Château de La Roche-Guyon
I was reading a pdf copy of a book with an account of 1790, whereby the author had been on a ship with a Duke of Liancourt (François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt)The present Château de La Roche-Guyon[1] was built in the 12th century, controlling a river crossing of the Seine, itself one of the routes to and from Normandy;[2] The Abbé Suger described its grim aspect: "At the summit of a steep promontory, dominating the bank of the great river Seine, rises a frightful castle without title to nobility, called La Roche. Invisible on the surface, it is hollowed out of a high cliff. The able hand of the builder has established in the mountainside, digging into the rock, an ample dwelling provided with a few miserable openings".[3] In the mid-13th century, a fortified manor house (the château-bas) was added below. Guy de La Roche fell at the Battle of Agincourt, and his widow was ousted from the Roche, after six months of siege, in 1419; she preferred to depart rather than accept Henry Plantagenet as her overlord. It came to the Liancourt family with the marriage of Roger de Plessis-Liancourt to the heiress Marie de La Roche; he was a childhood companion of Louis XIII, first gentleman of the Chambre du Roi, and was made a duke in 1643. He and his wife made great changes to the château-bas, opening windows in its structure and laying out the terrace to the east, partly cut into the mountain's steep slope.
The book itself is typical of the titles of pre 20th century books, 'A narrative of the incidents attending the capture, detention, and ransom of Charles Johnston, of Botetourt County Virginia : who was made prisoner by the Indians, on the river Ohio, in the year 1790 : together with an interesting account of the fate of his companions, five in number, one of whom suffered at the stake : to which are added, sketches of Indian character and manners, with illustrative anecdotes' by Johnston, Charles, 1768-1833; Johnston, Peter, 1763-1831
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