The first bridge takes one on to the Île St. Jean, where in 496 Clovis held a conference with Alaric, King of the Visigoths, and the second bridge brings one to the town built under the shadow of the castle commenced by Charles VIII., continued by Louis XII., and finished by François I. Entrance tree every day; gratuity to custodian.
Amboise was the Ambatia of the Romans, and in the fourth century tradition reveals the presence of St. Martin of Tours causing the destruction of a pagan temple. In the Middle Ages there was a castle on the site of the existing one, which belonged to the Counts of Anjou, and afterwards to those of Berri. It came to the Crown in 1434; Louis XI. abode there before he went to Plessis-les-Tours.
Charles VIII. was born in the feudal castle which has now vanished, and it was here he began the reconstruction, and died in the unfinished Gothic pile in which he had taken such delight. He brought artists, sculptors, and workmen from Italy and wherever he saw beautiful things, and what the château might have been can be judged by the exquisite little Chapel of St. Hubert, with its exterior alto-relievo representing the conversion of the canonized huntsman. While watching a game of tennis, however, on April 7, 1498, Charles was seized with apoplexy and died. The excellent guide shows a low doorway, against the lintel of which he describes how the King struck his head when going after a tennis-ball. This picturesque story is, nevertheless, untrue.
Leonardo da Vinci, who died at Amboise in 1519, left instructions for his burial in the Chapel of St. Florentin, formerly in the castle, but now destroyed. In 1869 some bones were discovered on the site, and were deposited in St. Hubert’s Chapel in the belief that they were those of the painter, and a bust of the great Italian has been placed above the spot where the remains were unearthed.
The interior of the castle has been so mutilated and destroyed that its interest centres very largely in the two great cylindrical towers, which contain spiral roadways paved with red brick, up which the Emperor Charles V. rode on horseback when he paid a visit to François I. in 1539. The ascent is so easy that to drive up in a carriage is no great feat, and an automobile can accomplish it with comparative ease.
The year 1560 witnessed a terrible scene in the now peaceful and flower-scented courtyard of the castle. An abortive Huguenot conspiracy to capture the young King François II. and remove the government from the Guises met with a frightful retribution. A series of horrible executions and hangings were carried out in the presence of the Court, and Mary Stuart was forced to witness the spectacle by her fierce mother-in-law Catherine de Medici. The dead bodies were hung from the galleries.
In 1872 the National Assembly gave back the castle to the Comte de Paris, and at the present time the Duc d’Orléans uses it as a maison de retraite for old servants.
The view from the ramparts over the blue river with its sandy banks is very beautiful. Down below are the old roofs of the town, standing where, at one time, the river washed the base of the castle rock.
A picturesque gateway in the town, with a pointed arch, a clock, and a lantern turret above its high-pitched roof, is passed through on the way to the fine cruciform Church of St. Denis. It is a Transitional building with a Romanesque north door, richly sculptured capitals, an interesting St. Sépulchre, and a massive central tower.
The Hôtel de Ville near the bridge (built 1500-1505 by Pierre Morin, Treasurer of France) has been carefully over-restored, and can be entered without any charge beyond a small gratuity. Near by is the Church of St. Florentin, built by order of Louis XI. (1461-1483).