Château de Vitré

The Château de Vitré is a medieval castle in the town of Vitré, in the Ille-et-Vilaine département of France.

The first castle in Vitré was built of wood on a feudal motte around the year 1000 on the Sainte-Croix hill. The castle was burned down on several occasions, and eventually was bequeathed to the Benedictine monks of Marmoutier Abbey.

The first stone castle was built by the baron Robert I of Vitré at the end of the 11th century. The defensive site chosen, a rocky promontory, dominated the valley of the Vilaine. A Romanesque style doorway still survives from this building. During the first half of the 13th century, baron André III, rebuilt it in its present triangular form, following the contours of the rocks, surrounded with dry moats.

At his death, the land fell to the family of the Counts of Laval. Guy XII de Laval enlarged the castle in the 15th century. During this period, the final defensive works were realised, notably the gatehouse with double drawbridge, tour Saint-Laurent (St Laurent Tower, the main keep later pierced with cannon apertures) and tour de la Madeleine (Magdalene Tower). Nevertheless, in 1487, Guy XV de Laval opened the castle to French troops without a fight.

From the end of the 15th century, alterations concentrated on improving the comfort of the castle, including the construction of galleries and a renaissance style oratory (1530). The Parlement of Brittany took refuge in the castle three times (in 1564, 1582 and 1583), while plague raged in Rennes.

Under the Rieux and Cologny families, owners of the castle between 1547 and 1605, Vitré sheltered Protestants and became for some years a Huguenot stronghold. In 1589, the castle resisted a five-month siege by Philippe Emmanuel, duc de Mercœur. In 1605, the castle became the property of the Trémoille family, originally from Poitou.

Text adapted from “Château de Vitré” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Château de Vitré ranks #1,664 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #132 of the 469 mapped in France. Founded c. 1000, it is older than 92% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 129 atlas entries founded in the 10th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,164 times in the last 60 days, more than 76% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Angers, 88 km away. See how France compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗