Ch. de Valois | ©Leipzig University Library / Public domainThe future duke of Angoulême Charles of Valois owned Grosbois in 1616: this chap re-raised the current castle. He also extended the park.
How? He razed all the village’s houses and church, while the inhabitants and the priests were out for a procession… Nice!
But who was Charles of Valois? The son of king of France Charles IX and his mistress Marie Touchet: do you remember? They were the two turtle-doves in the Le Hallier castle...
Charles was 55 when he bought Grosbois.
But he was still handsome! So a young chick fell in love with him: in 1644, at 71 years old, he married a 20 years old lady, Françoise de Nargonne, in the neighbouring church of Boissy-Saint-Léger.
They were in love with each other: they asked the painter Abraham Brosse to immortalize the wedding scene on the dining-room’s walls...