181. CASTLE OF CHINON. SOUTH FRONT
Philip Augustus, having possessed himself of the Château Gaillard, fortified Gisors on the same formidable scale, and proceeded to build the castle of Dourdan as well as his own palace fortress of the Louvre, in Paris. Upon the death of the king, Enguerrand III. began to build a fortress at Coucy, which he completed in less than ten years (1223-1230). Its grandiose proportions and formidable system of defence surpassed everything that had gone before. Coucy was, in fact, the architectural manifestation of that haughty ambition to which Enguerrand is said to have given free expression during the minority of his sovereign.
182. CASTLE OF CLISSON. KEEP
Next in importance to the castles and keeps of the thirteenth century, already enumerated, are the following:—The White Tower of Issoudun; the Tower of Blandy; the octagonal keep of Châtillon-sur-Loing, Semur; the royal fortresses of Angers, built by St. Louis; Montargis, Boulogne, Chinon, and Saumur; the Tour Constance or keep of Aigues-Mortes, ascribed to St. Louis; the castle of Najac, built by his brother, Alphonse of Poitiers; the castles of Bourbon l'Archambault and Chalusset, and the castle of Clisson, rebuilt or begun by Olivier I., Lord of Clisson, after his return from the Holy Land, etc.
183. VILLENEUVE-LES-AVIGNON. CASTLE OF ST. ANDRÉ
In the fourteenth century military architecture developed chiefly on reconstructive lines. Ancient fortresses were reorganised in accordance with the new methods of attack and (consequently) of defence, and the weak points brought to light by recent sieges were dealt with. The same process was applied to the construction of towers which had hitherto been furnished with several rows of loopholes, an excellent expedient for the defence of curtains and approaches, but subject to this drawback, that it directed attention to the most vulnerable points. The first effect of the use of cannon in warfare was to increase the thickness of the walls; subsequently, such structural modifications were adopted as were required by the novel method of massing all the defences at the summit of machicolated walls. The principal castles of this period were Vincennes, near Paris, built by Philip of Valois and Charles V., and the vast fortified palace at Avignon, constructed by the Popes Benedict XII., Clement VI., Innocent VI., and Urban V., of which we shall have more to say in Part IV. Gaston Phœbus, Count of Foix and Béarn, built square keeps in the Bastide of Béarn, at Montaner, and at Mauvezin, besides circular keeps at Lourdes and at Foix.
184. CASTLE OF TARASCON