Identifier: castleschateauxo00mans (find matches)
Title: Castles and chateaux of old Burgundy and the border provinces
Year: 1909 (1900s)
Authors: Mansfield, Milburg Francisco, 1871- (from old catalog)
Subjects: Castles
Publisher: Boston, L. C. Page & company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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he Durance.The fortress was the work of Vauban, and itsbastions are built of a curious pink marblefound in the valley of the Queyras. No doubtbut that the fortress is impregnable, or waswhen built, but it would avail little to-dayagainst modern explosives. Up the valley of the Guil is the region knownas the Val de Queyras, one of the ProtestantValleys of Dauphiny, where the religiouswars under Lesdiguieres, during the reign ofHenri IV, raged fast and furious. ChateauQueyras, as its name indicates, is the seat ofa mediaeval pile which, if not stupendous withrespect to its outlines, is at least more than sat-isfying when viewed from afar. It is an an-cient feudal castle and befits its name, in looksat least, and was once the seat of the seigneursof Chateau-Vieille Ville. Like the fort of MontDauphin it seemingly was built to guard thepassage to the frontier by the Col Lacroix andthe Col de Traversette. Here as early as 1480 Louis II of Dauphinycut a tunnel below the Col to make the road
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to to-Si In the Alps of Dauphiny 309 between the French valleys and the rich plainsof the Po the easier of passage. South of Chateau Queyras is Saint Veran,the highest collection of human habitations inFrance, and one of the most elevated in Europe.It is commonly called the highest commune inEurope where the peasants eat white bread.Approximately its elevation is seven thousandfeet, still some thousands below Leadville, onerecalls. Because of its altitude also, it has beencalled the most pious village in France. Thismay or may not be so, but at any rate the placehas ever been on the verge of changing its re-ligion from Protestant to Catholic and fromCatholic to Protestant. What is in the rarefiedatmosphere, one wonders, to induce such fickle-ness in matters spiritual! Embrun, of all the towns of this part of Dau-phiny, is the most illustrious and famous. Thisis perhaps as much from its association withLouis XI as for any other reason, for it is reck-oned one of the dullest towns in Fr

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