Châteaubriant: Information from Answers.com

Coordinates: 47°43′04″N 1°22′30″W / 47.7177777778°N 1.375°W / 47.7177777778; -1.375

Administration
Commune of Châteaubriant

The Chère at Châteaubriant.
Location
Châteaubriant
Country	France
Region	Pays de la Loire
Department	Loire-Atlantique
Arrondissement	Châteaubriant
Canton	Châteaubriant
Intercommunality	Castelbriantais
Mayor	Alain Hunault (2001–2008)
Statistics
Elevation	48–107 m (160–350 ft) (avg. 70 m/230 ft)
Land area¹	33.62 km² (12.98 sq mi)
Population²	12,065 (1999)
- Density	359 /km² (930 /sq mi)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	44036/ 44110
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Châteaubriant (Breton: Kastell-Briant) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department and the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It is part of the historic duchy of Brittany and the country of Mée.

The inhabitants of Châteaubriant are called Castelbriantais and Castelbriantaises.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Administration
4 Demography
5 Coat of Arms
6 Notable people
7 Monuments and sites of interest
8 Sister cities
9 See also
10 External links

Geography

Location of Châteaubriant in the Department Loire-Atlantique

Châteaubriant lies 49 km (30 mi) north of Ancenis, 68 km (42 mi) south of Rennes, 69 km (43 mi) north of Nantes, and 85 km (53 mi) west of Angers.

The neighboring communes are Rougé, Saint-Aubin-des-Châteaux, Louisfert, Erbray, and Soudan.

The river Chère flows westward through the commune and crosses the town.

History

Châteaubriant's history began in the 11th century when Brient (an envoy of the Count of Rennes) constructed a castle on a motte bordering the Chère and Rollard rivers. He later founded the Priory Saint-Sauveur-de-Béré. The fortress was a part of eastern Brittany's defensive line, known as the Marches of Brittany, along with the other fortified townships of Vitré and Fougères (both in Ille-et-Vilaine) and Ancenis and Clisson (both in Loire Atlantique), which formed the first line of defense against the French Kingdom. Later in the 12th century a town developed around the western flank of the castle and was called Châteaubriant. As the castle was in a very strategic location, the town was subjected to numerous battles and invasions during the Middle Ages. One of the largest sieges is surely the one commissioned by Louis IX in 1235. Insecurity led the lords to raise ramparts and strengthen the fortifications around the town, which encircled it from the thirteenth century to the 15th century.

The 16th century was marked by the actions of Jean de Laval, governor of Brittany from 1531 to 1542, who modified and built the three Renaissance wings of the castle for his wife Françoise de Foix. Jean de Laval went on to bequeath his barony to Anne de Montmorency.

After the Revolution, Brutus Hugo, and young Republican lieutenant, met a young Nantaise exile, Sophie Trébuchet. They had a son: Victor Hugo. The house of Sophie Trébuchet still exists and is located near the Maison de l'Ange which currently houses the Tourist Information Office.

In October 1941, 27 Communist hostages (imprisoned by the Republican government during the run-up to WWII and by the Vichy police in the fall of 1941) in the Châteaubriant Internment Camp were handed over to the Nazis and shot by a firing squad in revenge for the murder of the German lieutenant-colonel Karl Hotz on 20 October 1941 in Nantes. The youngest of the 27 hostages, Guy Môquet, was 17 years old. The place of execution, known as the Carrière des Fusillés is one of the principal memorials to the Nazi occupation in the region.

Administration

List of successive mayors
Period	Name	Party
March 2001	Alain Hunault	UMP
June 1995	Martine Buron	PS
March 1989	Martine Buron	PS	'

Demography

Population numbers by year
1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999
10 852	11 986	13 231	14 023	12 783	12 065
Population numbers since 1962

Coat of Arms

Two coats of arms are attributed :

First Pale: Blue, three gold fleurs de lys, Pales split in two by a shortened staff with a red hache. (La France illustrée, 1882, de Malte-Brun)

Red haches, semy of gold fleur-de-lis. (La France illustrée, 1882, de Malte-Brun)

Notable people

Monuments and sites of interest

Château de Châteaubriant
Église Saint-Jean de Béré: 10th Century Parish.
Carrière des Fusillés: Memorial dedicated to those executed by Germans in revenge for the assassination of their Lieutenant-Colonel Karl Holtz in Nantes on 22 October 1941.