Among the ladies:
-- the builder, Catherine Briçonnet.
-- the favorite of king Henri II de Valois, Diane de Poitiers (the most beautiful woman of the Renaissance, some say).
-- Henri's wife, Catherine de Médicis, who took this castle from Diane when Henri was killed in a sporting accident in 1559.
-- Louise de Lorraine, Catherine's daughter-in-law.
We need a little story to understand that Catherine de Médicis tried to settle things for her dead husband when Henri II died in 1559. Catholics and Protestants were literally at each others' throats. Three of Catherine's sons would be king and die, like their father, in these struggles: Francois II (spouse of Mary Queen of Scotts), Charles IX (who would order the great massacre of Saint Bartholomé), and Henri III, who would take great stride toward bringing Catholics and Protestants together in peace. Such great strides that he was assassinated by a fanatical monk in 1589. His queen, Louise de Lorraine, would retire to this room in Chenonceaux.
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Date: 6/30/09 3:50 PM
WVU-V 2009!
