Mortain

Mortain stands on a rocky hill above the Cance in southern Normandy. It was the centre of a county important to Norman rulers and their connections with England. Count Robert of Mortain founded the collegiate church of Saint-Évroult in 1082, and the county passed into the French royal domain with continental Normandy in 1204.

During the Hundred Years' War the fortress changed hands: after the Treaty of Mantes in 1354 it was held by Navarre until 1378, and royal troops retook the town from the English in 1449. Religious conflict struck in 1562 when Huguenots attacked and set fire to the town and collegiate church. Mortain later became a district centre during the Revolution and an arrondissement seat in 1800.