In 1439, on a territory formerly occupied by the Vikings, the English officer Sir Thomas Scales bought Roque de Lihou (the first name of Granville) and built a fortified enclosure on its rock. He wanted to prevent food from arriving at Mont-Saint-Michel, the only French fortress still resisting in Normandy. In 1442, French soldiers from Mont-Saint-Michel retook the bastion, transformed it into a stronghold, and King Charles VII even exempted the new inhabitants from taxes. Perched on its rock, the fortified town extended, and the port sheltered 80 privateer ships under Louis XIV.