Thursday, August 30, 2012

Fort La Latte


Fort-la-Latte or Castle of La Latte is a castle located about 4 km southeast of Cap Fréhel and about 35 km west of Saint-Malo, Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany, France. This impressive castle was built on a small piece of land at the Baie de la Fresnaye in the 13th century.
The house of the mighty Goyon-Matignon built at this sit a castle in the 13th century. In the year 1379 it was conquered by Bertrand du Guesclin. It was besieged by the English in 1490 and by the holy League in 1597. Garangeau under the reign of Louis XIV turned it into a fortress, using Vauban's building plans. They used canon batteries, stationed in Fort La Latte, to defend Saint-Malo against English and Dutch attacks. In the year 1793, a melting furnace for cannon balls was built and some counter-revolutionary suspects were imprisoned at Fort la Latte. The last attack happened in 1815 during the Hundred Days (French Cent-Jours) (also known as the Waterloo Campaign, it describes Napoleons return to power between 20 March 1815 to 28 June 1815), when a few men from Saint-Malo unsuccessfully attacked the castle.
Various films have been shot at this site, including The Vikings (1958 by Richard Fleischer) with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis.

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