Travel Guide Mortagne-Sur-Sèvre

On the right bank of the Sèvre nantaise, Mortagne-sur-Sèvre offers beautiful sites. The Saint-Pierre church, built in the 12th century, is one of the largest Romanesque churches in the Vendée. The castle was destroyed in 1793, but admire the remains of the ramparts, on the road to Évrunes, the 13th century English tower and the Renaissance-style Treasure Tower. Depending on the Viscounts of Thouars, Mortagne became very early a barony. During the Hundred Years War, it fell several times in the hands of the English. Olivier de Clisson and Bertrand Du Guesclin liberated the fortress in 1373. Later, the religious wars did not spare it. In 1626, Richelieu ordered the dismantling of many castles, including Mortagne and its fortified town. At the beginning of the 18th century, Mortagne was a land of cultivation and breeding, but already the activity of the Sèvre valley was important - wheat, paper and cloth mills - and weaving was established in the Choletais. In 1789, Mortagne was in favor of the new ideas, but the events divided the population. In 1793, the city was at the center of the insurgent country and was in turn an artillery park, an ammunition reserve, and the headquarters of the general staff before being set on fire during successive captures by the Vendeans and the Republicans. Mortagne will take decades to recover thanks to the establishment of large spinning mills, laundries and weaving mills with the development of paper mills.