Saumur

The area around Saumur was inhabited in Neolithic times, but there was no evidence of a settlement on this site until its name appears on a document dated 958. At that time there was a monastery and manor house on a small hill overlooking the Loire. These were surrounded by fortifications designed to protect the hamlet from Viking invaders using the river route. In 1026, the hamlet was taken over by Foulques Nerra, the Count of Anjou. The village and dungeon– the word describes a fortified tower – remained part of Anjou and fell to its heirs, the Plantagenets. After the death of Henri II, Philippe Auguste, King of France, annexed Saumur to the French crown in 1203.


During the reign of Louis IX (Saint Louis) in the 13th c. the dungeon was surrounded by a wall with four round towers at the four directions of the compass. The towers were replaced in 1367 by the octagonal towers seen today. The fortifications remained and when Anjou became a duchy, Saumur became the center of the court. Little by little, the chateau was decorated and looked so appealing that the Duke of Berry ordered an illuminated miniature for his Book of Hours. The chateau today appears nearly identical to the image in the miniature.


The most famous resident of the chateau was René, known as The Good King for his charitable work. (René was King of Sicily, one among many other titles he held.) René was a very cultivated ruler: he spoke five languages, wrote books, was a great patron of artists, had a vast library of illuminated manuscripts (some of which I had seen in Angers), and held a brilliant court until his death in 1480. During his rule, Anjou was the center of culture and commerce. 1481 following the death of René’s heir, the duchy returned to the French crown once again.


Restoration of the chateau began in the mid-16th e. and in the last decade of the century Henri IV appointed a military governor of the former duchy, a huguenot closely allied to the King (himself a convert to Catholicism). He brought an Italian architect to the château to reinforce its defenses. Following a star-shaped plan he built defensive curtain walls with sunken, fortified rooms, a kind of bunker). Following the Edict of Nantes pronounced in 1598 by Henri IV, Saumur became a refuge for Protestants and over the next hundred years, the chateau lost its prestige and grandeur. In 1745 the chateau was used a prison until 1830 when it became an arsenal until 1890. Meanwhile, in 1862 it was declared an historic monument. In 1906 it became the property of the City of Saumur and the site of its museum of art.

Saumur appears just as one might expect to find in a storybook: its position on a hill with round towers and pointed slate roofs, surrounded by gardens and vines – almost a vision rising before one’s eyes. It was a breathtaking sight. A vineyard was planted beyond the moat under the south wall. The entrance to the chateau was across a drawbridge; the wooden counterweight was visible overhead. A long ramp led to a second entrance which opened to a courtyard. Facing me was a terrace beyond which the town and the Loire were visible below.

I walked to the edge and admired the beautiful view: grass was planted in the star-shaped ramparts under the terrace; a church spire dominated the town and the bridge I had crossed earlier. The sun was shining over the region. It was lovely.


It would be wonderful to see the interior match the splendor of the exterior, but that is not yet possible. An ambitious restoration was begun in 1997, but was halted when a section of the north wall (facing the Loire) fell onto the town in 2001. An examination revealed that the entire structure was threatened by large cavities in the foundations. An enormous construction site was installed to save the 14th c. structure and stabilize the terrain. That was completed in 2007. Much of the chateau is still undergoing restoration of the facades, roofs, and conduits. The regional council voted for restoration funds through 2013 when the interior rooms are expected to re-open.




At present, only the space used for exhibitions is open. Installed in the former apartments of the Dukes of Anjou, is a collection of decorative arts; and under the eaves, a museum of accessories related to the history of harnessing horses from late antiquity to the present. In the apartments various panels, beautifully decorated with medieval images, (this one showing the King of France, Philippe Auguste arriving at Saumur) explain the history of the chateau and recount the major personalities at the court of Anjou. This was so well done so I felt as though I was reliving the experience of being at the court of Saumur.


Chateau of Saumur: Left as it appears in Book of Hours of Duke of Berry; right as it appears in 2010. Manuscript verticality is exaggerated.