CHATEAU, the French word for castle (q.v.). The develop ment of the castle in the 15th and i6th centuries into houses arranged rather for residence than defence led to a corresponding widening of the meaning of the term château, which came to be applied to any seigniorial residence and so generally to all country houses of any pretensions (cf. the Germ. Schloss) . The French distinguish the fortified from the residential type by describing the former as the château fort, the latter as the château de plai sance. The development of the one into the other is admirably illustrated by the châteaux scattered along the Loire. Of these, Langeais, still in perfect preservation, is a fine type of the chateau fort, with its loth century keep and 13th century walls. Amboise (149o), Blois (15oo-4o), Chambord (begun 1526), Chenonceaux (1515-6o), Azay-le-Rideau (1521), may be taken as typical examples of the chateau de plaisance of the transition period, all retaining some of the architectural characteristics of the medi aeval castle In English the word château is often used to trans late foreign words, e.g., Schloss, meaning country house or mansion.
See RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE. For the Loire châteaux see Theo dore Andrea Cook, Old Touraine (1892). (T. F. H.)