OF SIX MEDLEVAL WOMEN 



borne in royal splendour, and there laid to rei 

 in the choir of the church in a simple tomb. 

 We can imagine the loving care with which 

 Etienne Chevalier watched the sculptor, and 

 possibly even gave him suggestions, as he 

 fashioned in alabaster her recumbent effigy 

 representing her with hands clasped as if in 

 prayer, her feet resting against two lambs, and 

 her head guarded by two angels with out- 

 stretched wings. Perhaps this stone effigy was 

 the one true portrait of Agnes, but the head and 

 face were partially destroyed during the Revolu- 

 tion, and restored in their present form in 1806, 

 so that little of the original now remains. 



This tomb, which to-day may be seen in a 

 small vestibule of the Chateau Royale (now the 

 Sous-Prefecture), has a strange and chequered 

 history. Perhaps scarce another has suffered 

 such singular vicissitudes, so many removals, or 

 more ruthless violations. Soon after the death 

 of Charles the Seventh (1461), the canons of 

 Loches, whom Agnes had largely endowed and 

 of whom she asked naught save to be re- 

 membered in their prayers, petitioned Louis the 

 Eleventh for its transfer to a side chapel, since 

 they considered it unfitting for the dust of such 

 an one to repose in the choir. Louis, using his 

 subtlety to better purpose than was his wont, 

 replied that if they removed the tomb, they 

 must return her gifts. Naturally these worthy 

 ecclesiastics silenced their consciences and kept 

 the tomb where it was. However, in the year 



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