Vieux-château de l'Île d'Yeu

[1] Olivier IV de Clisson, a great builder of castles, undertook the work with the aim of protecting the islanders in the event of foreign invasion.

The longest of these had been led by the famous English pirate, Robert Knolles, who managed to seize the castle in 1355 and occupied the island for 37 years.

During the Renaissance, Jean V de Rieux, master of the isle, erected towered walls around the castle.

The Vieux-château, made obsolete by the construction between 1654 and 1660 of small coastal forts following Vauban's technique, was demolished at the end of the 17th century, along with several other ancient castles on the French coast, by order of Louis XIV, worried that they could be taken by an enemy and used as strong points.

[1] Hergé, the Belgian cartoonist, was inspired by the Vieux-château in the design of The Adventures of Tintin comic, The Black Island.