Meung-sur-Loire, Cléry and Beaugency: Villon's Prison and the Tomb of Louis XI
Centre-Val de Loire, France
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225
XP
+100 France
= 325 total
1 day
Meung-sur-Loire, Cléry and Beaugency: Villon's Prison and the Tomb of Louis XI
225 + 100 XP
The château of Meung-sur-Loire, built from the 12th century as a residence of the bishops of Orléans, was also a prison, and the poet François Villon was locked in it in 1461 on the bishop's orders. Five and a half kilometres east, Louis XI rebuilt the basilica of Notre-Dame de Cléry from 1449 to 1485 after a vow made at Dieppe, and he was buried there on 7 September 1483. Downstream, Beaugency — where a church council annulled Louis VII's marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152 — stands in the UNESCO-listed Loire Valley. Orléans, Beaugency, Notre-Dame de Cléry and Vendôme are the four towns of the old rhyme Le Carillon de Vendôme, and three of them are on this day out.
Required Activities
1
of 6
Go down into the bishops' prison in the château of Meung, where Villon was held in 1461, then step outside to the collegiate church of Saint-Liphard and find the hollowed-out towers flanking its bell tower — the remains of the bishops' first residence of 1162, which became the gaol once the larger palace went up fifty metres away from 1209
2
of 6
Follow Joan of Arc's Loire campaign along the river: the castle of Meung, held for the English by John Talbot and Thomas Scales, was taken back on 14 June 1429, and Beaugency was freed four days later, just before Patay on 18 June — stand on both bridgeheads and work out why the crossings were what the fighting was for
3
of 6
In the nave of Cléry, find the tomb of Louis XI as it now is — the kneeling king and four angels rescued from Louis XIII's marble tomb of 1622 and reassembled in 1896 — then find the crypt vault, lost until the parish priest located it again in 1889, which holds all that is left of the king: a sawn skull vault, a jaw and a piece of his nose
4
of 6
Find the two side chapels at Cléry and the men behind them: the chapelle Saint-Jean, built in 1483 by Simon Duval for Jean de Dunois, Joan of Arc's companion, who lies in it with his family, and the chapelle Saint-Jacques of about 1515, raised by François de Pontbriant while he was working on Chambord down the road
5
of 6
Stand under the tower of Saint-Firmin — all that the Revolutionaries left of the parish church, and the shape that makes Beaugency recognisable from across the river — and wait for its carillon to play the air of the Carillon de Vendôme, which names Beaugency and Cléry in the same breath
6
of 6
Walk out onto the bridge at Beaugency, on a crossing attested since the early 12th century, and stop at its southern end, where 18,850 soldiers and 754 officers of the Elster column laid down their arms on 16 September 1944 — the same bridge the Americans had bombed on 14 June, hitting the town hard enough to kill 64 civilians and barely scratching the piers
Go down into the bishops' prison in the château of Meung, where Villon was held in 1461, then step outside to the collegiate church of Saint-Liphard and find the hollowed-out towers flanking its bell tower — the remains of the bishops' first residence of 1162, which became the gaol once the larger palace went up fifty metres away from 1209
Follow Joan of Arc's Loire campaign along the river: the castle of Meung, held for the English by John Talbot and Thomas Scales, was taken back on 14 June 1429, and Beaugency was freed four days later, just before Patay on 18 June — stand on both bridgeheads and work out why the crossings were what the fighting was for
In the nave of Cléry, find the tomb of Louis XI as it now is — the kneeling king and four angels rescued from Louis XIII's marble tomb of 1622 and reassembled in 1896 — then find the crypt vault, lost until the parish priest located it again in 1889, which holds all that is left of the king: a sawn skull vault, a jaw and a piece of his nose
Find the two side chapels at Cléry and the men behind them: the chapelle Saint-Jean, built in 1483 by Simon Duval for Jean de Dunois, Joan of Arc's companion, who lies in it with his family, and the chapelle Saint-Jacques of about 1515, raised by François de Pontbriant while he was working on Chambord down the road
Stand under the tower of Saint-Firmin — all that the Revolutionaries left of the parish church, and the shape that makes Beaugency recognisable from across the river — and wait for its carillon to play the air of the Carillon de Vendôme, which names Beaugency and Cléry in the same breath
Walk out onto the bridge at Beaugency, on a crossing attested since the early 12th century, and stop at its southern end, where 18,850 soldiers and 754 officers of the Elster column laid down their arms on 16 September 1944 — the same bridge the Americans had bombed on 14 June, hitting the town hard enough to kill 64 civilians and barely scratching the piers
Before you go
The château of Meung publishes a month-by-month calendar rather than a season, and it thins out sharply after the summer: 10am to 6pm daily through May and June bar Mondays and Tuesdays, 10am to 7pm every day in July and August, weekends plus Wednesday to Friday afternoons in September, weekends and the 20 to 31 October holiday in the afternoons, then in November only 1 November, and in December weekends plus 21 to 23 and 28 to 30, all 2pm to 6pm. Nothing is published for January, so check chateau-de-meung.com before building a winter day round Villon's prison — Cléry, the bridge at Beaugency and the tower of Saint-Firmin are open in any season.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
225 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
325 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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