e.

The first reference to the name of Vincennes is in a ninth century
charter, where it appears as _Vilcenna_. The foundation of the original
chateau-fort on the present site is attributed to Louis VII, who, in
1164, having alienated a part of the neighbouring forest in favour of a
body of monks, built himself a suburban rest-house under shelter of the
pious walls of their convent.

Philippe Auguste, too, has been credited with being the founder of
Vincennes; but, at all events, the chateau took on no royal importance
until the reign of Saint Louis, who acquired the habit of dispensing
justice to all comers seated beneath an oak in the near-by Forest of
Joinville.

The erection of the later chateau was begun by Charles, Comte de Valois,
brother of Philippe-le-Bel; and it was completed by Philippe VI of
Valois, and his successor, Jean-le-Bon, between the years 1337 and 1370,
when it became an entirely new manner of edifice from what it had been
before. It was in this chateau that was born Charles V, to whom indeed
it owes its completion in the form best known.

To-day, the outlines of the mass of the Chateau de Vincennes are
considerably abbreviated from their former state. Originally it was
quite regular in outline, its walls forming a rectangle flanked by nine
towers, the great donjon which one sees to-day occupying the centre of
one side. The chapel was begun in the reign of Francois I and terminated
in that of Henri II. Its coloured glass, painted by Jean Cousin from the
designs of Raphael, is notable.

The chapel at Vincennes, with the Saint Chapelle of the Palais de
Justice at Paris, ranks as one of the most exquisite examples extant of
French Gothic architecture. It was begun in 1379, but chiefly it is of
the sixteenth century, since it was only completed in 1552. This chapel
of the sixteenth century, and the two side wings flanking the tower of
the reign of Louis XIV, make the Chateau de Vincennes a most precious
specimen of mediaeval ecclesiastical and military architecture. If
Napoleon had not cut down the height of the surrounding walls the
comparison would be still more favourable. In the reproduction of the
miniature from the Book of Hours of the Duc de Berry given herein one
sees the perfect outlines of the fourteenth century edifice.

In later years, Louis XIII added considerably to the existing structure,
but little is now to be seen of that edifice save the great tower and
the chapel.

Charles