I Found Her!

This is Saint-Ours Collegiate church overlooking Loches. It’s quite beautiful and has a little park beside it.

I am not the first Canadian to find this church. Jean Chretien was here in 2006 putting up a plaque for his ancestors . Now we know where he came from!And here she is! This is often in the promotional material for Loches so I thought “I have to find her.” Voilà!

Agnès Sorel was the first officially recognized Royal mistress. She was very beautiful, intelligent and had a lot of power. She was born in 1422 and died before turning 30 while pregnant with her 4th child. Her heart is buried in another place and her head was removed from the burial urn and used for facial reconstruction. Apparently people are still fascinated by her appearance! Get over it already.

She did create a new fashion of low cut gowns with one breast exposed. Some copied her but obviously it hasn’t caught on. The church did not approve. There is, to this day, an Agnés Sorel bodice – but with all breasts fully covered. If she had lived past 30 years old she would have seen the error of her fashion choice – in my opinion.

Some think she was murdered and she certainly created plenty of scandal, but the King did give Logis Royal to her, and in the end she’s resting in a church.