Tour de Nesle

The Tour de Nesle or Nesle's Tower was one of the four large guard towers on the old city wall of Paris, constructed at the beginning of the 13th century by Philip II of France and demolished in 1665.

Tour de Nesle
Part of wall of Philippe Auguste
Paris in  France
Tour de Nesle in January 1608 (detail from
Patineurs sur la Seine en 1608, Carnavalet Museum)
Tour de Nesle
Coordinates48.8575°N 2.337222°E / 48.8575; 2.337222
TypeCorner tower
Height25 meters
Site information
ConditionDestroyed
Site history
Builtcirca 1200
Built byPhilippe Auguste
MaterialsStone
Demolished1665
EventsTour de Nesle Affair

The tower was situated on the left (south) bank of the Seine facing the old castle of the Louvre on the opposite bank. Originally known as the Tour Hamelin, it was a cylindrical structure of approximately 10 metres in diameter. The height was around 25 metres, with a stair turret reaching higher still. Later, the tower was incorporated into the Hôtel de Nesle, a medieval mansion.

On the right bank of the Seine river, was a similar tall tower : the Tour du Coin (=Corner tower) [1]. The towers protected the upstream approach into the city towards the Île de la Cité.

In 1308, Philip IV bought the tower from Amaury de Nesle. In 1319, Philip V donated the building to his Queen Jeanne de Bourgogne and she, in her will, left it for the College of Burgundy, which she founded for the University of Paris. Demolished in 1665, mansion and tower became the place of the Collège des Quatre-Nations (later occupied by the Institut de France) with the Bibliothèque Mazarine.

In the 19th century, Alexandre Dumas wrote the celebrated romance La Tour de Nesle, in which he portrayed the place as a theatre of orgy and the place of murder of the Queen of France at the beginning of the 14th century, (likely Margaret of Burgundy). His story is based on the fifteenth century legend known as the Tour de Nesle Affair (Affaire de la tour de Nesle), centering on actual events that took place in 1314 where the daughters-in-law of Philip IV were accused of adultery, and their alleged lovers tortured, flayed, and executed.

References

  • Lorentz, Phillipe; Dany Sandron (2006). Atlas de Paris au Moyen Âge. Paris: Parigramme. pp. 238 pp. ISBN 2-84096-402-3.
  • Imago Mundi - Tour de Nesle.
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