Located on the left bank of the Loire a few miles upstream from Tours, Amboise is famous for its Château d'Amboise which is one of the most beautiful and historically most important. Louis XI lived here; Charles VIII was born and died here; Fraçois I and later Catherine de Medici were regular visitors. Leonardo da Vinci died here in 1519 and in 1560 1200 Calvinists were killed here during the Amboise Conspiracy. The suppression of the revolt was pitiless: some plotters were hanged from the main balcony of the castle or the battlements or thrown into the Loire in sacks. Gentlemen were beheaded and quartered. It is said that Catherine de Medici, françois II and his young wife, Mary Stuart, came after dinner, inspite of the stench from all these bodies, to see the last grimaces of hanging men or watch heads fall.
Château d'Amboise (in French)