Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe by Stuart Carroll Page B

a shortfall of nearly 10,000 livres, which had to be met by borrowing. 33 He had a salaried household of 113 on his accounts, which included three secretaries, two physicians, a surgeon, four valets, an apothecary, nine stable-hands, three musicians, a pastry cook, a sauce-maker and a sauce-maker’s assistant. One of his best-paid servants was the man who cared for his tents, a vital necessity on campaign and while out hunting. 34 Preferring life at Joinville to court, Claude indulged his passion for horses, building up one of the greatest studs in France, where there were never less than 100 or 120 horses. His position as head of the royal hunt required him to do this, but he also opened his establishment to the local squires and offered year-long riding apprenticeships at his own expense—a shrewd way of dispensing patronage and spotting the best local talent. The greatest expense was building. Little is known about the upper château, which dominated the town, since it was destroyed during the French Revolution. It was ‘a magnificent structure, in front of which was a long terrace clinging to the sides of a rocky outcrop wider than seven metres supported by buttresses’.35 Above the terrace was a ground-floor gallery with tall windows, which were decorated with cornices and columns. The upper floors were the principal living quarters, from where there were magnificent views across the hills and down into the Marne valley below. The rest of the palace was a clutter of buildings whose dimensions were determined by the rocky spur on which it was built, the entire complex being protected by a wall and tall towers. Between 1533 and 1546 Claude built himself a second palace on the banks of the Marne inspired by what he had seen at Fontainebleau and designed principally for his family’s pleasure.
    Beautifully embellished in the latest Renaissance style, it had a grace which the older fortified palace lacked. The iconography was largely martial. Here and there on the fac¸ade, sculpted between Antoinette’s and Claude’s initials, was the emblem taken from his father’s banner which represented an arm extending from a cloud holding a sword, but now joined by the biblical device Fecit potentiam in bracchio suo (He hath showed strength with his arm), signifying that political authority rests on military might. Inside there was a ballroom for receptions and festivities. The pleasure garden was watered by a canal and three fountains; it had its own little wood attached for promenades, as well as an orchard—in which grew oranges, lemons, and pomegranates—and a croquet lawn. By permission, Joinville’s bourgeoisie could pass the time here and admire the latest in civilized recreation.
    Amid these worldly delights Antoinette’s children were not permitted to forget their devotions. The upper château had its own church, where there were a number of relics, including the belt of Saint Joseph brought back from the crusades, and the pious benefactions of successive lords allowed for an establishment of nine canons, two vicars, four choristers, and a choir master. Servants were expected to behave in a manner befitting their station, to know their catechism, and hear Mass and sermons regularly. Antoinette was much concerned with the poor, spending her leisure time stitching clothes for them while listening to pious readings. Alms were distributed regularly: 400 poor girls provided with dowries, and 100 bursaries provided to poor students. Legend has it that once, after her sons returned from a hunt, she was angered to discover that they had trampled the fields of local peasants, and so the following day she served them no bread at table: ‘My children we have to save on flour, since you have destroyed next year’s crop.’36 Antoinette’s daily expense account, a fragment of which survives in the British Library, gives credence to this tale. Lent was strictly enforced at home and there were doles of peas and salt for the