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. de Montespan) or
of the Marechal de Villeroy.

It was here that the Grand Dauphin was born, in 1661. Here, also, it was
that Mme. de Maintenon first appeared at the councils, and that the king
publicly asked her advice as to whether he should accept the throne of
Spain for the Duc d' Anjou. Here, also, in 1685, he signed the revocation
of the edict of Nantes. The great Conde died in the palace. Louis XV. was
married here to Marie Leczinska in 1725; and here the Dauphin, his son,
died in 1765. Louis XIV. delighted in Fontainebleau for its hunting
facilities.

After the Revolution, Napoleon I. restored the chateau and prepared it for