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The Face of the Tomb
The Tomb of Agnes Sorel in the Chateau
View of Nave Toward Apse
Meeting Room of J. d'Arc and Charles VIIThe Tomb of the Beautiful Agnes Sorel
The part of the Chateau built by Charles VII mostly housed his young mistress Agnes Sorel, a beauty and the first openly acknowledged consort of her type. She spent most of her time here to avoid the irritation of the Dauphin (to become Louis XI). Agnes (note that Agnus=lamb in Latin) died suddenly at age 28 in 1450 and of course poisoning was immediately suspected. This allowed haters of Jacques Coeur (See our Bourges Tips on him) to convince the wimpish king that he did it with disastrous consequences to Jacques. The King had a beautiful tomb created for Agnes which was only installed in the church of St.-Ours after threatening the monks with expropriations if they did not agree. During the Revolution, the beautiful effigy was taken for a female saint and extensively damaged. It has been restored. It is now in a special room in the older part of the castle (See Our Tip). Her fine face is said to be from her death-mask. Note the lambs at her feet. She was indeed a beauty as her paintings also attest. We have never seen anyone else adopt her iconic pose. Visions of a beautiful woman.
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