Last Friday, our NBB class visited the Loire Valley to both explore the landscape just 2 hours outside of Paris and to see some extravagant chateaus. In fact, on the ride over to the Loire Valley, Dr. Easterling was telling the class about the history of French kings and how the kings moved from place to place, reshaping the stories of the chateaus in which they resided.
I was determined to explore the gardens and rooms of the chateaus and relate them back to the history. During the visit to Loire Valley, I was specifically drawn to the Chateau du Chenonceau.
Inside the Chateau du Chenonceau, I saw that each room had its own story. For example, some rooms were dark with no furniture, while others were ornate, extravagant, and colorful. Due to these differences, I became more curious to find the room that detailed the history of the Chateau du Chenonceau. I read the entire history of the chateau; however, I was specifically intrigued by the story of King Henri II and Diane de Poitiers. King Henri II offered the chateau to Diane de Poitiers after the chateau had already undergone many renovations. I learned that Diane was just one of the powerful women who took on the task of renovating the chateau from the 1400s-1800s. This piece of information explained why the rooms were so different throughout the chateau; however, I was still curious to learn why King Henri was adamant about giving the chateau to his favorite mistress Diane de Poitiers. King Henri II actually loved Diane du Poitiers since he was a young boy at the age of 7. Even though Diane de Poitiers was 20 years older than Henri, Henri was determined to keep his love for her from the moment the two met.
Upon learning the story of Henri and Diane, I began to realize that the whims of the French Kings did indeed shape both the history and the architecture of the chateaus. To Henri II, love was not “just an emotion,.. it created its own reality” through complex oxytocin pathways (Carter & Porges, 2013). His devotion to Diane since the age of 7 could be because of her comforting him after the death of his mother. Therefore, Henri II’s lasting love and devotion could be due to oxytocin’s involvement in both biochemical pathways of love and comfort. In this way, I learned that French history could indeed be shaped by neuroscience.
Carter, C. S., & Porges, S. W. (2013). The biochemistry of love: an oxytocin hypothesis. EMBO Reports, 14(1), 12–16. http://doi.org/10.1038/embor.2012.191
