its rocky sides; acacias wave their bright foliage from every nook; and on the crest of the ridge a long line of white ruins, the remains of a stately castle, stand out against the sky. A dense woodland of oaks and larches and firs, stretching north-eastward almost to the valley of the Indre, and crowded with game of every kind, formed probably no small part of the attractions which were to make Chinon the favourite retreat of Fulk Nerra’s greatest descendant. In those ruined halls, where a rich growth of moss and creepers has replaced the tapestried hangings, earlier and later memories--memories of the Black Count or of the Maid of Orleans--seem to an English visitor only to flit like shadows around the death-bed of Henry Fitz-Empress. But it was Fulk who won Chinon for the Angevins. The persuasion of his tongue, as keen as his sword, sufficed now to gain its surrender.[368] The Great Builder’s work was all but finished; only the keystone remained to be dropped into its place. Tours itself stood out alone against the conqueror of Touraine. One more blow, and the count of Anjou would be master of the whole valley of the Loire from Amboise to the sea. [359] R. Glaber, l. iii. c. 9 (_Rer. Gall. Scriptt._, vol. x. p. 40). Fulk’s mediation was done in characteristic fashion; he asked Constance “cur bestialem vesaniam erga filios exerceret.” It took effect, however. [360] Chron. S. Petr. Senon. and Chronolog. S. Marian. Autissiod. a. 1032 (_Rer. Gall. Scriptt._, vol. xi. pp. 196, 308). [361] See note B to chapter ii. above. [362] _Hist. S. Flor. Salm._ (Marchegay, _Eglises_) p. 275. The church was consecrated December 1, 1020; Chronn. S. Serg. ad ann. (Marchegay, _Eglises_, p. 134.) The foundation-charter is in Le Pelletier’s _Breviculum S. Nicolai_, p. 4.