Châteaux de France Trivia Quiz

Answer: He hit his head on a low doorway.

A World Heritage Site, the Royal Château d'Amboise was the seat of the Court of Charles VIII and Francis I. Henri II and his wife Catherine de' Medici both resided there as well, as did Mary, Queen of Scots; she lived there as a child prior to her marriage to Francis II.

It is also the possible burial site of Leonardo da Vinci, who visited the château in 1516 at the invitation of Francis I and reportedly expressed a desire to be buried there. Charles VIII was born at the château in 1470, and in 1492 he embarked upon a restoration of the building, first in a French Gothic Flamboyant style and then, following the Italian War of 1494-1495, in an Italian style.

In 1498, he bumped his head on a door lintel on his way to watch a tennis match. After the game, he fell into a coma and died several hours later from cranial trauma.

Answer: Apocalypse Tapestry

The Castle of Angers is a massive fortress that was built in the thirteenth century on the site of a ninth century fortification. It features seventeen shale and limestone towers and ramparts half a kilometer in length, making it a formidable fortress.

Besides being used as a palace, it has also served as a prison and was used as an armory during WWI and WWII. The Apocalypse Tapestry at Château d'Angers was commissioned by Duke Louis I of Anjou, son of John II, in the 1370s and took over seven years to complete.

The original tapestry consisted of six sections about 78 feet (24 meters) wide with 90 scenes from the "Book of Revelation". The tapestry was badly damaged in the eighteenth century and was restored the following century, but only 71 of the original 90 scenes remain.

Answer: It's a double-helix.

Francis I ordered the construction of Château de Chambord in the early 1500s as a hunting lodge in the Sologne marshlands, but it was unfinished and abandoned after his death in 1547. King Louis XIII then gave the château to his brother in 1639, who began carrying out the much needed restoration work. During the reign of King Louis XIV, the château was essentially completed, although he also abandoned it, in 1685. During the French Revolution, the château was stripped of its furnishings but not destroyed, and it passed through several hands before becoming property of the French state in 1930.

The famous double-helix staircase appears to be one staircase but is actually two intertwining spirals that allow people to ascend and descend without running into each other.

The true architect of the staircase is unknown, but da Vinci's drawings in his notebooks appeared to have at least influenced the design.

Answer: French Revolution

The Château de Chantilly is located approximately 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Paris and is home to one of the finest art galleries in France, the Musée Condé. The two buildings that combine to form the château are the Petit Château and the Grand Château, which was mostly destroyed during the French Revolution.

The original castle was built in 1560 for Anne de Montmorency by Pierre Chambiges, with some modest repairs following the revolution completed by Louis Henri II, Prince of Condé. The château was entirely rebuilt between 1875 and 1882 by Henri d'Orleans, who bequeathed Château de Chantilly to the Institut de France upon his death in 1897.

The art that the Musée Condé at the château houses today consists mostly of French paintings from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The Petit Château also houses a library with more than 1500 manuscripts and 17,500 printed books.

Answer: It spans the width of the river.

The Château de Chenonceau was nicknamed "the Ladies' Château" because throughout its history women have been involved in its design and preservation. The first château was built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and only the dungeon remains of the original building.

The main part of the current château was originally built in the early 1500s on the site of an old mill and was expanded in the mid-1500s as a bridge across the river. Katherine Briconnet, the wife of the owner, was responsible for much of the design of the main château.

After the château was obtained by the monarchy, Henri II gave it to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, and she added the bridge across the river. After Henri II died, the queen, Catherine de' Medici, took over the château and added the building on top of the bridge, giving it its current look.

Answer: Medieval

Château de Fontainebleau was constructed in the twelfth century as a medieval palace, and was the residence and hunting lodge for the kings of France from Louis VII onward. In the early- to mid-1500s, the château was home to Francis I, who made several modifications to the palace bringing it into the Renaissance style of the time, including adding a new "Cour Ovale" (oval courtyard) that was built atop the old Medieval foundations.

After the death of Francis I, Henri II and his wife Catherine de' Medici renovated again, adding the "Salle des Fêtes" (grand ballroom) to the oval courtyard and a new building, the "Pavillon des Poeles", that would contain the apartments of the king.

By the time Napoleon became Emperor of the French, the castle was centuries old. Napoleon again made several changes to the palace at Fontainebleau, redecorating to the new style and turning the old royal bedroom into a throne room.

Answer: Royal prison

Château Gaillard was built high above the River Seine in a strategically defensible position that overlooked the valley below and the town of Grand Andely. King Richard I built the castle to protect the duchy of Normandy, his home, from King Phillip II of France, despite terms in the Treaty of Louviers of 1196 that stated neither Richard nor Phillip could fortify the site.

The castle filled a gap in the Norman defenses left after the fall of Châteaux de Gisors and de Gaillon. In 1314, the château was used as a prison to hold Margaret of Burgundy, Queen of France, and her sister-in-law, the Countess Blanche of Burgundy, who were convicted of adultery. Queen Margaret died within the castle walls after poor treatment left her ill. Blanche was imprisoned at Château Gaillard until she married Charles IV, becoming Queen of France and Navarre in 1322.

Answer: Avignon

The Avignon Papacy took place from 1309 to 1376 when seven popes lived in Avignon in the Kingdom of Arles rather than in Rome. After the papacy returned to Rome with Gregory XI, the Western Schism erupted between his successor and several cardinals, and the papacy once again returned to Avignon, although those popes weren't considered legitimate.

Although a smaller palace had been built on the site previously, construction on the current Palace of Popes began in 1335 under Pope Benedict XII, and was mostly completed twenty years later under Pope Clement VI.

By the early 1400s, when the papacy permanently returned to Rome, the Palais des Papes became the legates' residence, and remained as such until the French Revolution of 1789 when it was used for housing troops.

It became a national museum in 1906.

Answer: Carved out of rock

The château was called "Roquetaillade", meaning "carved out of rock", after the troglodyte caves that sit beneath the castle. The castle was originally constructed in the fourteenth century, but underwent a massive restoration in the nineteenth century, performed by Viollet le Duc who also reconstructed the Château d'Amboise.

The castle itself consists of a large enclosure that contains two massive stone castles. One of the castles, initially constructed as a timber motte and bailey (a wooden keep atop a raised earthwork called a "motte" and surrounded by a courtyard called a "bailey") was built in the tenth century by Charlemagne as he marched across Europe.

The castle was gradually converted to stone up through the thirteenth century. Construction of the second castle began in 1306 under the direction of Cardinal Gaillard de la Mothe, nephew of Pope Clement V. Under a first round of renovations that begin in the seventeenth century, the arrow slits on the first floor were replaced with Renaissance windows and interior fireplaces were installed.

Answer: Louis XIV

The Palace of Versailles began life as a hunting lodge for Louis XIII in the early 1600s. Louis XIII decided to convert the lodge into a large brick and stone château about ten years later. His son, Louis XIV, had visited the château when he was a boy, and decided to convert it into a grand palace with elaborate gardens after his marriage to Maria Theresa of Spain in 1660. Construction of the palace took place between 1661 and 1670, and then, as Louis spent more of his time there, more expansions began in 1678, including the creation of the Hall of Mirrors.

In 1682, Louis XIV officially moved his court to Versailles. When he died in 1715, the government of then five-year-old King Louis XV was moved back to Paris until he came of age, at which point he returned to Versailles, where the government remained until the French Revolution of 1789.