Château de Saint-Cloud

About

The Château de Saint-Cloud is a former royal castle located in Saint-Cloud (Hauts-de-Seine) in a site overlooking the Seine. It was bombed and burned during the Franco-German war of 1870, and today only the 460-hectare park, officially known as the "national estate of Saint-Cloud", remains.

Circa 1577-1655: Saint-Cloud, château des Gondi: The Gondi are a family of Florentine financiers who arrived in France in 1543 following Catherine de Medici.

In the 1570s – probably in 1577 – it offered Jerome de Gondi a house in Saint-Cloud called "Hôtel d'Aulnay". Around this house, Jérôme de Gondi built a "L" plan castle bordering a terrace. The main facade looks at the south, and the wing ends with a pavilion from which one embraces a view of the Seine. It is in this castle that Henry III settles to drive the siege of Paris, held by the Leagues. On 1 August 1589 he was assassinated by the monk Jacques Clément and Henry IV was recognized king there. After the death of Jérôme de Gondi in 1604, the castle was sold in 1618 by his son John the Baptist II to Jean de Bueil[Lequel?], Count of Sancerre...