“This enchanting landmark is an architectural blend of many European styles, from 13th Century French Fortress to late Renaissance Palace. Since it was inspired by no single structure, Cinderella Castle represents them all” – Disney Official Souvenir Book
Finding a castle to visit is not difficult in France because, according to the Official Tourist Board, there are almost five-thousand but it seems to me to includes a lot of questionable small Chateaux in that number. For comparison there are eight hundred in the United Kingdom and just about two thousand five hundred in Spain.
In the 1960s, so the story goes, Disney ‘imagineers’ travelled throughout Europe looking for the perfect castles on which to model Cinderella’s Castle in Walt Disney World.
The lead architect for the project was a man called Herbert Rymanand and what makes this story a bit of a mystery is that there is no documentary evidence to establish exactly which castles he visited and indeed which of them became the inspiration for the Disney Magic Kingdom centrepiece. Disney themselves do no more than confirm that Cinderella Castle was ‘inspired by the great castles of Europe’, but they never explicitly say which one.
I mention this because today I was planning a visit to the nearby town of Pierrefonds which is famous for its castle. Actually that is just about all that it is famous for and without the castle I doubt that very many people would take the detour to go there.
The castle itself is rather magnificent, statuesque and grand, stout walls and conical turrets and if the Disney architects had stopped by Pierrefonds on their fact finding tour of Europe then I suggest that they would have gone no further in their search for inspiration for Cinderella’s Castle.
After Pierrefonds we continued to nearby Compiègne which turned out to be another attractive but rather unremarkable town but my reason for visiting was to see just one thing. A statue of Joan of Arc. There are statues of the Maid of Orleans all over France but I especially wanted to see this one because it has some special significance.
A bit of background: Joan was born in about 1412 into a relatively well-off peasant family in Donrémy in northern France somewhere near the border of Lorraine. At this time English troops were running riot through France and at one point raided and plundered the village of Donrémy and the d’Arc family had to flee into exile. During this time Joan convinced herself that she had a visitation of saints and angels and heard patriotic voices that told her that she was chosen by God to save France. Joan kept hearing the voices for a further three years and when she was finally convinced she left home and presented herself to the authorities as the saviour of France with a mission to put the Dauphin on his rightful throne.
Word of Joan quickly spread and it was claimed that she was the embodiment of a prophecy made by a mystic called Marie d’Avignon, that a ‘virgin girl from the borders of Lorraine’ would come to save France. To test whether Joan was genuine the Dauphin had her questioned by a committee of clergymen and asked a group of respectable ladies to test her virginity.
She passed both tests and with religious sincerity and sexual inexperience being considered more suitable qualifications than an education at an appropriate military academy she was given a suit of made (maid?) to measure white armour and an army of forty thousand men and sent to fight the English at Orléans.
Joan rejected the cautious strategy that had characterized French leadership and attacked and captured the outlying fortress of Saint Loup, which she followed the next day with a march to a second fortress called Saint Jean le Blanc, which was found deserted. The next day with the aid of only one captain she rode out of the city and captured the fortress of Saint Augustins and two days later attacked the main English stronghold and secured a stunning victory that took everyone by surprise.
After that there was a seemingly endless run of French victories as the English and their Bugundian allies fled from the field of battle whenever challenged by the invincible Maid of Orléans fighting, it seemed, with God by her side.
From here however things started to go wrong for Joan and she was betrayed by the King, Charles VII, who was beginning to find here her to be a bit of a nuisance and to get her out of the way he dispatched her on a hopeless mission to fight a Burgundian army right here at (which brings me conveniently back to) Compiègne, where she was defeated by a much stronger army, captured and taken prisoner and so began her sad journey towards the bonfire.
You can read my story of Joan of Arc right here.
I found the statue and with nothing else to detain me in Compiègne I headed back to the campsite at Vic-Sur-Aisne.
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I’d never heard of Pierrefonds but it really is a stunning castle…much better than the Disney one.
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It had a major refurbishment and restoration in the 1860s. It was a favourite of the Emperor Napoleon III who spent his holidays there.
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I can only deduce that the French must have been very warmongering to need all those castles. Trump Towers the modern day version? Pierrefonds looks wonderful! 🙂 🙂 And poor Joan! What a woman!
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A country with a restless history Jo. Our last day in Portugal. Visited Guimaraes and Braga Bom Jesus today. Sad to leave but happy to return home.
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The French always loved grandeur.
Poor Joan! What a betrayal.
Nice post.
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grandeur and restoration regardless of historical accuracy. Carcassonne springs to mind.
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Was never there.
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Love the Joan of Arc story. The castle looks very impressive too.
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Poor Joan, what a way to go! A good castle and not too busy which is always a bonus!
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Loved it.
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Reblogged this on clawingmywayin.
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I am continually delighted by your travelogue/history composites. Thanks again.
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Thanks for coming along for the ride!
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Thanks for the fascinating tale, Andrew. What did Joan do to get Charles so upset? Upstage him? –Curt
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Good point Curt and probably close to the truth. Medieval European history was complicated so even when countries/provinces etc. were at war some times they were not. Joan it seems managed to get in the way of ‘negotiations’. Read the story of Joan’s trousers for more information –
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How could I resist reading about Joan’s trousers. Now I’ll have to go find it. 🙂
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Andrew I always hope that people reading your posts don’t miss the bits that you weave in that leave me laughing out loud. Today’s special …’She passed both tests and with religious sincerity and sexual inexperience being considered more suitable qualifications than an education’ … Good grief.
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Thanks Sue, always nice when someone spots something you have been working on. I guess you feel the same way sometimes. Enjoy Ireland – I look forward to reading about it. I didn’t like Cliffs of Moher – too commercialised.
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As much as we would love every reader to devour every word we write it’s not the case is it?
I’m hoping that there may be a few less tourists going in late September. Perhaps a bit optimistic? Appreciate all the tips!
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Pingback: Entrance Tickets – Château de Pierrefonds | Have Bag, Will Travel
You can’t trust any leader who’s not willing to fight on the front lines.
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Someone has to sit in the bunker and give orders!
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As long as they shoot themselves afterward.
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I learnt a lot today 🙂
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Thanks Sue!
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Wonderful castle. I am sure this was Disney’s inspiration rather than Neuschwanstein in Bavaria.
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Disney won’t say!
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A good bit of history with this tour, Andrew
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Thanks Derrick!
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