Places: Palace of Poitier, Poitiers, France

Few buildings survive from the early Plantagenet era, the Angevin period of roughly 1154-1215, when the family lost much of its holdings in France.  Those that survive are altered or in ruins.  Few are being used for their original purposes.  One lucky building is the Palais de Justice in Poitiers, France, which still functions as a court of the French legal system.

The Dukes of Aquitaine were also Counts of Poitou, with its capital in Poitiers in west-central France.  Eleanor of Aquitaine inherited both titles in 1137.  Just as her second husband Henry II loved the Castle of Chinon, and considered it a palace worthy of his kingship, Eleanor felt the same way about the Palace of Poitiers.  A palace was first built on the site by one of the sons of Charlemagne, Louis the Pious in the 9th century.  It became the seat of the later Counts of Poitiers.  The original fortress was burned in 1018 and rebuilt by later Counts, who were also Dukes of Aquitaine.  In 1104, Duke William IX, Eleanor's grandfather, built a large keep or donjon that towers over the town to this day.  Eleanor resided in the Palace from 1191-1204, the final years of her life.  She had a large dining hall constructed, known as the Salle des Pas Perdus, the Hall of Lost Footsteps.  The floor space 50 meters/164 feet in length and 17 meters/55 feet in width was the largest in Europe at the time, so large that the footfalls of a person walking across the hall would become lost or silent as the person traversed the entire length of the hall. 

The Palace of Poitiers originally fell under French control and was remodeled by Jean I, Due de Berry.  His architects reworked much of what Eleanor would have seen when she stayed at the Palace.  When the County of Poitou was absorbed into the royal French domain, the local parlement or legislature met in the Salle.  Other areas of the Palace were becoming both a law court and a prison, a common use for old fortresses in many countries.  For this reason, the Palace survived the Revolution in 1789-1795.  The outlines of Eleanor's hall can be seen today, though the beam-work dates from the 19th century and the stonework of the walls is actually plaster.  Still, the overall grandeur of this room, where the Mother of Lions once held court, is easily discernable.