Château de Vincennes
Encyclopedia
The Château de Vincennes is a massive 14th and 17th century French
royal castle in the town of Vincennes
, to the east of Paris
, now a suburb of the metropolis.
x it had its origins in a hunting lodge, constructed for Louis VII
about 1150 in the forest of Vincennes. In the 13th century, Philip Augustus and Louis IX
erected a more substantial manor: Louis IX is reputed to have departed from Vincennes on the crusade
from which he did not return.
Vincennes was more than the grim fortress: Philippe III
(in 1274) and Philippe IV
(in 1284) were each married there and three 14th-century kings were born at Vincennes: Louis X
(1316), Philippe V (1322) and Charles IV
(1328).
To strengthen the site the castle was greatly enlarged replacing the earlier site in the later 14th century. A donjon
tower, 52 meters high, the tallest medieval fortified structure of Europe, was added by Philip VI of France
, a work that was started about 1337. The grand rectangular circuit of walls, was completed by the Valois about two generations later (ca. 1410). The donjon served as a residence for the royal family, and its buildings are known to have once held the library and personal study of Charles V
. Henry V of England
died in the donjon of dysentery in 1422 following the siege of Meaux
.
In the Château de Vincennes the relics of the Crown of Thorns
were temporarily housed while the Sainte-Chapelle
was being readied to receive them. A fragment that remained behind received its own chapel at Vincennes, probably built by Peter of Montereau
(the probable designer of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris), which survives (illustration, below). Henri IV
spent a sojourn imprisoned at Vincennes during the Wars of Religion
.
In the 17th century the architect Louis Le Vau
built for Louis XIV
a pair of isolated ranges mirroring one another across a parterre
to one side of the keep, suited for the Queen Mother
and Cardinal Mazarin, but rebuilding was never pursued once Versailles
occupied all attentions. Some splendid apartments show the earliest phase of Louis XIV style, before the example of Vaux-le-Vicomte
presented the Sun King with a worthy model. The unlucky builder of Vaux, the minister Nicolas Fouquet
found himself transferred to Vincennes, to much less comfortable lodgings. In 1691 another unwilling lodger was John Vanbrugh
, soon to become a playwright and architect, who drew some of his Baroque "gothick" from his experience of Vincennes, it has been argued.
Abandoned in the 18th century, the château still served, first as the site of the Vincennes porcelain
manufactory, the precursor to Sèvres, then as a state prison, which housed the marquis de Sade
, Diderot
, Mirabeau, and the famous confidence man, Jean Henri Latude
, as well as a community of nuns of the English Benedictine Congregation
from Cambrai
. At the end of February 1791 a mob of more than a thousand workers from the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, encouraged by members of the Cordeliers Club and led by Antoine Joseph Santerre
, marched out to the Château, which, rumour had it, was being readied on the part of the Crown for political prisoners, and with crowbars and pickaxes set about demolishing it, as the Bastille had recently been demolished. The work was interrupted by the marquis de Lafayette who took several ringleaders prisoner, to the jeers of the Parisian workers. During the remainder of the Revolution it played no part. From 1796 it served as an arms factory, suiting it to its current occupants, the historical sections of the French Armed Services. General Daumesnil
who lost a leg, which was replaced by a wooden prosthesis, at the battle of Wagram
was assigned to the defense of the Château de Vincennes in 1812. He faced down the allies of the Sixth Coalition marching on Paris
in 1814 in the aftermath of the Battle of the Nations with the famous words "I shall surrender Vincennes when I get my leg back" (Je rendrai Vincennes quand on me rendra ma jambe, with a polysemic
pun
in French
that is lost in translation).
The executions of the duc d'Enghien, in 1804, and Mata-Hari, in 1917, were effected at the château. During the Nazi
occupation, 30 hostages were murdered on August 20, 1944.
The park was landscaped in the English landscape style in the 19th century. In 1860 Napoleon III, having employed Viollet-le-Duc to restore the keep and the chapel, gave the Bois de Vincennes
(9.95 km² in extent) and its château to Paris as a public park.
Château de Vincennes also served as the military headquarters of the Chief of General Staff, General Maurice Gamelin
during the unsuccessful defence of France against the invading German army in 1940. It is now the main base of France's Defence Historical Service
, which maintains a museum in the donjon.
. The keep, 52m high, and its enceinte
occupy the western side of the fortress and are separated from the rest of the castle by the moat. The towers of the "grande enceinte" now stand only to the height of the walls, having been demolished in the 1800s, save the Tour du Village on the north side of the enclosure. The south end of the castle contains the buildings of Le Vau.
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France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
royal castle in the town of Vincennes
Vincennes
Vincennes is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.-History:...
, to the east of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, now a suburb of the metropolis.
History
Like other more famous châteauChâteau
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
x it had its origins in a hunting lodge, constructed for Louis VII
Louis VII of France
Louis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England...
about 1150 in the forest of Vincennes. In the 13th century, Philip Augustus and Louis IX
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
erected a more substantial manor: Louis IX is reputed to have departed from Vincennes on the crusade
Eighth Crusade
The Eighth Crusade was a crusade launched by Louis IX, King of France, in 1270. The Eighth Crusade is sometimes counted as the Seventh, if the Fifth and Sixth Crusades of Frederick II are counted as a single crusade...
from which he did not return.
Vincennes was more than the grim fortress: Philippe III
Philip III of France
Philip III , called the Bold , was the King of France, succeeding his father, Louis IX, and reigning from 1270 to 1285. He was a member of the House of Capet.-Biography:...
(in 1274) and Philippe IV
Philip IV of France
Philip the Fair was, as Philip IV, King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was, as Philip I, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305.-Youth:A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born at the Palace of...
(in 1284) were each married there and three 14th-century kings were born at Vincennes: Louis X
Louis X of France
Louis X of France, , called the Quarreler, the Headstrong, or the Stubborn was the King of Navarre from 1305 and King of France from 1314 until his death...
(1316), Philippe V (1322) and Charles IV
Charles IV of France
Charles IV, known as the Fair , was the King of France and of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1322 to his death: he was the last French king of the senior Capetian lineage....
(1328).
To strengthen the site the castle was greatly enlarged replacing the earlier site in the later 14th century. A donjon
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
tower, 52 meters high, the tallest medieval fortified structure of Europe, was added by Philip VI of France
Philip VI of France
Philip VI , known as the Fortunate and of Valois, was the King of France from 1328 to his death. He was also Count of Anjou, Maine, and Valois from 1325 to 1328...
, a work that was started about 1337. The grand rectangular circuit of walls, was completed by the Valois about two generations later (ca. 1410). The donjon served as a residence for the royal family, and its buildings are known to have once held the library and personal study of Charles V
Charles V of France
Charles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...
. Henry V of England
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
died in the donjon of dysentery in 1422 following the siege of Meaux
Meaux
Meaux is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located east-northeast from the center of Paris. Meaux is a sub-prefecture of the department and the seat of an arondissement...
.
Crown of Thorns
In Christianity, the Crown of Thorns, one of the instruments of the Passion, was woven of thorn branches and placed on Jesus Christ before his crucifixion...
were temporarily housed while the Sainte-Chapelle
Sainte-Chapelle
La Sainte-Chapelle is the only surviving building of the Capetian royal palace on the Île de la Cité in the heart of Paris, France. It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion Relics, including the Crown of Thorns - one of the most important relics in medieval...
was being readied to receive them. A fragment that remained behind received its own chapel at Vincennes, probably built by Peter of Montereau
Peter of Montereau
Pierre de Montereau or Pierre de Montreuil was a French architect. He is widely recognized as one of the most important proponents of Gothic architecture, though little is known of his life and sources vary as to which buildings are by him.After some time training in Champagne, he worked on the...
(the probable designer of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris), which survives (illustration, below). Henri IV
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
spent a sojourn imprisoned at Vincennes during the Wars of Religion
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...
.
In the 17th century the architect Louis Le Vau
Louis Le Vau
Louis Le Vau was a French Classical architect who worked for Louis XIV of France. He was born and died in Paris.He was responsible, with André Le Nôtre and Charles Le Brun, for the redesign of the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte. His later works included the Palace of Versailles and his collaboration...
built for Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
a pair of isolated ranges mirroring one another across a parterre
Parterre
A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...
to one side of the keep, suited for the Queen Mother
Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria was Queen consort of France and Navarre, regent for her son, Louis XIV of France, and a Spanish Infanta by birth...
and Cardinal Mazarin, but rebuilding was never pursued once Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
occupied all attentions. Some splendid apartments show the earliest phase of Louis XIV style, before the example of Vaux-le-Vicomte
Vaux-le-Vicomte
The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 km southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne département of France...
presented the Sun King with a worthy model. The unlucky builder of Vaux, the minister Nicolas Fouquet
Nicolas Fouquet
Nicolas Fouquet, marquis de Belle-Île, vicomte de Melun et Vaux was the Superintendent of Finances in France from 1653 until 1661 under King Louis XIV...
found himself transferred to Vincennes, to much less comfortable lodgings. In 1691 another unwilling lodger was John Vanbrugh
John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh – 26 March 1726) was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse and The Provoked Wife , which have become enduring stage favourites...
, soon to become a playwright and architect, who drew some of his Baroque "gothick" from his experience of Vincennes, it has been argued.
Abandoned in the 18th century, the château still served, first as the site of the Vincennes porcelain
Vincennes porcelain
The Vincennes porcelain manufactory was established in 1740 in the disused royal Château de Vincennes, in Vincennes, east of Paris, which was from the start the main market for its wares.-History:...
manufactory, the precursor to Sèvres, then as a state prison, which housed the marquis de Sade
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
, Diderot
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent person during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as co-founder and chief editor of and contributor to the Encyclopédie....
, Mirabeau, and the famous confidence man, Jean Henri Latude
Jean Henri Latude
Jean Henri Latude , often called Danry or Masers de Latude, was a French writer famous for his lengthy confinement in the Bastille, at Vincennes, and for his repeated escapes from those prisons.-Life:...
, as well as a community of nuns of the English Benedictine Congregation
English Benedictine Congregation
The English Benedictine Congregation comprises autonomous Roman Catholic Benedictine communities of monks and nuns and is technically the oldest of the 21 congregations that are affiliated in the Benedictine Confederation....
from Cambrai
Cambrai
Cambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Cambrai is the seat of an archdiocese whose jurisdiction was immense during the Middle Ages. The territory of the Bishopric of Cambrai, roughly coinciding with the shire of Brabant, included...
. At the end of February 1791 a mob of more than a thousand workers from the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, encouraged by members of the Cordeliers Club and led by Antoine Joseph Santerre
Antoine Joseph Santerre
Antoine Joseph Santerre was a businessman and general during the French Revolution.-Early life:The Santerre family moved from St. Michel- en Thierrache to Paris in 1747 where they purchased a brewery known as the Brasserie de la Magdeleine...
, marched out to the Château, which, rumour had it, was being readied on the part of the Crown for political prisoners, and with crowbars and pickaxes set about demolishing it, as the Bastille had recently been demolished. The work was interrupted by the marquis de Lafayette who took several ringleaders prisoner, to the jeers of the Parisian workers. During the remainder of the Revolution it played no part. From 1796 it served as an arms factory, suiting it to its current occupants, the historical sections of the French Armed Services. General Daumesnil
Pierre Yrieix Daumesnil
Pierre Yrieix Daumesnil was a French soldier in the armies of Napoleon during the first Empire and Restoration, eventually rising to the rank of brigadier general...
who lost a leg, which was replaced by a wooden prosthesis, at the battle of Wagram
Battle of Wagram
The Battle of Wagram was the decisive military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name to the...
was assigned to the defense of the Château de Vincennes in 1812. He faced down the allies of the Sixth Coalition marching on Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1814 in the aftermath of the Battle of the Nations with the famous words "I shall surrender Vincennes when I get my leg back" (Je rendrai Vincennes quand on me rendra ma jambe, with a polysemic
Polysemy
Polysemy is the capacity for a sign or signs to have multiple meanings , i.e., a large semantic field.Charles Fillmore and Beryl Atkins’ definition stipulates three elements: the various senses of a polysemous word have a central origin, the links between these senses form a network, and ...
pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
that is lost in translation).
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
occupation, 30 hostages were murdered on August 20, 1944.
The park was landscaped in the English landscape style in the 19th century. In 1860 Napoleon III, having employed Viollet-le-Duc to restore the keep and the chapel, gave the Bois de Vincennes
Bois de Vincennes
The Bois de Vincennes is a park in the English landscape manner to the east of Paris. The park is named after the nearby town of Vincennes....
(9.95 km² in extent) and its château to Paris as a public park.
Château de Vincennes also served as the military headquarters of the Chief of General Staff, General Maurice Gamelin
Maurice Gamelin
Maurice Gustave Gamelin was a French general. Gamelin is best remembered for his unsuccessful command of the French military in 1940 during the Battle of France and his steadfast defense of republican values....
during the unsuccessful defence of France against the invading German army in 1940. It is now the main base of France's Defence Historical Service
Defence Historical Service
In France, the Defence Historical Service is the archives centre of Ministry of Defence and its armed forces. It was set up by decree in 2005....
, which maintains a museum in the donjon.
Description of the Château
Only traces remain of the earlier castle and the substantial remains date from the 14th century. The castle forms a rectangle measuring more than a kilometer in length (330 x 175m), with six towers and three gates, each originally 42 meters high. The castle is surrounded by a deep stone lined moatMoat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
. The keep, 52m high, and its enceinte
Enceinte
Enceinte , is a French term used technically in fortification for the inner ring of fortifications surrounding a town or a concentric castle....
occupy the western side of the fortress and are separated from the rest of the castle by the moat. The towers of the "grande enceinte" now stand only to the height of the walls, having been demolished in the 1800s, save the Tour du Village on the north side of the enclosure. The south end of the castle contains the buildings of Le Vau.
See also
- Fort Neuf de VincennesFort Neuf de VincennesThe Fort Neuf de Vincennes is a fortification built on the grounds of the Château de Vincennes, on the east side of Paris. While the old chateau had been a significant fortification in its time, by 1840 there was a need for a modern fort at that location, capable of using and defending itself...
, built to the east of the Château beginning in 1840 to provide an up-to-date artillery platform as part of the Thiers WallThiers wallThe Thiers wall was the last of the defensive walls of Paris. It was an enclosure constructed between 1841 and 1844 under a law enacted by the government of the French prime minister, Adolphe Thiers. It covered , along the 'boulevards des Maréchaux' of today...
defenses of Paris, now a military headquarters.
Sources
- Frank McCormick, "John Vanbrugh's Architecture: Some Sources of His Style" The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 46.2 (June 1987) pp. 135–144.