Château de Rochecotte
The Château de Rochecotte is a late 18th-century château located in the French village of Saint-Patrice, near Langeais, in Indre-et-Loire. It is known for its various owners and their many successive rebuilds.
The parent of one of its owners, Boni de Castellane, described it as : "A grand Louis XVI style château - halfway up a hill dominating the Loire valley – lacking neither charm nor originality. It resembles an Italian villa, with superimposed terraces, from which the view extends to the blue and grey horizon, landscapes from old paintings."[1]
In a letter from Dino to de Barante of 5 July 1828,[2] she writes "I have a true passion for Rochecotte; to me, it is the most beautiful view and the most beautiful country in the world; at last this is an air which makes me live lightly and then I arrange, I return, I embellish, I appropriate... I took up country life to the letter."
Talleyrand and the duchess of Dino
[edit]
Originally, the château belonged to the comte de Rochecotte, who became one of the leaders of the second Chouannerie in Maine and was executed under the French Directory, in the Champ-de-Mars, in Paris.
On 30 April 1828, one of the later owners, the chevalier René de La Selle de Ligné, sold it to Dorothée de Courlande, duchess of Dino, for 400,000 francs, then a considerable sum.[3] According to Jean-Luc Péchinot, "she appreciated its site and its superimposed terraces opening out onto vast horizons (...) she undertook great building works".[2]
The Castellanes
[edit]In the grounds of the chateau is a mausoleum to Antonia Terry y Sanchez of Cuba, the mother of Countess Stanislas de Castellane (Natica Terry), sister-in-law of Boni de Castellane and mother of Emilio Terry.
Emilio Terry
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Notes
[edit]- ^ Cf. Boni de Castellane, Mémoires, Perrin, 1986, p. 22.
- ^ a b Jean-Luc Péchinot (1995) La duchesse de Dino, dernier amour de Talleyrand, le Magazine de La Touraine, no. 55, p. 58
- ^ Château de Rochecotte
Bibliography
[edit]- Françoise de Bernardy, Le Dernier Amour de Talleyrand : la Duchesse de Dino (1793–1862), Perrin, 1965
- Boni de Castellane, Mémoires, Introduction et notes d'Emmanuel de Waresquiel, Perrin, 1986
- Duchesse de Dino, Souvenirs, 1906, edited by Princess Radziwill, née Castellane
- Duchesse de Dino, Chronique de 1831 à 1862, 1909, éd. par la princesse Radziwill, née Castellane
- Éric Mension-Rigau, Boni de Castellane, Perrin, 2008
- Jean Orieux, Talleyrand, ou le Sphinx incompris, Flammarion, 1970
- Emmanuel de Waresquiel, Talleyrand, le Prince immobile, Fayard, 2003
See also
[edit]- Castellane family
- Boniface de Castellane (1867-1932)
- Henri de Castellane
- Marie de Castellane
- Talleyrand-Périgord family
- Pauline de Talleyrand-Périgord
- Emilio Terry
- Rouillon
External links
[edit]- Château de Rochecotte - official site
- History of Château de Rochecotte