E very good castle needs a moat. The people behind this one improvised by building the castle on an island in a nearby river. The building's foundation actually slopes inward toward the water line helping the castle seem larger and more imposing. At times the warm weather can let the shallows where this castle rests fill with lily pads and algae, simulating a proper formal English lawn. The castle is a mixture of two great styles -- French and Italian Renaissance, and deserves its status as a national monument. And unlike most public castles in the Loire region, it is actually furnished. Its beautiful spires bely the castle's intended purpose -- as a military outpost for some of the best soldiers Burgundy had to offer. Those soldiers didn't always respect their superiors, and in 1418 King Charles VII ordered the burning of the fortress and the town, and the killing of the garrison. A hundred years later, the ruins were bought by Gilles Berthelot, King Frances I's treasurer, and re-built into the majesty we see today. Surely the King had more than pretty architecture on his mind when he seized the castle and had Berthelot banished from his kingdom.
