in a unique collection at the Château d’Ainay-le-Vieil.
The overseers of the 13th century Château in the Loire Valley are direct descendants of Tourzel, Princess Marie-Sol de La Tour d’Auvergne (née d’Aligny) along with her brothers Jean-Baptiste, Michel, Auguste and Jean-Pierre, who passed away in 1996, and sister Marie-France de Peyronnet. Marie-Sol and her siblings bear the heritage of an illustrious family that flows from three principal and prestigious names in French history: Bigny, Villefranche (Tourzel) and Colbert. Marie-Sol, who is president of French Heritage Society, heads the organization "to help preserve French heritage, particularly private châteaux, churches, gardens and everything which has meaning in France, and the expression of this heritage in the United States." This year marks the society’s 25th anniversary.
Rising gently over the small village of Ainay near Bourges in central France, the Château looks like the fabled castle of children’s books with its nine towers, wide, calm moat, and its entrance bridge leading up to an imposing door. The oldest part of the structure, consisting of its towers, protective walls and parapets, dates from the late 1200s. In medieval times, the Château maintained its own small army to protect the fiefdom—archers who manned the meutrières (spaces in the wall where archers can aim and shoot) to protect the nobles and repel attackers—as well as a dungeon in the center of the main courtyard, now covered by a lawn and crisscrossing path.
"My great ancestor, the Marquis de Bigny, bought the Château in 1467 from the King of France, Charles VII, and paid, I believe, in écus, the gold coin of the realm at the time," explains Marie-Sol. "There might have been more land at the time, as the Marquis was essentially landlord of other villages, and all the farmers would have had to pay taxes to him in the form of work, wheat or corn and percentage of sales of the grain." The Château’s ownership issues from Baroness d’Aligny, Marie-Sol’s mother.
Ainay once belonged to the powerful nobleman Jacques Coeur, Charles VII’s finance minister, who raised money for the Crown during the Hundred Years’ War. "The King was jealous of Jacques Coeur’s power, though," says Marie-Sol, "and conspired against him, accusing Coeur of poisoning his mistress." Stripped of his possessions and sentenced to life in prison, Coeur escaped to Rome, where the Pope sent him to fight the Turks. He died on the Greek island of Chios some 10 years after the Marquis de Bigny had taken over the Château d’Ainay.
"While our family’s activity is collecting art, we’re mainly focused on preserving the nearly 700 years’ worth of objects we have," says Marie-Sol. These include paintings, sculpture, jewelry and objects, furniture and hundreds of rare books, as well as many Louis XV and XVI pieces. "There are as many as 30,000 castles in France, and ours is one of the few with historical objects in them that are in constant use," she says.
Around Ainay nature teems with activity: Swallows dart over the moat as leaves drift down to its surface and feisty carp and goldfish snap after insects. There are several acres of ponds, canals and a series of themed gardens of ancient roses, pears and apples, lavender and exotic topiary, all separated by a labyrinth of tall hedges and walls of brick and stone. Along one of the canals, Marie-Sol has installed a budding collection of contemporary art, including a life-sized painted cow by local artist Natacha Mercier. At the end of one path stands a bronze piece by Daniel Hourdé, "Abracadabra," an acrobat juggling enormous letters.
The overseers of the 13th century Château in the Loire Valley are direct descendants of Tourzel, Princess Marie-Sol de La Tour d’Auvergne (née d’Aligny) along with her brothers Jean-Baptiste, Michel, Auguste and Jean-Pierre, who passed away in 1996, and sister Marie-France de Peyronnet. Marie-Sol and her siblings bear the heritage of an illustrious family that flows from three principal and prestigious names in French history: Bigny, Villefranche (Tourzel) and Colbert. Marie-Sol, who is president of French Heritage Society, heads the organization "to help preserve French heritage, particularly private châteaux, churches, gardens and everything which has meaning in France, and the expression of this heritage in the United States." This year marks the society’s 25th anniversary.
Rising gently over the small village of Ainay near Bourges in central France, the Château looks like the fabled castle of children’s books with its nine towers, wide, calm moat, and its entrance bridge leading up to an imposing door. The oldest part of the structure, consisting of its towers, protective walls and parapets, dates from the late 1200s. In medieval times, the Château maintained its own small army to protect the fiefdom—archers who manned the meutrières (spaces in the wall where archers can aim and shoot) to protect the nobles and repel attackers—as well as a dungeon in the center of the main courtyard, now covered by a lawn and crisscrossing path.
"My great ancestor, the Marquis de Bigny, bought the Château in 1467 from the King of France, Charles VII, and paid, I believe, in écus, the gold coin of the realm at the time," explains Marie-Sol. "There might have been more land at the time, as the Marquis was essentially landlord of other villages, and all the farmers would have had to pay taxes to him in the form of work, wheat or corn and percentage of sales of the grain." The Château’s ownership issues from Baroness d’Aligny, Marie-Sol’s mother.
Ainay once belonged to the powerful nobleman Jacques Coeur, Charles VII’s finance minister, who raised money for the Crown during the Hundred Years’ War. "The King was jealous of Jacques Coeur’s power, though," says Marie-Sol, "and conspired against him, accusing Coeur of poisoning his mistress." Stripped of his possessions and sentenced to life in prison, Coeur escaped to Rome, where the Pope sent him to fight the Turks. He died on the Greek island of Chios some 10 years after the Marquis de Bigny had taken over the Château d’Ainay.
"While our family’s activity is collecting art, we’re mainly focused on preserving the nearly 700 years’ worth of objects we have," says Marie-Sol. These include paintings, sculpture, jewelry and objects, furniture and hundreds of rare books, as well as many Louis XV and XVI pieces. "There are as many as 30,000 castles in France, and ours is one of the few with historical objects in them that are in constant use," she says.
Around Ainay nature teems with activity: Swallows dart over the moat as leaves drift down to its surface and feisty carp and goldfish snap after insects. There are several acres of ponds, canals and a series of themed gardens of ancient roses, pears and apples, lavender and exotic topiary, all separated by a labyrinth of tall hedges and walls of brick and stone. Along one of the canals, Marie-Sol has installed a budding collection of contemporary art, including a life-sized painted cow by local artist Natacha Mercier. At the end of one path stands a bronze piece by Daniel Hourdé, "Abracadabra," an acrobat juggling enormous letters.
email this article
print this article
digg this
del.icio.us
RSS