Richard the Lionheart, Castles, and Limoges
Château de Châlus-Chabrol on the Route Richard Coeur de Lion
Last January I went to stay at a friend’s house in the Dordogne, and on the drive down noticed a sign for the Route de Richard Coeur de Lion. I was immediately intrigued, and this bit of history—along with a desire to check out Limoges porcelain—became the basis for my birthday outing a few days later. My first stop was the Château de Montbrun first built on the orders of Richard’s father Henry II. A moat protects one side of the castle, and it would have been hard to see from the road if the January trees weren’t bare. The tall stone tower is especially impressive, and it was the perfect first stop for my birthday.
The next stop is Château de Châlus-Chabrol where Richard laid siege in order to lay claim to a treasure found in the fields owned by the feudal lord. This greedy image of Richard doesn’t coincide with the kindly lion portrayed in Disney’s Robin Hood. Richard’s greed is severely punished, however, because he is wounded and dies a few days later due to gangrene. Mid-January is not high tourist season, so the castle and museum were closed, but it was still enjoyable to walk around the castle ruins.
I can’t pinpoint where I first learned about Limoges china; I have memories of it being mentioned in passing in books that “so-and-so drank coffee from a delicate Limoges cup,” and this memory was enough to make me want to visit the medieval city of Limoges. A little research informed me that many U.S. presidents had Limoges china patterns they used in the White House. My very kind husband did his own Googling and surprised me by taking me to the factory store where they make the famous porcelain, and after much deliberation walking around the showroom, I selected my own delicate coffee cup to commemorate the day.
After that fun stop we parked the car and did some exploring à pied. Limoges is a beautify city! The gorgeous St. Etienne Cathedral sits on a steep hill high above the Vienne River. We walked around the river with its beautiful stone bridge before attempting the climb to the cathedral. It leaves you quite out of breath, but the view and the gardens around the cathedral are worth the climb.
All was quiet in Limoges around the cathedral, but I did stumble upon a secondhand bookshop that was open. If you can read French, Un Livre de Voyage is a treasure trove of vintage books. My French is rudimentary, but I found a book in this little shop I hope to be able to read it all one day. While browsing the many shelves one title jumped out at me, because it is the name of the town in France where I lived! I walked in the park on the cover nearly every day. I was able to have a little conversation with the people working at the shop, and it was such a perfect end to a delightful, historical, storied traveling kind of birthday.
If you’d like to learn more about how the kings of England laid claim to lands in France, you might like to join me on the thousand page quest I started last week reading When Christ and His Saints Slept* by Sharon Kay Penman. That title is a mouthful, I know, but it begins the story of the Plantagenets and includes the book Lionheart* by the same author. It’s very immersive, and I now have a much better chance of remembering this part of English history because stories make it easier to remember names and events than simply reading a historical account. Each chapter takes place in locations in France and England filled with castles and cathedrals, so if you’ve ever been to Winchester, Dover, Chartres, or Rouen, the story comes alive even more.
*I use affiliate links for Bookshop.org.