ts importance ceased in the
following reign. The inhabitants of the adjacent country petitioned the
King to give orders that the castle should be dismantled. They dreaded,
lest its towers should serve as an asylum to some of the numerous bands
of marauders, by whom France was then infested. It was consequently
undermined, and reduced to its present state of ruin.

If the name of this castle is to be found at other times, in "the
historian's ample page," it is only in the comparatively unimportant
character of a place of safe confinement for state prisoners, or, on one
occasion, as a temporary residence for a fugitive monarch. In the latter
capacity, it opened its gates to David Bruce, in 1331, when the Scottish
prince, received by Philip de Valois, with all the honours due to an
exiled sovereign, had this palace assigned him as a regal residence, and
was permitted to maintain here, for a while, the pageantry of a court.
As a prison, Chateau Gaillard was frequently employed: it was in
particular distinguished with an unenviable preference in one of the
most disgraceful aeras of the history of France. Margaret of Burgundy,
the Queen of Louis X. and Blanche, the consort of his brother, Charles
le Bel, were both of them confined here, after having been tried and
convicted of adultery; together with Jane, another princess of the house
of Burgundy, the wife to Philip, brother to Louis and Charles. Margaret
was shortly after murdered in this castle; when Louis, intent upon a
fresh marriage with the princess Clementia of Hungary, found an obstacle
to his wishes in the protracted existence of his former queen.

[Illustration: Plate 81. CHATEAU GAILLARD.
_South West View._]

Of the extent, the magnificence, the commanding situation, or the
imposing appearance of Chateau Gaillard, it is almost equally difficult
to convey an adequate idea by the pencil or by the pen. "The faithful
eye" can alone give satisfaction upon such subjects. Mr. Turner's
account of the present state of the ruin, has the merit of being the
most copious that has yet appeared; and the following extract from it
shall therefore conclude this article:--"Our expectations respecting
Chateau Gaillard were more than answered. Considered as to its
dimensions and its situation, it is by far the finest castellated ruin I
ever saw. Conway, indeed, has more beauty; but Chateau Gaillard is
infinitely superior in dignity. Its ruins crown the summit of a lofty
rock, a