FIG. 212. CASTLE OF VILLENEUVE-LOUBET (from the S.E.)
original plan was probably not dissimilar to the existing one, comprising a central courtyard with buildings surrounding it. The exterior walls are modern, but those of the interior of the courtyard are partly ancient, although altered. They are built with the rough-faced ashlar of the thirteenth century, and contain some decayed coats of arms on which may still be traced the lances of the Villeneuves and the star of Les Baux. Externally, the east face ([Fig. 212]) presents two noteworthy features in the apse of the chapel and the tall watch-tower. The chapel, although now converted into apartments, still retains the outlines and buttresses of an apse which seems to belong to the fifteenth century. The watch-tower is one of the most perfect examples of those characteristic features of the Maritime Alps. It is of the same nature as the keep towers we have met with at Cannes, Grasse, and Antibes, having the same rough ashlar facing, but instead of being square on plan like them, it has the eastern side projected in the form of a sharp angle (like the tower of La Trinité in the same locality, to be described immediately, and of which a plan is given). The access to the top is by a narrow wheel-stair on the side next the quadrangle. The important point about the tower is that it preserves its battlemented top almost unaltered. It is carried up to the height of about 90 feet, and near the summit has several courses of a dark-coloured stone, which give it a Moorish or Italian character. These may at one time have been enriched with carving, of which one fancies some traces may still be observed, but they are so completely weather-worn that no forms can be distinguished. The level platform on the top is defended with a simple crenellated parapet without machicolations. From this lofty station a wide outlook could be kept over sea and land.
This castle and tower belonged in the thirteenth century to Romée de Villeneuve, the chief of that powerful family and the guardian of Beatrix, daughter of Raymond Béranger IV., the last of the Counts of Provence of that line. It was through the marriage with the heiress Beatrix that Charles of Anjou, the brother of St Louis, succeeded to the title and estates of the Count of Provence. The estate was sold at a later period to the Lascares of Ventimiglia, and is now the property of the Count of la Panisse-Pacy. In 1538 this castle entertained an illustrious guest in the person of Francis I., who stayed here while Pope Paul III. carried on negotiations between him and Charles V. The latter had landed at Villefranche in order to meet the French king; but so great was the antipathy and distrust of the two monarchs for each other, that they could not be brought to encounter a personal interview. These negotiations ended in the signature, by Francis in the Castle of Villeneuve-Loubet, of the Treaty of Nice (See “The Maritime Alps and their Sea Board.”)
FIG. 213. TOWER OF LA TRINITÉ (Plan).
From the top of Romée de Villeneuve’s tower another similar tower is observed rising above the pine wood about a mile up the valley to the north-west. To reach it we descend from the castle so as to gain the bridge across the Loup, and in doing so the steep streets of the old town of Villeneuve, terraced in tiers on the slope of the
