Châteaubriant

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Administration
Commune of Châteaubriant/ Kastell-Briant
Location
Longitude	01° 22' 30" Ouest
Latitude	47° 43' 04" Nord
Country	France
Région	Pays de la Loire
Département	Loire-Atlantique
Arrondissement	Arrondissement de Châteaubriant
Canton	Canton de Châteaubriant
Statistics
Land area¹	33,62 km²
- Density	358/km² ({{{date-density}}})
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	44036/ 44110
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi. or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

Châteaubriant is a French commune, located in the Loire-Atlantique département, in the Pays de la Loire région.

The inhabitants are called the Castelbriantais & Castelbriantaise.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Administration
4 Demography
5 Coat of Arms
6 Economy
7 Famous Persons
8 Monuments and Sites of Interest
9 Sister Cities
10 See also
11 External Links

[edit] Geography

Location of Châteaubriant in the Department Loire-Atlantique

Châteaubriant is 49 km to the north of Ancenis, 68 km to the south of Rennes, 69 km to the north of Nantes et 85 km to the west of Angers.

The neighboring communes of Châteaubriant are Rougé, Saint-Aubin-des-Châteaux, Louisfert, Erbray et Soudan.

[edit] History

Châteaubriant's history began in the 11th century when Brient (an envoy of the Count of Rennes) constructed a Castle on a moat bording la Chère. He later founded the Priory St Sauveur de Béré. A city developed around the Castle and was called Châteaubriant. The fortress was a part of the Brittany defensive line along with the other townships, Vitré (Ille-et-Vilaine), and Fougères, which formed the first line of defense against the French Kingdom.

After the Revolution, Brutus Hugo, and young Republican lieutenant, met a young Castelbriantaise, Sophie Trébuchet. They had a son: Victor Hugo. The house of Sophie Trébuchet still exists and is located near the Maison de l'Ange which currently houses the Tourist Information Office.

In October 1941, 27 Communist hostages (imprisoned by the Republican government during the run-up to WWII and by the Vichy police in the fall of 1941) in the Châteaubriant Internment Camp were handed over to the Nazis and shot by a firing squad in revenge for the murder of the German lieutenant-colonel Karl Hotz on the 20th of October, 1941 in Nantes. The youngest of the 27 hostages, Guy Môquet, was 17 yrs-old. The place of execution, known as the Carrière des Fusillés is one of the principal memorials to the Nazi occupation in the region.

[edit] Administration

List of successive mayors
Period	Name	Party
mars 2001	Alain Hunault	UMP
juin 1995	Martine Buron	PS
mars 1989	Martine Buron	PS	'

[edit] Demography

Population numbers by year
1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999
10 852	11 986	13 231	14 023	12 783	12 065
Population numbers since 1962

[edit] Coat of Arms

2 Coats of Arms are attributed :

First Pale: Blue, three gold fleurs de lys, Pales split in two by a shortened staff with a red hache. (La France illustrée, 1882, de Malte-Brun)

Red haches, semy of gold fleur-de-lis. (La France illustrée, 1882, de Malte-Brun)

[edit] Economy

[edit] Famous Persons

[edit] Monuments and Sites of Interest

Château de Châteaubriant.
Église Saint-Jean de Béré : 10th Century Parish.
Carrière des Fusillés : Memorial dedicated to those executed by Nazis in revenge for the assasination of Karl Hotz in Nantes on the October 22, 1941.