Monuments in Paris: Château de Vincennes (Part 3 of 3)

Our visit to the Château de Vincennes continues.  

For a time, the Château de Vincennes served as a prison, instead of a royal residence.  The same fortifications that protected the castle's occupants were also suited to keeping prisoners from escaping.  A few modifications were made when the castle became a prison.  For example, the windows of cells were filled with stone blocks to prevent escape.  Instead of a large window, only a narrow slit for light and air remained.

Many of the prisoners would today be considered political prisoners, imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs.  Some were imprisoned by a royal order that allowed them to be held indefinitely without trial.  

Prisoners occupied their time by painting or etching still-visible graffiti on the walls of cells.  Other prisoners, however, occupied their years of confinement by writing books.  

Several of the prisoners of Château de Vincennes were famous:

• A future king of France, Henri of Navarre, later King Henri IV
• French writer Denis Diderot
• Nicholas Fouquet, Louis XIV's superintendent of finances
• The Grande Condé, one of Louis XIV's top generals

A display in the castle told us more about the famous prisoners and included some of the published works written while they were imprisoned.  

Another famous resident of the Château de Vincennes was not a prisoner but he was not welcome in France.  During the Hundred Years War, in 1421-22, the nearby town of Meaux was besieged for 7 months by English forces in France led by King Henry V.  Henry eventually prevailed and captured Meaux but he had became very ill.  He was carried to the Château de Vincennes where he died three weeks later on August 31, 1422. 

While visiting the Château de Vincennes we spotted an ancient resident, the very old cat pictured below.  We suppose the cat is descended from a long line of cats that have guarded the castle since the time of Charles V.

Thanks for visiting the Château de Vincennes with us.