. Castles and chateaux of old Touraine and the Loire country. dal origin. Its for-tress, and the Comte as well, were under thesuzerainty of the Counts of Champagne, andit was the stronghold and refuge of many aband of guerilla warriors, adventurers, andmarauding thieves. At the end of the twelfth century a certainComte de Sancerre, at the head of a coterieof bandits called Brabagons, marched uponBourges and invaded the city, killing all whocrossed their path, and firing all isolated dwell-ings and many even in the heart of the city. Sancerre was many times besieged, the mostmemorable event of
. Castles and chateaux of old Touraine and the Loire country. dal origin. Its for-tress, and the Comte as well, were under thesuzerainty of the Counts of Champagne, andit was the stronghold and refuge of many aband of guerilla warriors, adventurers, andmarauding thieves. At the end of the twelfth century a certainComte de Sancerre, at the head of a coterieof bandits called Brabagons, marched uponBourges and invaded the city, killing all whocrossed their path, and firing all isolated dwell-ings and many even in the heart of the city. Sancerre was many times besieged, the mostmemorable event of this nature being the at-tack of the royalists in 1573 against theFrondeurs who were shut up in the town. Thedefenders were without artillery, but so habit-uated were they to the use of the fronde thatfor eight months they were able to hold thecity against the foe. From this the frondecame to be known as the arquebuse de San-cerre. Sancerre is to-day a ruined town, its streetsunequal and tortuous, all up and dowji hill and Berry and George Sands Country 317. La Tour, Sancerre Berry and George Sands Country 319 the chateau of Gien piercing the horizon. Thechateau is a most curious affair, with its chain-built blocks of stone, and its red and black —or nearly black — brique, crossed and recrossedin quaint geometrical designs. It was built in1494 for Dame Anne de Beaujeau, who wasregent of the kingdom immediately after thedeath of Charles VIII. This building replacedanother of a century before, built by Jean-sans-Peur, where was celebrated the marriageof his daughter with the Comte de chateau, too, may be said to be a land-mark on Jeanne dArcs route to martyrdomand fame, for here she made her supplicationto Charles VII. to march on Reims. In Charle-magnian times this old castle had a predeces-sor, which, however, was more a fortress thana habitable chateau; but all remains of thishad. apparently disappeared before the laterstructure made its appearance. Louis
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1906
