An excellent fortress

We like Chinon and we stopped by again earlier this month. We've always liked Chinon from our very first forays into the Loire Valley as tourists in the early 1990's. This despite the fact that every time we approach it from the south side of the river Vienne and pass the SuperU [it wasn't a SuperU then but some other chain] on the left-hand side of the road where it runs between huge plane trees we're reminded of our failure at the time to get to grips with the French custom of closing on the dot of noon for lunch. At least 3 times we were doomed to disappointment at that supermarket, arriving just as the doors were firmly closing.

View of the fortress of Chinon 

The fortress walls as we see them today are mostly due to Henry, Count of Anjou, later King Henry II of England. It was one of his favourite fortresses, which is hardly suprising given its strategic location on the crossroads between 3 regions: Anjou, Touraine and Poitou.

Henry II ruled over a huge swathe of present day France, but found it difficult to manage his sons and the balance of power. Henry had a stormy relationship with them, which we have written about before here. They felt he kept them on too short a rein handing out allowances, but no real power to rule the lands they were nominally in charge of.

Lands [yellow/orange/red] ruled by Henry II of England [wikipedia commons]

Chinon is the backdrop for the final instalment of Henry's regin. In 1189 he was already ill [he had, modern historians think, a bleeding ulcer] during his final acrimonious encounter with the French King and one of his two surviving two sons, Richard [later King Richard the Lionheart] who were again allied in rebellion against him. They met at a place called La Ferté-Bernard in last minute peace talks brokered by the Papacy. These failed and the French King Philip Augustus and Henry's rebellious son Richard attacked. Henry retreated to Le Mans and then Alençon before heading south to his forteress of Chinon.

 Chinon in tiles at Tours station

From there he rode to Ballan, near Tours to meet Philip and Richard and agreed to their terms before being carried back to Chinon on a litter. He was too ill by this time to ride and very clearly dying. Soon after his return to Chinon from Ballan he received word that his other surviving son John had publicly sided with Richard. The desertion allegedly hit him hard and he lapsed into a fever, dying on the 6 July 1189. According to some chroniclers of the time Henry died deserted by most of his court who had gone to seek out Richard once it was clear he had not long to live.

The territories ruled over by Henry II did not remian in the family for long. During the reign of King John, Henry's youngest son [1199 -1216] all, apart from Gascony, were lost to the French King.