Les lits royaux d’Amboise sous Charles VIII et Anne de Bretagne : étoffes, couleurs et décor

Abstract

The interior layout of the château of Amboise at the end of the fifteenth century is documented by a number of voluminous sources from the archives, which are at times fragmentary but often complementary. These texts give little description of the wooden structures of the beds of Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany, but abound in details concerning the fabrics used to hang on them. Orders, account books and inventories allow us to effect a partial restitution of some of these beds; their décor reveals the importance of the royal colours and emblems, while also providing evidence of the special devotion of the time to the Archangel Michael, of whose Order – created some twenty years earlier – the king was Grand Master.

Keywords

• castle
• Amboise
• furnishing
• decoration
• textile
• bed