VITRE, a town of north-western France, in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine, on a hill above the left bank of the Vilaine, 24 m. E. of Rennes by rail. Pop. (1931) 6,647. Vitre belonged in the loth century to the younger branch of the counts of Rennes. In 1295 it passed to Guy IX., baron of Laval, on his marriage with the heiress, and afterwards successively belonged to the families of Rieux, Coligny and La Tremoille. It was seized by Charles VIII. in 1488. Protestantism spread under the rule of the houses of Rieux and Coligny ; Vitre became a Huguenot stronghold; and a Protestant church was established, which was suppressed at the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685. The
estates of Brittany, over which the barons of Vitre ana of Leon alternately presided, met here several times. The town largely retains its mediaeval aspect. The ramparts on the north side and on the west, consisting of a machicolated wall with towers at intervals, are still standing. Only one gateway remains of the original 11th century castle; the rest was rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries and restored in recent times.