July 30, 2011

Here’s a thing I learned about castles and French history while exploring the Chateau Du Rochepot (pictured here), which belonged to the Duke of Burgundy in the 1700s:

During the revolution (1789), if you were an aristocrat like the Duke of Burgundy, you got out of dodge as fast as you could, and you didn’t look back. Mobs roamed the countryside and looted/destroyed many of these abandoned castles. This particular castle lost its keep, the largest tower, when a mob pulled it down over the side of the cliff.

Many townspeople incorporated architectural elements from the looted castles into their much more modest homes. So you might see an unassuming cottage with an insanely ornate window.

Beginning around 1799, after a decade of looting, the new French government seized all these abandoned estates and, to raise money, sold them to demolition companies, which extracted timber and stone and what not. Piece by piece, a good number of France’s castles were dismantled around Napoleon’s time.

Estates that were spared typically belonged to someone who either flew under the radar (as opposed to the Duke of Burgundy) or who was notably kind to the local folk prior to the revolution (apparently, the castle Chananceau was saved that way).

The Duke’s castle pictured here was restored beginning in the 1870s. It took about 25 years. It took two full years just to re-excavate the 72-foot well!

That’s all for today’s history lesson. There will be a quiz tomorrow.