It was in the environs of Laval that the four ancient smugglers, the brothers Jean, François, Pierre, and René Cottereau, known as the Chouans (because of their owl signal, as the French give it), first rallied and organized the bands of partisans which gradually adopted the name.
The keep of the château is a great cylindrical tower of the twelfth century, remarkable for its height, its size, and the wonderful carpentry of its roof. The great interior court is bordered on two sides with a magnificent Renaissance structure attributed to Guy XVI., Count of Laval and Governor of Brittany in 1525. The chapel has now been given up to the prisoners sheltered within the castle. It is the masterpiece of the whole work, and dates from the eleventh century.
The Church of the Trinity, made a cathedral in 1855, was in 1790 the seat of the Assemblée, but in its most ancient parts dates from the episcopate of Hildebert of Lavardin (1110).
There are some remains of the town’s ancient fortifications yet to be seen, such as the Renaise Tower and the Spur Tower, which are in every way as suggestive of former importance as the remains of the castle itself. The Beucheresse Gate is another fragment of these same fortifications.
In Laval are ten thousand workmen engaged in the production of tent and awning cloth. Laval is a great wheat market for the prolific wheat-growing region round about, so its commercial importance of to-day is quite as firmly established as is its historic past.
Laval was the birthplace of Ambroise Paré, the founder of French surgery. It was he who drew the spear-head from the cheek of Balafré, and he who declared the malady of Francis I. to be incurable.
His statue bears the following inscription, “I dressed the wound, and God healed it.”
One cannot say too much in praise of Vitré, though it does smack of the popular tourist resort, with hotels whose runners tout for your patronage, and picture post-card sellers, who seem to think that you prefer their wares to viewing the sights themselves; but the hotels are amply endowed with those creature comforts that most of us value highly, and, if you wish, you will be put to sleep in a hygienic bedroom, which is something like a prison-cell, but which must truly be hygienic, judging from its get-up.
