Montaigu:
- Geographic location :
- With an area of 303 hectares, the town of Montaigu, chief town of canton, has about 5000 inhabitants.
- It enjoys an ideal geographical location: 50 minutes from the Vendée beaches, 30 minutes from Nantes, Cholet, La Roche-sur-Yon, 3h50 from Paris by road and 2h30 by train, 3 minutes from the city center. 'A83 and 20 minutes from the A87.
- History:
- The barbarian invasions of the end of the 8th century destroyed the small commercial town which had developed during the Gallo-Roman era and which became Saint-Georges-de-Montaigu.
- In the 10th century, the local lord moved to Montaigu to take advantage of his situation on a rocky outcrop. Montaigu comes from the Latin mons acutus meaning sharp mountain. The lord of Montaigu installed his castle there, symbol of his residence but also building of defense of the population living behind the ramparts. Around the lord, his executive and judicial powers, gravitated an important court of armed soldiers, land administrators and sympathizers who settled in the castle or nearby. Their presence led to the development of an intense commercial life. Thus, the establishment of the local lord in Montaigu has made the city the center of executive power, seigneurial administration and trade.
- From the fifteenth century, its closed city status protected its inhabitants from enemy races and robber attacks by making a strong point and defended. The administration of the lord of Montaigu collected the tax in the surrounding countryside.
- From the sixteenth century, the king tried to limit seigniorial independence by spreading his power throughout the kingdom. The latter was divided into seneschals or bailiwicks to render justice to the king. Montaigu was then the center of a senechaussee until the revolution and it wrote the notebooks of grievances of all the region. The city included a court and prisons.
- Since the 15th century and the opening of classes by the lord of Montaigu, the city is also known for its many schools. During the nineteenth century, these activities developed and the city became a school center of the region.
- After the revolution, the city was sub-prefecture from 1800 to 1810. This status involves the presence of an entire administration including a court of law. The departure of this administration undoubtedly diminished the influence of the city on the region, but it remained the center of the business thanks to many notaries, doctors... It remained still a center of the important trade with its markets and its fairs, capital for the agricultural development in the region. The twentieth century dedicated the economic vocation of the city. The family factories hidden in the gardens of the old town were forced to settle in the periphery to grow and prosper. In the twentieth century as well, the hospice of Montaigu was modernized and enlarged. Montaigu is still appreciated today for its hospital and liberal medical services.
- From this central location that history has shaped, Montaigu has retained its function as a pole of industrial, commercial, administrative, educational and health activity.
Saint-Hilaire-de-Loulay:
- Saint-Hilaire-de-Loulay could also be called "Saint Hilaire the Seven Castles" because of the large number of its beautiful houses built on the town.
- Saint-Hilaire-de-Loulay is situated at the limit of Vendée and Loire-Atlantique, at 47 degrees north latitude and 1.20 degrees west longitude. The commune which extends on 4 062 ha is watered by several streams: Loulay, Riaillé, Blaison, Hosea and by the river of Maine with shady banks on 8 km.
- In this course, the river was once cut and made ford by the Sénard bridge and by the roads of which the most important were those of the Ecornerie and Heudin.
