Castles and Chateaux of Old BurgundyMansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco)
History
Castles and Chateaux of Old Burgundy
Mansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco)
Burgundy (France) -- Description and travel; Castles -- France -- Burgundy
The present Marquis de Clermont-Tonnerre has ably restored the chateau
of his ancestors and put the family arms for the great part back where
they belong. His arms are as follows: "_De gueules aux deux clefs
d'argent en sautoir avec la tiare pour cimier_." The motto is "_Etsi
omnes ego non_." These arms were originally conceded to Sibaut II de
Clermont by Pope Calixtus II in recognition of his having chased the
Anti-Pope Gregoire VIII from Rome in 1120.
In the Salle des Empereurs Romains are a series of paintings of Roman
Emperors which makes one think that Tanlay's sculptured Roman busts must
have set the fashion hereabouts or vice versa.
The Bibliothèque contains a remarkable folio showing plans and views of
the chateaux of Ancy-le-Franc and Tonnerre, the latter since destroyed
as we have found.
In the Chapel, dedicated to Sainte Cécile, are a series of admirable
painted panels of the apostles and prophets, a favourite religious
decorative motif in these parts, as one readily recalls by noting the
Puits de Moise and the tomb of the Burgundian dukes at Dijon, the
inspiration doubtless of all other similar works since.
The Grand Salon of to-day was once the sleeping apartment of Louis XIV
when one day he honoured the chateau with his presence.
A dozen kilometres south from Ancy-le-Franc is Nuits-sous-Ravières.
Nuits, curiously enough, a name more frequently seen on the wine-lists
of first class restaurants than elsewhere, here in the heart of
Burgundy, is supposedly of German origin. Its original inhabitants were
Germans coming from Neuss in Prussia, whose inhabitants are called
Nuychtons, whilst those of Nuits are known as Nuitons. Again, near
Berne, in Switzerland, is a region known as Nuitland, which would at
least add strength to the assertion of a Teuton origin for this smiling
little wine-growing community of the celebrated Cote d'Or.
Nuits possesses a minor chateau which to all intents and purposes
fulfils, at a cursory glance, its object admirably. It is a comfortably
disposed and not unelegant country house of the sixteenth century,
sitting in a fine, shady park and looks as habitable as it really is,
though it possesses no historical souvenirs of note.
A fortified gateway leads from the north end of the town towards
Champagne, Nuits being on the borderland between the possessions of the
Ducs de Bourgogne and those of the Comtes de Champagne.
[Illustration: BURGUNDY THROUGH THE AGES]
CHAPTER VIII
IN OLD BURGUNDY
Burgundy has ever been known as a land of opulence. Since the middle
ages its _richesse_ has been sung by poets and people alike. There is an
old Burgundian proverb which runs as follows:
_"Riche de Chalon_
_Noble de Vienne_
_Preux de Vergy_
_Fin de Neufchâtel_
Et la maison de Beaufremont
D'où sont sortis les hauts barons"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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