We are informed that in this abode of terror, there were dungeons under dungeons, some of them unknown even to the keepers themselves; men were frequently doomed to pass the remainder of their lives here, breathing impure air and subsisting on bread and water. At this formidable castle were also those horrible places of confinement called cages, in which the wretched prisoner could neither stand upright nor stretch himself at length.
The celebrated cardinal Balue was confined here by order of Louis 11th, for many years in one of these cages. The Duke of Alençon, Charles de Melun and Philippe de Commines were also imprisoned in this fortress. It was successively occupied by Charles 7th, Louis 11th, Charles 8th, Louis 12th, Francis 1st, Henry 2nd and Charles 9th.
CHINON.
The chateau of Chinon, which in ancient times was a place of great strength, it is said was once composed of three distinct castles, erected at three different epochs. Ten kings of France had occasionally made it their place of residence. Henry the second, and Richard the First died here. Joan of Arc had an interview with Charles the 7th at this place; the remains of the room in which it occurred are still shewn. But a few dismantled towers and dilapidated walls now alone remain to mark the elevated site of the magnificent superstructure, which in days of yore proudly towered above the lovely sylvan scenery of the fertile vale of the Vienne.
Chinon is about thirty miles from Tours.
AMBOISE.
The castle of Amboise is a noble structure of great antiquity; and from the beauty of its elevated situation on the southern banks of the Loire, and the drive to it from Tours, of about twelve miles, being of a romantic and very interesting character, it is an object of much attraction to the general Tourist.
Constantine rebuilt the fort soon after its destruction by Diocletian. Charles the 8th, resided at this his birth place many years prior to his ascending the French throne; and in 1498 he here expired.
The two large towers which form a protected communication between the castle and the town below, were built by this monarch. One of the towers is remarkable for its internal spiral roadway, up which cavalry may ascend four abreast.
Louis 12th, Francis 1st, Henry 2nd, and Francis 2nd respectively contributed towards the improvement and adornment of the castle, and which by an act of Louis 16th, became the property of the Orléans family.