Guillaume Robin, was a 15th-century architect and

general contractor A contractor (North American English) or builder (British English), is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the c ...

from

Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France *County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France ** Du ...

. Robin owes his fame to King

René of Anjou René of Anjou (; ; 16 January 1409 – 10 July 1480) was Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence from 1434 to 1480, who also reigned as King of Naples from 1435 to 1442 (then Aragonese conquest of Naples, deposed). Having spent his last years in Aix ...

who used his know-how for the realization of several monuments in Anjou. As early as 1435, René d'Anjou asked his project manager, Robin, to double the size of his royal dwelling of the

Château d'Angers The Château d'Angers is a castle in the city of Angers in the Loire Valley, in the ''département in France, département'' of Maine-et-Loire, in France. Founded in the 9th century by the Counts and dukes of Anjou, Counts of Anjou, it was expa ...

with a gallery whose staircase bears his motto on the vault. He also had him build the '' châtelet'' around 1450. Château fort, puis château des ducs d'Anjou In 1453, Robin redid the paving of the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

north of the Saint-Maurice Catheral of Angers. He also built in the cathedral the right handstaircase to provide access to the library in the south transept. He worked on the construction of the cathedral of Angers at the same time as the master glassmaker

André Robin André Marius Robin (10 October 1922 – 4 June 2007) was a French bobsledder who competed in the 1950s. Competing in two Winter Olympics, he earned his best finish of fifth in the two-man event at Oslo in 1952 Winter Olympics. In the four- ...

who placed the stained glass windows in the cathedral. In 1454, at the end of the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...

, René of Anjou inherited the ruins of his mother's castle in the town of

Le Vieil-Baugé Le Vieil-Baugé () is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire ''département'' in western France. On 1 January 2013, it was merged with the former communes of Baugé, Montpollin, Pontigné and Saint-Martin-d'Arcé to create the commune of Baug ...

, still glowing with the French victory at the

Battle of Baugé The Battle of Baugé, fought between the English and a Franco- Scots army on 22 March 1421 at Baugé, France, east of Angers, was a major defeat for the English in the Hundred Years' War. The English army was led by the king's brother Thom ...

. He built a hunting lodge the size of a manor house, which became the Château de Baugé. The work was completed in 1465.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robin, Guillaume 15th-century French architects Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown