ON THE ROAD IN BRITTANY--MAYENNE, FOUGÈRES, LAVAL, AND VITRÉ
In general aspect a Breton country-side differs widely from those of
Normandy. Here one comes upon hedgerows and an occasional bit of stone
wall, quite as one sees them in England.
The towns and communities of Brittany are less numerous and less
populous, too, than those of Normandy, and paving is uncommon in the
towns, and were it not for the steep ascents and descents, by which one
leaves such places as Mayenne, Fougères, Josselin, Auray, or Quimperlé,
this would prove quite a blessing to the automobilist. As it is, while
they give variety to one’s journey by road, they do not by any means
permit of “plain sailing” at all times.
The great national road from Paris to Brest crosses mid-Brittany, after
leaving Normandy, at Pré-en-Pail just beyond Alençon. It passes through
the great towns of Mayenne, Fougères, and Rennes, where it joins the
highway from Paris by way of Chartres, Le Mans, Laval, and Vitré.
From Rennes this road, No. 24, runs straight, almost as the crow
flies, to the tip of Finistère, by Montfort-sur-Meu, Loudéac, Carhaix,
Huelgoat, and Landerneau to Brest.
This takes one through the very heart of Brittany, though by no means
is it the most interesting or the most prosperous. Mayenne, Fougères,
Vitré, and Laval form a quartette of Breton towns which, taken as a
whole, have characteristics quite similar, and yet different from those
in other parts. Virtually, they are all hill-towns, and therein lies
their resemblance, though their careers have been varied indeed.
The run down into the valley of the river Mayenne, as one comes into the
town of the same name, is a wonderfully delightful and gentle descent
of perhaps a dozen kilometres. There is nothing very terrific about
it, nor is it of the frankly mountainous order, still the eminence to
the eastward is sufficiently elevated to give a singularly spacious
appearance to the landscape above the river valley itself; indeed, next
to that magnificent run down into Rouen--from the height of Bon
Secours--it is one of the most splendidly scenic roads in all North
France.
[Illustration: <u>_Mayenne_</u>]
At the bottom flows the Mayenne, joining the Loire at Angers, and on
its banks is nestled snugly the town of Mayenne itself, with a truly
delightful riverside hotel and church.
Just below it is the ancient castle built on a rocky escarpment
overhanging the river. There are five great towers on the riverside, and
three others on the north, of which one alone has preserved its conical
roof. To-day it serves as a prison, but there are yet to be seen in its
interior some fragments of the ornamentation of the thirteenth century.
The terrace of the château forms a delightful promenade overlooking the
river.
William the Conqueror besieged Geoffrey III. here in 1064, but the most
celebrated siege which the château underwent was that by the Count of
Salisbury in 1424.
The Hôtel de Ville is an admirable relic of other days, though by no
means pretentious. It is a small, rectangular structure, its front
ornamented with two enormous solar devices, and the whole surmounted
by a graceful bell-tower. Behind the Hôtel de Ville stands a bronze
statue of Cardinal Cheverus, first Bishop of Boston. The Church of
Notre Dame is really a grand structure, with its fine showing of splayed
buttresses. Its foundation dates from 1110, and it admirably exhibits
the best traditions of its time.
Five kilometres away are the remains of the old Cistercian Abbey of
Fontaine-Daniel, founded in 1204 by Juhel III. There are some remarkable
fragments of its old foundation still remaining, but a large part of the
present edifice is of the seventeenth century. From Mayenne to Fougères,
still on the highroad to the west, one passes Ernée, whose name is not
known to many travellers and which is not marked on every map, though it
is a bustling town of five thousand inhabitants.
The origin of this place is due to the foundation of a château--on the
site of the present quaint church--by the Lords of Mayenne, who were, in
the sixteenth century, of the house of Lorraine.
Henri of Lorraine was killed by a musket-shot at the siege of Montaubon,
and was brought here to die in 1654.
Some years later the Seigneury of Mayenne and Ernée passed to the hands
of Cardinal Mazarin, who transmitted it to his niece, and gave the old
château for transformation into the present church.
Javron, also on the way to Fougères, is a small town of two thousand
inhabitants, and the former site of a monastery, founded by Clotaire for
an anchorite named Constantin. The present church is built over the tomb
of this saint.
The situation of Fougères is truly remarkable. It is, moreover, a
remarkable place in itself, and is to be reckoned as one of these
delightful spots to visit, which, if not exactly popular tourist
resorts, are at least as satisfying to the curiously inclined.
Fougères in all ways is this, and more. It is almost the best example
of a walled and fortified town of the middle ages existing in all North
France. Its situation, on a great hill, with its tower-flanked walls and
gates, is one of surpassing impressiveness, although to-day the general
aspect of the little city of twenty thousand inhabitants is modern
enough.
Fougères was one of the original nine baronies of Brittany, and owes
its origin to a château which Méen, the son of Juhel Béranger, Count of
Rennes, constructed at the beginning of the ninth century.
To-day the city walls, the remains of the château, and the gates and
watch-towers are admirably preserved. The castle itself is nothing more
than a vast ruin, whose entrance, formed by three towers, plainly shows
it to date from the twelfth century.
[Illustration: <u>_Plan of the Ancient Walls and Towers of Fougères_</u>]
There is a great tower yet remaining--one of a twin pair--known as the
Tower of Coigny, from a former governor, and within this tower is an
ancient chapel.
There are three other celebrated towers, well-nigh as perfect as they
were in the middle ages as far as their general outlines are concerned.
The keep was razed in 1630, but the inner wall which surrounded it, with
its three angular towers, is still to be seen. The Tower of Melusine
encloses a museum in which are many relics and curiosities of a period
contemporary with the castle itself. The ramparts of the town are
more or less ruinous, but are still to be seen throughout its whole
circumference. No part of this feature, however, dates from before the
fifteenth century.
There are two admirable churches,--relics of the middle ages,--St.
Sulpice and St. Leonard, also the ancient convent of the Urbanists,
dating from 1689, now barracks.
There are many fine old houses in wood and stone scattered about the
city, and an octagonal tower, in which is a great clock whose bell was
cast in 1304 by Rolland Chaussière.
North of the town is the Forest of Fougères, composed principally of
great beeches. Within the forest are the ruins of an ancient convent of
the Franciscans, and near the little hamlet of Landeau are the famous
“Caverns of Landeau,” constructed, it is said, in 1173 by Raoul II. of
Fougères, to hide his riches and those of his vassals from the rapacity
of the troops of Henry II. of England.
Dropping down again to the main route from Paris, which joins with that
by the way of Mayenne and Fougères at Rennes, one enters Laval, the
first Breton town of any magnitude on this route, as one comes westward.
It is a veritable local metropolis, and, like Mayenne, farther up the
river, it spreads itself amply on both sides of the stream which flows
southward to join the Loire at Angers, just below the country.
The first Château of Laval was built by the Count Guidon or Guy to
protect the Bretons from the invasion of Charlemagne or his successors.
The second Guy received a charter from the Bishop of Mans, dated in the
fifth year of the reign of King Robert (1002), and this designates him
as the real founder of the Château of Laval. The town became the seat of
a barony, afterward a county, of which the possessors were ever famous
for their personal valour and their high lineage. Among them were the
Montmorencys, the Montforts, and the Colignys.
When, in the fifteenth century, the English had become virtual masters
of Maine, Laval alone resisted their efforts, thanks to the energy of a
certain Anne of Laval.
The historical records of the town and the château are ample and
eventful, even down to as late a day as 1871, when, after the battle of
Mans, General Chanzy retreated upon Laval.
It was in the environs of Laval that the four ancient smugglers, the
brothers Jean, François, Pierre, and René Cottereau, known as the
Chouans (because of their owl signal, as the French give it), first
rallied and organized the bands of partisans which gradually adopted the
name.
The keep of the château is a great cylindrical tower of the twelfth
century, remarkable for its height, its size, and the wonderful
carpentry of its roof. The great interior court is bordered on two sides
with a magnificent Renaissance structure attributed to Guy XVI., Count
of Laval and Governor of Brittany in 1525. The chapel has now been given
up to the prisoners sheltered within the castle. It is the masterpiece
of the whole work, and dates from the eleventh century.
The Church of the Trinity, made a cathedral in 1855, was in 1790 the
seat of the Assemblée, but in its most ancient parts dates from the
episcopate of Hildebert of Lavardin (1110).
There are some remains of the town’s ancient fortifications yet to
be seen, such as the Renaise Tower and the Spur Tower, which are in
every way as suggestive of former importance as the remains of the
castle itself. The Beucheresse Gate is another fragment of these same
fortifications.
In Laval are ten thousand workmen engaged in the production of tent
and awning cloth. Laval is a great wheat market for the prolific
wheat-growing region round about, so its commercial importance of to-day
is quite as firmly established as is its historic past.
Laval was the birthplace of Ambroise Paré, the founder of French
surgery. It was he who drew the spear-head from the cheek of Balafré,
and he who declared the malady of Francis I. to be incurable.
His statue bears the following inscription, “I dressed the wound, and
God healed it.”
One cannot say too much in praise of Vitré, though it does smack of
the popular tourist resort, with hotels whose runners tout for your
patronage, and picture post-card sellers, who seem to think that you
prefer their wares to viewing the sights themselves; but the hotels are
amply endowed with those creature comforts that most of us value highly,
and, if you wish, you will be put to sleep in a hygienic bedroom,
which is something like a prison-cell, but which must truly be hygienic,
judging from its get-up.
[Illustration: <u>_Beucheresse Gate, Laval_</u>]
These rooms, installed by the “Touring Club of France,” are now to
be found sprinkled here and there throughout the land, and, if white
lacquered walls and ceilings and iron beds, and simple draperies and no
carpets,--but highly waxed floors instead,--can ensure a superlative
cleanliness and airiness, why, so much the more welcome they are;
and surely the weary tourist ought not to mind whether he sleeps
in a cubicle or not. Again, the fare of this particular hotel (the
Travellers’) is so excellent that he ought to be willing to sleep on the
proverbial plank.
Vitré, in spite of all novelty, is a true city of the past, and one
literally walks the by-paths of history when he traverses its streets.
All at once one comes to the ancient and theatrical-looking Château of
the Tremoilles, Vitré’s most noble family of other days.
The town has undergone many sieges. Charles VIII. captured it, and in
1488 sojourned in it for some days. During the wars of the League, the
Rieux and the Colignys led the revolt, and it served for some years as a
strong place of resort for the Huguenots. Within the two hundred years
following, the Breton Parliament, alternately presided over by the Dukes
of Vitré and of Rohan, met here many times, always amid a great and
joyous festival given by the town.
[Illustration: <u>_Plan of Vitré in 1811 Showing City Walls_</u>
A--Château
B--Place du Château
C--Fosses
D--Dependencies of Château (non-existent to-day)
F--Porte d’Enhayt
G--Porte de Gastesel
H--Eglise Notre Dame
]
All the activity in the past has worked for the preservation of many
ancient memorials.
The aspect of the town is not so ruinously picturesque as Fougères, nor
again so trim and neat as Mayenne or Laval, but more than either of
these it preserves to-day its ancient outlook at every turn.
“_II n’est plus que Vitré en Bretagne, Avignon dans le Midi, qui
conservent au milieu de notre époque leur intacte configuration du
moyen-âge_” (Victor Hugo).
The château itself has been recently restored, and ranks as one of the
most perfectly preserved specimens of military architecture in all
Brittany. One may visit the interior of this old fortress-château in the
care of a painstaking porter.
The principal mass, known as the châtelet, is the best preserved,
and, flanking it on both sides, are series of crenelated towers and
machicolated walls. In the courtyard is the eleventh-century château,
now incorporated in the later work.
On the same side is a charming Renaissance tower, built by Guy XVI., and
known as the “Tribune of Tremoille.” The five sides of this admirable
architectural detail are charmingly decorated in sculptured stone, and
on one is the inscription taken from the Book of Job: “POST TENEBRAS
SPERO LUCEM,” the Tremoille motto.
[Illustration: <u>_Château de Vitré_</u>]
Within is a museum with divers collections of many things of an era
contemporary with the structure itself.
[Illustration: <u>_Tower of St. Martin, Vitré_</u>]
Opposite the great entrance gateway to the castle is a modest little
house, once the residence (or temporary abode) of Madame de Sévigné, and
now occupied by the “Cercle Militaire.”
In the environs--five kilometres to the south--is the Château of
Rochers, better known as the domicile of Madame de Sévigné, and one of
the stock “sights.” It was from the Château of Rochers that she dated so
large a number of her letters in 1670-71.
In a letter bearing date of the twenty-second of July, 1671, she writes
thus to Madame de Grignan:
“Madame de Chaulnes arrived on Sunday, but in what manner think you? On
her beautiful feet, between eleven and twelve at night. One might think
that Vitré was in Bohemia.
“She made no ceremony of her coming.... She had come from Nantes by La
Guerche, and her carriage stuck fast between two rocks half a league
from Vitré.”
[Illustration: CHATEAU de ROCHERS]
It was from the Château of Rochers that Madame de Sévigné wrote to her
daughter: “On Sunday last, just as I had sealed my former letter, I saw
enter our courtyard four chariots with six horses, with fifty mounted
guards, many led horses, and many mounted pages.”
These were gallant days at Madame de Sévigné’s Breton home, and to read
all of her letters from Rochers--mainly to her daughter--is to get a
wonderful epitome of the seventeenth-century social life in this part of
France.
On the above occasion the company included M. de Chaulnes, M. de Rohan,
M. de Lavardin, M. de Coëtlegon, and M. de Locmaria, the Baron de Guais,
the Bishops of Rennes and St. Malo, “and eight or ten I knew not,” she
continued.
Throughout the château and its dependencies, the illusion of Madame de
Sévigné’s time has been well kept up unto to-day. One learns that the
château became the property of the Sévignés upon the marriage of Anne of
Mathefelon, “Lady of Rochers,” with William of Sévigné, chamberlain to
the Duke of Brittany.
The kindly and well-meaning concierge, or cicerone, or whatever one
chooses to call him or her who conducts him over the château and its
grounds, is somewhat of a bore, though one has not the courage to cut
off the prattle for fear he may lose something which may not have been
offered to others.
[Illustration: <u>_Arms of Madame de Sévigné_</u>]
It is somewhat disconcerting and even annoying to be told,
however,--when about to stroll down a tree-alleyed path,--that “the
marchioness never went there.” Of course it’s pure conjecture on the
part of this twentieth-century guide, since the noble marchioness
has been dead some two hundred years or more, but, as aforesaid, the
interruption fascinates one with its coolness.
At the right of the château are the gardens traced by the famous
Lenôtre. In the “Letters” one reads frequent references to these great
gardens with their vast and ancient forests of tall timber.