Vire

Vire stands on the river of the same name in the wooded, pastoral bocage of southern Normandy. In 1123 Henry I, king of England and duke of Normandy, had a fortress built on a rocky height beside the river; additional walls were completed in the early fourteenth century. During the Hundred Years' War, military companies plundered Vire in 1368, and the town came under English occupation from 1418 to 1450. In the later Middle Ages leatherworking and then textiles brought prosperity. Under Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu ordered the medieval castle and its defences dismantled, reflecting royal concern about fortified places during internal rebellions.