The Chateau at Nantes, on the inside and outside....the heart of Anne de Bretagne....
Today we headed south, deciding to spend the last few pre-Paris days at the Gite. I had seen ads for a special exhibit in the Chateau at Nantes, which we have tried to visit two times before, and it has always been closed for restoration. Turns out that it has been closed for 15 years for restoration, and the opening date has been pushed back a number of times. But now it was open, and a special exhibit was there about Anne of Bretagne.
We had met Anne for the first time back at the Chateau at Langeais in the Loire region a couple of weeks ago. At the ripe age of 14 she was quietly married to the King of France to avoid the continuing war between France and Brittany. There was a bit of a problem since she was already married to a German Duke, but it was only a proxy marriage, and she had never even met her husband. The King was also really married, but what the heck, he had no heirs to annulment was sought, and the marriage took place while the pope mulled over what he was going to do about the married royalty marrying. At some point the King died Anne was required by her contract to marry the heir to the thrown, which turned out to be his younger brother, by whom she had a daughter. Her granddaughter (are you still with me?) much later married Francois I, the first King of a united France. The Chateau at Langeais had lots of information about the wedding – which was held there to avoid the paparazzi, since no one used that chateau very much – and now in Nantes (the capital of Bretagne, or Brittany) we closed the circle with a lot more about the rest of her life. The exhibit told how upon her death she was buried at St. Denis with the other royal folk, but on her request her heart was placed in a lead and gold casket and taken back to Nantes. By special arrangement the actual casket, which is not normally on display, was in the exhibit.
Leaving Nantes we were bottled up for an hour in traffic, which is thanks to the great strides Nantes is making in mass transit – green transit as they call it here. Our single lane of cars was flanked by a pedestrian lane, a bike lane and a bus lane, all of which were empty.
But at least the Gite, where friends Anne and Francoise were visiting, along with Jeanne’s sisters Claire and Ann. They had put together another evening fo fruits of the sea, and we were invited to plunge right in, which we did. Happily we could contribute: I had gotten a local specialty at the pastry shop in Duoarnenez, called a “Koigne Amann” cake (sounds like, it is – Queen Ann). Served warm, it is the best cake I have ever eaten – layers of simple flour, butter and water pastry interspersed with sugar and butter which is caramelized. Fabulous – we were all over the moon. And I have the recipe….
We had met Anne for the first time back at the Chateau at Langeais in the Loire region a couple of weeks ago. At the ripe age of 14 she was quietly married to the King of France to avoid the continuing war between France and Brittany. There was a bit of a problem since she was already married to a German Duke, but it was only a proxy marriage, and she had never even met her husband. The King was also really married, but what the heck, he had no heirs to annulment was sought, and the marriage took place while the pope mulled over what he was going to do about the married royalty marrying. At some point the King died Anne was required by her contract to marry the heir to the thrown, which turned out to be his younger brother, by whom she had a daughter. Her granddaughter (are you still with me?) much later married Francois I, the first King of a united France. The Chateau at Langeais had lots of information about the wedding – which was held there to avoid the paparazzi, since no one used that chateau very much – and now in Nantes (the capital of Bretagne, or Brittany) we closed the circle with a lot more about the rest of her life. The exhibit told how upon her death she was buried at St. Denis with the other royal folk, but on her request her heart was placed in a lead and gold casket and taken back to Nantes. By special arrangement the actual casket, which is not normally on display, was in the exhibit.
Leaving Nantes we were bottled up for an hour in traffic, which is thanks to the great strides Nantes is making in mass transit – green transit as they call it here. Our single lane of cars was flanked by a pedestrian lane, a bike lane and a bus lane, all of which were empty.
But at least the Gite, where friends Anne and Francoise were visiting, along with Jeanne’s sisters Claire and Ann. They had put together another evening fo fruits of the sea, and we were invited to plunge right in, which we did. Happily we could contribute: I had gotten a local specialty at the pastry shop in Duoarnenez, called a “Koigne Amann” cake (sounds like, it is – Queen Ann). Served warm, it is the best cake I have ever eaten – layers of simple flour, butter and water pastry interspersed with sugar and butter which is caramelized. Fabulous – we were all over the moon. And I have the recipe….
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