Montfort-sur-Meu

Montfort-sur-Meu stands west of Rennes at the meeting of the Meu and Garun rivers. Its castle and walls protected a town that grew in the wooded country of eastern Brittany. Raoul VIII rebuilt the fortress between 1376 and 1389, enclosing it with four corner towers. The lords of Montfort later became connected to the powerful house of Laval by marriage. The castle was destroyed in 1627, but the town and its remaining defences retained the imprint of a stronghold that had commanded the river crossing.