2. Châteauneuf-sur-Loire to Orléans

The origin of Châteauneuf-sur-Loire dates back to the 11th century, the name of the town was given by the "Castrum Novum".
Of the castle of the 17th and 18th centuries, the remarkable rotunda as well as the numerous outbuildings of the castle still remain.
 Today, the Town Hall is located inside the castle.
Around it, an English-style park extends over 33 hectares and offers a pleasant and restful setting with trees, most of which are two hundred years old. This natural area now links the botanical park to the Loire River.
Next to the town hall visit the marine museum.

Built on an old building dating from the 12th century, it was destroyed in 1567 by the Calvinist armies of Coligny.
Its reconstruction lasted until 1637, a date engraved in stone above the main door surmounted by a Romanesque arch. The windows are of pointed arch construction, the thick box-trees rest on massive buttresses.
This building, which is 40 metres long and 14 metres wide, has no pillars; the walls alone bear the weight of the "basket-handle" vault made of chestnut wood.
The interior aspect has changed little since the First Empire. The church, as it still appeared in 1905, with above the porch, the symbol of the republican spirit of the time, "propriété communale république française liberté égalité fraternité".

The presence of a religious community in the town of Jargeau is attested by many historians as early as the 4th century. No vestiges remain from this period. The church then undergoes, as in all villages on the banks of the Loire, the many invasions of the Normans, causing the disappearance of this community. A new one will settle when the relics of Saint-Vrain were transferred in the 11th century.
The development of the pilgrimage of Saint-Vrain pushes the authorities to build a new place of reception. Thus, in 1154, the choir of a new church was consecrated. The nave and the porch tower were subsequently built. As this church was still not sufficient, a larger choir was rebuilt in the 14th century with an ambulatory and chapels.
The religious wars did not spare the building, which was regularly sacked by Protestants or the king's troops trying to reclaim the city.
Around 1625, the choir of the church was rebuilt on the limits of the old choir but without the ambulatory and the chapels.

The lordship of Latingy dates back to the 15th century. It occupies the lands of the Sainte-Croix d'Orléans Abbey. The buildings of the original castle were unfortunately demolished and rebuilt in the 19th century. Part of the buildings of the "barnyard", the castle farm, remain, including a magnificent dovecote probably dating from the early 16th century. It is known that it was a sign of nobility and a privilege to own a dovecote. The one in Latingy is a round tower built over a beautiful vaulted cellar.
The castle is a private property and cannot be visited.
A gîte is available on the site

Saint Aignan (c. 358 - c. 453), bishop of Orléans, played a great role, at least morally, during the siege of Orléans in 451 by Attila and his troops. Gregory of Tours, a contemporary of Aignan, attests to this. On the death of the bishop, the monastery of Saint-Pierre-aux-Bœufs, located on the banks of the Loire in an old castrum, took the name of Saint-Aignan. The monastery's Saint-Pierre church was the burial place of several Merovingian bishops. Its position outside the ramparts as well as on the banks of the Loire allows us to suppose that the stopover of Colomban and his companions around 610 could have taken place in this monastery. But the Vita Columbani only mentions this stop for the supply of the monks and describes a miracle, Colomban cured the father of a Syrian woman. The city of Orleans was a crossroads of international trade since Roman times and the presence of a Syrian community with camels for towing boats is attested from that time.
The church cannot be visited for security reasons.
The crypt has been altered over the centuries, located under the church of Saint-Aignan and accessible only with a guide. The Saint-Aignan crypt is a beautiful relic from the 11th century. As evidenced by the martyrium and a large ambulatory with five chapels condemned in the 15th century, the building was dedicated to the worship of the relics of Saint-Aignan, patron saint of Orléans.
Semi-buried, this splendid Romanesque crypt preserves rare sculpted and polychrome capitals from the beginning of the 11th century.
In the 7th century, the church was mentioned as a monastery under the mixed rule of the good fathers Benedict and Colomban.
To visit the crypt : Orléans Tourist Office

The foundation of Orléans Cathedral is the subject of two hagiographical legends in Orléans. Written at different times, they do not feature the same characters and, as a result, also diverge in their purpose.
Until the 7th century, nothing precise is known, neither about the buildings that succeeded one another, nor about their location.
In 989, the city was destroyed by a great fire which, according to Raoul Glaber, also ravaged the cathedral.
Around 1277, the Romanesque cathedral is said to have collapsed and all the walls of the building were unstable. In a deed given on July 22, 1278, Bishop Robert de Courtenay offered the land on which his episcopal palace stood for the expansion of the cathedral. However, work began nine years later, on September 11, 1287, under the episcopate of Gilles Pastai, and the construction began with the chevet.
The plan was inspired by that of Notre-Dame d'Amiens Cathedral, but features nine absidal chapels instead of the seven in the Picardy cathedral. In the 14th century, the chevet is completed by a new choir. The two campaigns of the construction site at the choir of Sainte-Croix are well known thanks to a plan on parchment preserved at the Notre-Dame de Strasbourg work.
More information: Wikipedia