All the Bourbon kings had a passion for hunting, for
which Fontainebleau afforded especial facilities.
It was at Fontainebleau that Louis XIII. was born, and that the Marechal
de Biron was arrested. Louis XIII. only lived here occasionally. In the
early reign of Louis XIV., the palace was lent to Christina, of Sweden,
who had abdicated her throne.
It was in one of the private apartments, occupying the site of the ancient
Galerie des Cerfs, now destroyed, that she ordered the execution of her
chief equerry, Monaldeschi, whom she had convicted of treason. She
listened patiently to his excuses, but was utterly unmoved by them and his
entreaties for mercy. She provided a priest to confess him, after which he
was slowly butchered by blows with a sword on the head and face, as he
dragged himself along the floor, his body being defended by a coat of
mail....
Even after the creation of the palaces of Versailles and Marly, Louis XIV.
continued to make an annual "voyage de Fontainebleau." He compelled his
whole court to follow him; if any of his family were ill, and unable to
travel by road, he made them come by water; for himself, he slept on the
way, either at the house of the Duc d'Antin (son of Mme.
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