Книга - Brittany

Brittany
Sabine Baring-Gould




Sabine Baring-Gould

Brittany





PREFACE


Brittany can hardly claim the attention of the tourist as a superlatively beautiful country. The way in which trees are clipped and tortured out of shape disfigures the sylvan landscape; and of mountain scenery there is none. The ranges of the Montaignes Noires and the Monts d'Arrez are insignificant. Yet the valleys are pretty, but never grand. The charm of Brittany is to be found in the people and in the churches. The former with their peculiar costumes, and their customs are full of interest, and the latter are of remarkable beauty and quaintness. The ordinary tourist will hardly see much of the costume unless he attends a pardon, the Patron of the Irish peasant; the patronal feast at some chapel frequented only on the day of the pardon. But the student of men and manners will find much to interest him at such a gathering. The churches are of extraordinary beauty, they are for the most part of granite, but of a fine-grained granite that lends itself to elaborate carving. And the kersanten stone is employed, a dark volcanic product that is undercut and preserves its sharpness through centuries, and is employed for carving of lace-like delicacy. The coast scenery is fine, but not of the finest description, and varies very greatly from the granite cliffs of Finistère to the sandy dunes of the Morbihan. The towns are not comparable to those of Normandy for the number and richness of their mediæval domestic buildings, but are set in far more charming surroundings. The cathedrals are, for the most part small, Quimper and S. Pol de Léon and Tréguier have the finest, but these are of a French type, whereas the village churches possess a stamp peculiar to Brittany, where spared. Unhappily a passion has possessed the people of late to pull down their ancient churches and build new Houses of God in very questionable taste. In the diocese of Vannes the modern architecture is execrable, but the architects of Quimper are of a vastly higher type. They follow the old lines, and imitate what is good, whereas in the Côtes du Nord and in Morbihan, the modern work is insufferably vulgar and bad. The whole country teems with prehistoric antiquities, but these will only interest those who have made such monuments a special study; nevertheless Carnac and Locmariaquer and Gavr' Inis cannot fail to impress the ordinary traveller with a sense of astonishment at the majesty of the rude architecture of a lost and mysterious people of whom almost nothing is known, and whose one religious idea seems to have been, the cult of the dead.

The people are intensely religious. Religion is their passion; and the efforts made by the Republican government to tread it down, and to de-Bretonise the people, have only intensified their religious and national enthusiasm. The Breton peasant is said to have a hard head. He is obstinate and resists outside pressure to alter his creed or his customs. The old Royalist tendency of the Breton is a thing of the past. He is content to be under a republic, if the republic will only leave him alone. Fishing and shooting may be obtained on easy terms, and both are good. The roads are excellent for the cyclist, and the costumes and the architecture present inexhaustible subjects for the camera. The inns are always clean, the charges are moderate, and the fare very passable. No part of Europe is so accessible, and contains so much of interest in varied directions as Brittany. It is a delightful land for a brief visit, it is full of matter for study by one who can make there a prolonged stay. The climate is mild, and not so rainy as the West of England and Wales. The kindly people will always treat a traveller with gracious courtesy. But Brittany, it must be remembered, is divided into two very distinct portions, that in which only French is spoken, and that in which the language is Breton, closely akin to Welsh. And of Brittany, by far the most interesting portion is Finistère, where old costumes and old customs are clung to more tenaciously than elsewhere.

S. B. G.




I. General Features and Geology


Brittany, the extreme Western promontory of the North of France, comprises the five departments of Côtes-du-Nord, Ille-et-Vilaine, Finistère, Morbihan, and Loire-Inférieure. It is distinguished into Upper and Lower Brittany. In the former the French language is spoken, in the latter the Breton, and French is an acquired tongue.

The back-bone of Upper Brittany is the chain of the Menez that runs from East to West, and then branches, forming on the North the Montagnes d'Arrée, and on the South, the Montagnes Noires. The system may be likened to a hay-fork or a pair of tongs, where the prongs of the fork form the above-named ranges. The whole rests on an elevated plateau that slopes to the sea North and West, and on the South dies down into the plain of the Vilaine and the Loire.

On the North this plateau is seamed by the rivers that have cut narrow valleys and ravines through which they make their way to the sea. Such are the Rance, the Gouet, the rivière de Morlaix, with the result that there is no coast-road, and the traveller passes along the main arteries of traffic at some distance from the sea, catching a glimpse of it only once at the Anse d'Iffinac, and has to branch off from it to the coast so as to make acquaintance with the bold and picturesque coast.

The mountain range is nowhere high, and rarely reaches a thousand feet. The highest point is the Mont Saint Michel which attains to slightly over 1200 ft. The freshman arriving at Cambridge asked where was the Gogmagog range, and was told that he might see it when an intervening cart got out of the way. Owing to the ridges rising out of an elevated plateau, they are almost as insignificant as the Gogmagogs. However, the Menez-hom most nearly attains to the dignity of a mountain, as it stands above the Bay of Douarnenez, reaches however only to 990 ft.

Along the Western confines of the department of Ille-et-Vilaine, the Menez spreads out into high tableland sown with lakelets acting as feeders to the Vilaine.

The Monts d'Arrée, starting from the Coat-an-Noz in Côtes-du-Nord, extend to the peninsula of Crozon, they attain their highest point at the Mont S. Michel, and decline as they approach the sea. They rarely rise 300 ft. above the tableland on which they are planted, and this prevents them from having an imposing appearance.

The Montagnes Noires flank the central plain on the South. Their maximum height is 1050 ft. After running S.W., they bend abruptly towards the N.W., and terminate in the Menez-hom in the Crozon peninsula.

In the Morbihan, the Lande de Lanvaux, running from W. to N.E., extends 50 kilometres, and rises to the height of from 240 to 320 ft. between the basins of the Claye and the Arz which unite at Redon to feed the Vilaine.

The North coast of Brittany is eaten into bays from which the sea retreats to considerable distances, and is fringed with reefs and islands. It is a favourite resort of Parisians, throughout its stretch, from Dinard to Plestin.

The West of this peninsula is torn into shreds of promontories with deep inlets between them. The promontories of S. Mathieu, Crozon, Sizun, and Penmarch are bald, but bold. Below the point of Penmarch the coast rapidly trends S.E. and alters in character; it loses its bleak desolation and ragged rocky nature, and forms landlocked seas, as those of Belz and the Morbihan; and the rocks make way for sand-dunes. The island chain that constitutes a natural breakwater to the bay of Quiberon is the wreckage of the barrier of another inland sea, broken up by the Atlantic surges. South of the mouth of the Loire the island of Noirmoutier stretches almost sufficiently far out to enclose another.

The plateau formation of the country is not conducive to beauty, and its lovely sites must be sought in the valleys, and its wildest scenes on the coast. The deep cleft ravine of the Rance, the sweet valley of the Elorn, that of the Aulne, canalised, the Blavet, the Laïta and the Arz, will richly repay tracing upward.

The promontories of Crozon and Sizun till of late years were bare and untilled, and heath-grown; but the use of sardine heads as manure has given a great impetus to agriculture, and the demand for fir balks for the South Welsh mines has caused the planting of vast tracts with the Austrian pine.

The geological structure of Brittany is simple. It consists of an immense upheaval of granite through beds of Silurian and Cambrian schist. Rare deposits of lime occur in the folds of these beds. Dykes of quartz and diorite have traversed the schist and granite, and the face of the country is spotted with eruptions of igneous matter. It is as though the crust had been full of blowholes through which the molten diorite had rushed to the surface. The presence of quartz or diorite in the neighbourhood can always be recognised by the employment of one or the other to metal the roads.

The granite extends from the bay of Mont Saint Michel to the extreme point of Finistère and reappears in the isles beyond; it is interrupted only here and there by the sedimentary beds. The Châteaulin district, however, and the basin between the prongs of the mountain fork, are all of Cambrian and Silurian beds. But from the Pointe du Raz the granite extends almost uninterruptedly to the Rhone.

The Brittany granite is for the most part fine grained and soft, so that it lends itself easily to be carved, and has been freely employed in churches and secular buildings from the 11th century. But it is readily corroded by the weather, and this has given to denuded surfaces a smooth and rounded shape, and has taken the angles off exposed masses that form tors, and has occasioned the fall of many into utter ruin.

A band of syenite runs from near Lamballe to Cap Fréhel, where it forms magnificent cliffs. Syenite again comes to the surface at Trégastel and on the coast north of Morlaix. The Monts d'Arrée are of Cambrian schist and furnish slates here and there of good quality. Taking a section across the inner basin, the granite is quitted at Plounéour, then the ridge of Cambrian schist is reached, after crossing the culminating point of S. Michel, which is of Cambrian sandstone; when we reach S. Herbot we are on Silurian beds. Continuing our course south, the sandstone makes way for slaty schists, and to this succeeds the grauwacke of Brasparts. The Montagnes Noires belong to the Silurian system.

The Kersanton stone, so extensively employed for figure and foliage sculpture in Lower Brittany, is an amphibolite with mica freely comminuted and distributed through the substance. It is very dark in colour, and hardens with exposure. It comes from quarries to the south of the Rade de Brest.

An interesting deposit is the tertiary limestone of S. Juvat beside the Rance. It is of no great extent, but is of vast commercial importance. The bed is composed of an agglomerate of shells and bones. In places it lies under a deposit of as much as 45 ft. of sand. It is a veritable mine of wealth in a country so destitute of lime as is Brittany.

A mineralogical curiosity is the staurotides found at Baud, Scaer, and in various places about the Blavet. The peasants attach a superstitious value to them as marked with the cross, and in some they affect to recognise the nails. They are often sold on stalls at a Pardon. They are formed by trapdykes that have penetrated the schist, and fused and run together some of its constituents, which have afterwards crystallised, sometimes as parallel prisms, at others as set transversely forming the ordinary or the S. Andrew's Cross.




II. Botany


The botany of Brittany is little varied owing to the slight variation in the soil and subsoil, schist and granite. It is but in rare spots where occurs limestone that the flora is different. It may be roughly divided into the class of plants that affect the inland districts and the moors, and that which flourishes on the seaboard. The flora of a slate and granitic region, whether in Scotland, Cornwall or Brittany, is much the same. In the Guérande, where there are extensive marshes, an interesting collection may be made of aquatic plants, both those living in sweet water bogs and those that grow in brackish water.

A complete flora cannot be here attempted; a brief account must suffice, with indications as to the habitat of the rarer specimens.

As one leaves the Loire, pre-eminently the mouth of the Vilaine, it is easy to note the gradual disappearance of many plants that are common south of them. A few that abound there may still occur, but as stragglers and stunted. And this contrast becomes more striking the further north we go. The cause of the poverty of the Breton flora is the uniformity of the soil and the absence of calcareous rocks, and this deprives us of an entire series of plants that abound in Normandy although the climate there is more rigorous. A small number does exist, but only, as already intimated, where there are pockets of limestone, or else on the seaboard, where they can feed on the wreckage of shells cast up by the sea, and carried inland by the gales with the sand.

The following is a list of the plants found in calcareous soil in Brittany: —








The maritime region is more rich and interesting, and in addition to such as may be found in limestone districts already registered, the following is given as a list of plants that grow in sand: —








Brittany, as already intimated, possesses no true mountains, only elevated moorland. There are consequently to be found there no true mountainous plants. Lycopodium Selago is rare on a few elevated spots; Viola palustris and Polystichum oreopteris belong to a submountainous district. The only exceptional plant is a peculiar form of Silene maritima that grows on the summit of all the rocks of the Monts d' Arrée. This range was once doubtless covered by forest, as is shown by the presence on it of Vaccinium myrtillus, a plant that lives in the shade of trees, and which lingers on, in a stunted condition, although the sheltering boughs are long departed.

The following is a list of some of the plants of Lower Brittany that are rare in the departments of Finistère, Morbihan, and Côtes-du-Nord, omitting the names of those already given as pertaining to calcareous soils and the seaboard sands: —








These in addition have been noted in Finistère: —








These also in the Côtes-du-Nord: —








Côtes-du-Nord has the advantage of the limestone bed of S. Juvat, where many of the plants given in the first list may be gathered. Ille-et-Vilaine is still more favourably situated for calcareous rocks. There is a considerable basin south of Rennes, with a corresponding flora, generally known to botanists as the limestone tract of S. Jacques.

Such plants as are common throughout the country have not been included in the lists.




III. History


Brittany, whose ancient name was Armorica (Ar môr, by the sea), and which was known to the Britons and Irish as Llydau, was originally peopled by the race of the Dolmen-builders, a brown eyed and dark haired people, who strewed it with their monuments. To them followed the Gauls, blue eyed and with flaxen hair; these latter were divided into five tribes that occupied severally the departments of Ille-et-Vilaine (Redones), with their capital at Rennes; Côtes-du-Nord (Curiosoliti), with their headquarters at Corseul, near Dinan; Finistère (Osismi), their capital of Carhaix; Morbihan (Veneti), with their centre at Vannes; Loire Inférieure (Nanneti), with a capital at Nantes.

These tribes were subjugated by Cæsar, and the Veneti almost exterminated by him. Under the Romans, the culture and the language of the conquerors were rapidly assimilated. Christianity took root at Rennes and Nantes and Vannes, but almost nothing was done for the rural population, which probably still spoke its agglutinative tongue akin to the modern Basque. The stately bishops of these Gallo-Roman cities confined themselves to ministering to the cultured residents within their walls, and in villas scattered along the coast. The Gallo-Roman population had dwindled to an incredible extent, under the exactions of the imperial tax-gatherers, so that all the country residences fell into ruin, and the impoverished Gallo-Romans withdrew into the towns. But early – very early in the 5th century, fleets of British settlers came over, flying from the swords of Picts and Scots, and occupied the land about the mouth of the Loire. By 469 they were so numerous as to be able to send a contingent of twelve thousand men to the assistance of the Romans against the Visigoths.

As a consequence of the Saxon invasion of Britain the immigration grew, and the dispossessed islanders sought and found a new home in the Armorican peninsula, where they established themselves under their own princes, with their own institutions, civil and ecclesiastical, and their own tongue. Thenceforth Armorica ceased to be so called, and received the name of Lesser Britain, and the current language became British, identical with that now spoken in Wales, and spoken till the 17th century in Cornwall as well. Contact with France along the East has gradually thrust back the Breton language, but it is still spoken from Guingamp, in a slanting line to the mouth of the Loire. Two British kingdoms were formed, Domnonia and Cornubia; the former included the Côtes-du-Nord and Finistère above the river Elorn, and Cornubia or Cornouaille was the district below that river, the basin between the Monts d'Arrée and the Montagnes Noires, and stretched to the river Ellé at Quimperlé. All the department of Morbihan was the Bro-Weroc, a county, but the British chief did not call himself its king, probably because the colonists did not get hold of Vannes, the capital, which they enveloped but left unmolested.

At first the British colonists admitted their allegiance to their native princes in Britain, who certainly came over, and were granted certain lands as the royal dominium in the newly settled land. Thus we have Geraint, King of Devon, with his palace in Belle Ile, and portions of the newly-acquired territory on the Blavet, in Morbihan, and near Matignon, in Côtes-du-Nord. His son Solomon, or Selyf, as was his British name, also came over, and is said to have fallen at Langollen, probably whilst endeavouring to enforce taxes on the native original pagan inhabitants.

But as the insular power of the Britons was broken, the colonists considered themselves independent, and acknowledged a loose and ill-defined submission to the Frank kings at Paris, who, however, left them to be governed by their native rulers.

But not only did Britons settle in the land. Large numbers of Irish arrived from Ossory and Wexford, at the close of the 5th century, and settled along the west and north coast. No traces of them are found south of Hennebont, or west of Guingamp, but all the coastline of Cornouaille and Léon was studded thick with them.

Now only was a serious attempt made to convert the native population. The chiefs who came over were attended or followed by their brothers and cousins who were ecclesiastics, and these were granted lands on condition that they educated the young of the freeborn colonists of the tribe, and ministered in sacred matters to the tribesmen.

The work of the evangelisation of Ireland seems to have sent a thrill through Brittany, and to have been taken up there with energy. Missionary colleges were formed by some of the assistants of Patrick, which should serve as training places for those who were to assist in carrying on the apostolic work in Ireland.

The principal Irish founders in the country were: – Fiacc, Bishop of Sletty, called in Breton Vi'ho; Tighernac, Bishop of Clogher and Clones, in Breton Thégonnec; Eugenius, Bishop of Ardstraw, in Breton Saint Tugean; Senan, Abbot of Inniscathy (Breton Seny), Setna, his disciple, in Breton Sezni; Conleath, Bridget's domestic bishop, in Breton Coulitz, Ronan and Brendan.

The principal British founders were: – Cadoc, Brioc, Tugdual, Leonore, Paulus Aurelianus, Curig, Caradoc, Gildas, and his crippled son Kenneth; David, Samson, Malo, Arthmael, Meven, and Mancen or Mawgan – this latter closely allied with the Irish mission. Nonna, mother of S. David, Ninnoc, Noyala, and disciples of S. Bridget, established institutions for the education of the daughters of the freemen of the tribe to which the schools were attached.

In 845, Nominoe, who had been invested with the lieutenancy of Brittany by Louis the Pious, led a revolt against Charles the Bald, and established the independence of Brittany that lasted till the Duchess Anne brought it under the French crown, 1491. From the close of the 9th century, and throughout the 10th, the coast was ravaged by the Northmen, Frisians and Danes, and the insecurity inland caused the desertion of the country and the flight of the monks carrying the relics of their founders to walled towns in the heart of France. That Brittany should thus fall a prey to these invaders was largely due to the divisions that existed among its princes, who could not or would not combine against the common foe. At length Alan, Count of Vannes, did succeed in rallying the Britons, and defeated the Northern pirates, which secured rest for fifteen years. For the first time under him did the Gallo-Roman towndwellers consent to make common cause with the descendants of the British colonists.

On the death of Alan (907) the Northmen reappeared, and a great many Bretons under Count Matthuedoi of Poher fled to England and threw themselves on the protection of Athelstan.

In 938, Alan Barbetorte, godson of Athelstan, returned from England and drove out the Normans. Nantes was in such complete ruin that when Alan sought to reach the fallen altar of the cathedral church, there to offer up his thanks for victory gained, he was constrained to hew his way to it through a thicket of thorns and brambles.

After the expulsion of the Northmen Brittany was reorganised. Hitherto the colonists had been divided into tribes, each of which was a plou, and no Gallo-Roman could enter into one such. But after the victories of Alan Barbetorte the plous were not reconstructed, and the feudal system succeeded to that which was tribal.

Brittany was now broken up into a hierarchy of counties and seigneuries, and the king abandoned the royal title and contented himself with that of duke. The great counties were those of Léon, Cornouaille, Poher, Porhoet, Penthièvre, Rennes and Nantes. Five barons defended the eastern frontier, holding their fiefs under the Count of Rennes; these were Châteaubriant, la Guerche, Vitré, Fongères and Combourg. The whole vast inland forest was given to the Counts of Rennes, it was Porhoet. It was divided into two parts. In the east the seigneuries of Gael, Loudéac and Malestroit were created as fiefs. In the west there was but a single seigneurie, that of Porhoet; the viscount lived at Josselin. Later it was broken up and gave birth to the viscounty of Rohan.

The old kingdom of Cornouaille became a county with vassal barons at Pont l'Abbé, Pont Croix, the abbot of Landevennec, and the viscount of Le Faou. In the interior were the viscounts of Poher and Gourin.

The old kingdom of Domnonia was divided into three counties, Léon, Penthièvre and Tréguier.

The Ducal crown did not long remain in the family of Alan Barbetorte. After internecine war lasting forty years, Conan, Count of Rennes, assumed the title (990), and the dukes of his house spent their time in fighting and crushing their own kinsmen. Geoffrey I. had married a Norman wife, and he had by her two sons, Alan and Eudo. In 1034 Eudo, jealous and ambitious, demanded of his brother a share in the duchy. Alan gave him the counties of Tréguier and Penthièvre, and thus Eudo became the ancestor of that great and dangerous family of Penthièvre, which maintained undying rivalry with the ducal house, and made of Brittany a field of civil war for centuries. Conan II. succeeded as a child of three months, and his uncle ruled in his name, aided by the Normans. When Conan came of age, he had to fight against Eudo; he invaded Normandy, but was cut off by poison. When William the Conqueror became King of England, Brittany was nipped between France and Normandy, and became an object of ambition to both, and a common battlefield.

For five hundred years this continued. Brittany writhed and strove for her independence, and had no desire to become either a province of France or an English colony. The war broke out under Duke Hoel in 1076 when he invoked the aid of Philip I. against William the Conqueror. However, under Alan Fergant and Conan III. the land had rest for eighty years, and then the trouble began again with renewed violence. Conan's death in 1148 gave rise to a war of succession that lasted eight years. Conan IV. assisted by the English succeeded in establishing himself in the ducal seat, and he favoured the English in every way. Henry II. of England married his son Geoffrey Plantagenet to Constance, daughter of Conan IV., the heiress of Brittany, and Geoffrey was crowned at Rennes in 1169. This was of advantage so far that it introduced Norman civilisation into a duchy that was backward and barbarous. The churches built in the 12th century were erected by architects of the Norman and French schools. Such are the cathedrals of S. Pol-de-Léon and S. Malo and the churches of Guérande. Geoffrey died in 1187, and his son Arthur fell into the hands of his uncle, King John, who had him murdered at Rouen (1203). Constance did not die broken-hearted and despairing, as represented by Shakespeare, but married Guy de Thouars, and had by him a daughter and heiress, who was married to Pierre de Dreux.

We may pass over the ensuing history till we reach John III. who died in 1341, without issue, and who, hating his half-brother, Jean de Montfort, bequeathed the succession to his niece Jeanne de Penthièvre, whom he married to Charles de Blois, nephew of Philip VI. of France. This was the signal for the outbreak of the terrible and desolating War of the Succession of the two Jeannes. In it, neither of those most interested were for the most part of the time leaders of their hosts. At the outset Jean de Montfort was taken prisoner (1342), and was kept in prison till his health was broken, and he was discharged only to die (1345). But his intrepid wife Jeanne of Flanders carried on the conflict. At the Battle of La Roche-Derrien (1347) Charles of Blois was captured and conveyed a prisoner to England, and the conduct of the war fell to his wife Jeanne. The English espoused the side of Montfort, and the French that of Charles of Blois. The success of the battle of La Roche was followed by the signal victory of Mauron (1352). The war dragged on, and Charles was released in 1356, to renew the contest with fresh cruelty. He had now as his best assistant Bertrand du Guesclin, an heroic and honourable soldier, and one of the best captains France has produced. But in the decisive battle of Auray (1364) Charles was killed, and Du Guesclin taken prisoner. A few months later, Jean de Montfort the younger was recognised duke under the title of John IV. But the war was not at an end. Now that Charles was dead, the Bretons of Penthièvre rallied about Oliver de Clisson, and the old strife continued under other names.

The country was ravaged by Companies, under commanders who passed from one side to the other as suited their convenience. John IV. attempted to have Clisson assassinated in Paris (1392). The attempt failed, and served only to exasperate Clisson and aggravate the war. It was resolved into a family vendetta. In 1420 Oliver de Clisson, grandson of Charles de Blois, and of Oliver, treacherously obtained possession of John V. and imprisoned him. A war ensued, and before the duke could be liberated, much blood was shed; as the cause of the Penthièvre family was not, on this occasion, espoused by France, it was crushed and the apanage of Penthièvre was confiscated.

Francis I. (1442-50) conceived an animosity against his brother Gilles de Bretagne whom he accused of favouring the English. He delivered him over to his mortal enemy, who starved the unhappy prince to death. Pierre II. succeeded, but as he died without issue, as well as Francis, the succession passed to Arthur of Richmond their uncle. He was succeeded by Francis II. who died in 1488, leaving an heiress, Anne, who married first Charles VIII. of France (1491), and on the death of Charles (1498) married Louis XII., and thus, the duchy was finally united to the crown of France.

The Reformation made no way with the people of Brittany, but was embraced by the Rohan, the Rieux, the Laval, and other noble lords, who coveted the estates of the Church. The chateaux of Blain and Vitré were for a while centres of Huguenot propaganda in Brittany. The province would, however, have remained at peace, but that its governor, the Duke de Mercœur was a devoted adherent to the house of Guise, and he proposed to make of Brittany a stronghold of the League. When Henry IV. came to the throne in 1589, he was a Calvinist. There were three parties in Brittany mutually antagonistic, the Leaguers supported from Spain, the Huguenots and the Royalists. The city of Rennes, without abandoning the Faith remained true to Henry IV. Nantes became the headquarters of the League. The Huguenots, from Vitré, and the castles of the family of Rohan, swept the country ravaging and burning. Nine years of war ensued between 1589 and 1598. A swarm of brigands placed themselves under the flag of the League, or of the King or of the Bible, and wrought intolerable misery. Moreover, the peasants, maddened by their sufferings, rose against all alike, besieged the castles indiscriminately and massacred every man in harness. Brittany was almost depopulated, and wolves preyed on human corpses in the open day. One of the worst ruffians of this period was Fontenelle, a cadet of the Breton family of Beaumanoir. He sacked Roscoff, Carhaix, and ravaged the diocese of Tréguier. But his worst atrocities were committed at Pont l'Abbé and Penmarch, which was once a flourishing town rivalling Nantes, but which has never recovered the butcheries there committed by Fontenelle, and its ruined houses have never been rebuilt. The atrocities committed by him at Pont l'Abbé defy description. He delighted in seating his victims on iron chairs and broiling them to death, or in immersing them in mid-winter in vats of ice-cold water, and thus leaving them to perish in dungeons. In some parishes visited by him, where the population had numbered a thousand adults, he reduced it to twelve. To the miseries produced by civil war succeeded a Black Death, which almost completed the depopulation. Fontenelle was taken in 1598, but pardoned; he was arrested for fresh crimes in 1602, and slowly tortured to death.

The province remained in peace till 1675, when taxation became so burdensome, that the people rose in insurrection. It was put down with great barbarity.

We pass on to the Revolution, and to the noble stand made by the Breton peasantry against the bloodthirsty ruffians, who had grasped the reins of power. Liberty, Equality and Fraternity in the mouths of these latter meant Tyranny, Robbery and Massacre. Again the soil of Brittany was drenched in blood. The curés were hunted like wild beasts, and when caught were hung, guillotined or shot. Under the Terror the moderate Breton deputies who belonged to the party of the Girondins had to fly for their lives. The Convention sent down into Brittany Carrier and others, the scum of humanity to "purify" the country. Twenty eight Girondists were guillotined at Brest. Anyone who was held suspect was at once sent to his death. The Loire at Nantes was choked with the bodies of inoffensive men, women and children, drowned in the Noyades.

The Chouans, as the peasants were called who rose against their tyrants, were commanded in Morbihan by Cadoudal. In July, 1795, an English fleet disembarked several regiments of French emigrés. Hoche came upon them, and exterminated all in cold blood, to the number of 952. Nantes and S. Brieuc were taken by the peasants, but the firm hand of Bonaparte now held the reins, and put down all opposition. Cadoudal was guillotined.

At the present day, Brittany is still the stronghold of Catholicism in France. As to the rights of legitimists, Orleanists or Bonapartists, the peasants concern themselves little, but to touch their religion is to touch them to the quick. The Republican Government does all in its power to destroy the cohesion of the Breton people, and its attachment to the Faith of its Fathers. The masters have been forbidden to employ the Breton language in the schools, and in 1901 an order was addressed by Waldeck Rousseau to all the Bishops and Clergy of Lower Brittany forbidding them to preach in the language understood by the people, on pain of withdrawal of their stipends: an order that has been very properly disregarded.

Meanwhile national or rather provincial feeling is deepening and intensifying. Opposition only makes the Breton the more stubborn. The Breton has not much ambition. All he asks is to be left alone to work out his own destiny, strong in his religious convictions, "Français – oui, mais Breton avant tout."




IV. Antiquities


The prehistoric remains that abound in Brittany consist of Dolmens, i. e. a certain number of stones set on end rudely forming a chamber, and covered with one or more capstones.

The Allée Couverte is a dolmen on a large scale. Both served as family or tribal ossuaries.

The Menhir is a single standing stone; the alignment is a number of these uprights often in parallel lines, extending some distance.

The cromlech according to the signification accorded to it in France is a circle of standing stones.

The lech is the lineal descendant of the menhir. It is a stone often bearing an inscription, or a rude cross, set up by the British or Irish settlers. The lech is sometimes round.

Tumuli and Camps are numerous, but they are not often referred to in the following pages.

Of Roman remains, there are relics of an aqueduct near Carhaix, and there have been numerous villas uncovered, notably near Carnac, but these are almost all recovered with earth. The most remarkable Roman monument extant is the Temple of Mars, a fragment near Corseul.

The Venus of Quinipili, a Roman Gallic idol, shall be spoken of under the head of Baud.

Of early churches, – earlier than the 10th cent. there are none, there are but the crypt of Lanmeur and perhaps the arches and piers of Loconnolé near Morlaix, and possibly the Western arches of Plouguer by Carhaix that can be attributed to the 10th century. After that come considerable remains of Romanesque churches, beginning with the plain unmoulded round arch resting on plain rectangular piers, and gradually becoming enriched. (11th century and beginning of 12th.)

First pointed, with lancet windows, no tracery, and arches struck from two centres. (Middle of 12th century and beginning of 13th.)

Second pointed or Geometrical. Tracery becomes rich in windows, but always of a geometrical design. (Middle of 13th century and throughout 14th.)

Third pointed or Flamboyant. Tracery like flame, recurving, gradually all cusping abandoned. Arches employed in ornamentation struck from four centres. (15th century and beginning of 16th.)

Rénaissance. At first classic detail with Gothic outline, and tracery in its last decay. At last all tracery abandoned, and design stiffens and loses all Gothic feeling. (Middle of 16th century to middle of 17th.)

Baroque. Round headed windows, no tracery, clumsy mouldings, no taste whatever, but barbarous enrichment. (End of 17th century and 18th.)




V. The Pardons


The Pardons are the religious gatherings of the people, not often in the towns, but about some chapel on an island, on a hill top, in a wood. There may be seen the costumes in all their holiday beauty.

A Pardon begins with vespers on the night before the Feast. Pilgrims arrive for that, and sleep in the church, the chapel, under hedges. They sing their cantiques or hymns till they sing themselves to sleep. The first mass is said at 3 A.M. and the true pilgrims communicate till the last has received, when they depart. An ordinary visitor arriving, say at 10 A.M., will hardly see a single pilgrim. The rest come to join in the devotions. They attend mass, take part in the afternoon (3 P.M.) procession, and buy memorials, and ribbons, and sweetstuff, and pictures at the stalls.

Almost every Pardon has a character of its own, and a description of one by no means attaches to all. In Côtes-du-Nord the Pardon is only found genuine in the Breton speaking portion, elsewhere it has degenerated into an ordinary village feast.

Sometimes, and in some places, there is an evening procession carrying lighted candles, in some a bonfire figures lighted by a figure of an angel which descends from the chapel or church spire. At some there are wrestling and games in the afternoon, at others there is dancing, but usually all is quiet and the peasants disperse after the afternoon procession.

By the sea, the arrival of the boats with maidens in white and banners is a pretty sight; at one Pardon, the sailors proceed, barefooted in their shirts, in performance of a vow, when delivered in a storm.

A visitor who desires to be present at one of the most popular Pardons should secure rooms a month beforehand, and even then he may be dispossessed if the Government or military authorities have seized on the occasion of a Pardon to billet a regiment on the place, an experience the writer has twice had to undergo.

Another quarter century will probably see the last of the Pardons. It will not be due to the decay of the religious feeling among the people – that need not be feared – but to Governmental opposition, and the indecent behaviour of the tripper, which will perhaps induce the clergy to discourage them. (Matt. vii. 6.) A word to the invariably courteous and kindly curé will often secure for the visitor a place of vantage in the gallery, and it is only due to him to ask if he objects to a snap-shot with the kodak at the procession. To photograph a man when engaged in his devotions, or a woman making her painful pilgrimage barefooted is not calculated to impress the peasant with the good-feeling of the English visitor. The Breton is tender-hearted and sensitive, and should ever be respected. At a great Basse-Bretagne Pardon and fair, one may wander till late among the thousands gathered there, enjoying themselves on merry-go-rounds and at shooting stalls, and see no horseplay, no rudeness, no drunkenness.

At a Pardon one sees and marvels at the wondrous faces of this remarkable people: – the pure, sweet and modest countenances of the girls, and those not less striking of the old folk. "It is," says Durtal (En Route), "the soul which is everything in these people, and their physiognomy is modelled by it. There are holy brightnesses in their eyes, on their lips, those doors to the borders of which the soul alone can come, from which it looks forth and all but shows itself."

Goodness, kindness, as well as a cloistral spirituality stream from their faces. One incident may be noticed to show of what stuff their charity consists. After the wreck of the Drummond Castle when the bodies were washed up on the Ile-Molène, the women readily gave up their holiday costumes – costumes which it takes a girl twenty years of economies to acquire – and in these they clothed and buried the dead women washed ashore.

The Pardons in the Bigauden district are the most showy. The Bigaudens delight in bright colours, but they are not a religious or a moral people, and they do not exhibit the fervent and deep-seated piety of the genuine Bretons. The Bigaudens occupy the promontory of Sizun and Pont l'Abbé. This people, peculiar in appearance and distinct in character from the Bretons, are supposed to belong to the primitive population of Ivernians before the coming of the British colonists. They are looked on with mistrust, if not aversion by the Bretons, whom they can generally over-reach in a bargain.




VI. Iconography


It may interest some travellers to be able to identify some of the more common Saints of Brittany whose statues are to be found in the churches, chapels, and over the Holy Wells. A few of the Roman Saints are added who are thrusting the native ones from their niches.

Ste. Anne, with the B.V.M. at her side, sometimes with her on one arm and Christ on the other.

S. Armel, in a brown habit, with a cap on his head, an amice over the right shoulder, with a dragon whom he holds by a stole.

Ste. Aude or Haude, as a damsel carrying her head.

S. Bieuzy, as a monk with his head cleft.

S. Brioc, as a bishop with a wolf licking his feet.

S. Budoc, as a bishop with a barrel at his side.

S. Cadoc, as an abbot holding a bell.

S. Corentin, as a bishop carrying a fish.

S. David, as an archbishop with archiepiscopal crozier.

S. Edern, as a monk riding on a stag.

S. Efflam, in ducal habit, with sceptre, treading on a dragon.

S. Fiacre, in brown habit, holding a spade.

S. Fingar, Eguinger, or Guingar, as a prince, with sword and palm branch.

S. Gildas, in monastic habit, with a snarling dog at his feet.

S. Gwen Teirbron, seated, with crown, and three breasts, her children on her knees or at her feet.

S. Gwénole (Winwaloe), as an abbot, no special symbol.

S. Haude, a damsel carrying her head.

S. Herbot, as an anchorite with an ox at his feet.

S. Hervé, as a blind monk, a boy or a wolf at his side.

S. Meliau, as a king or duke, bearing sword and palm branch, or sceptre.

S. Melor, a boy with one hand and one foot cut off.

Ste. Ninnoc, in robes as a nun, a stag at her feet.

Ste. Noyala, as a princess holding her head in her hands.

S. Paul of Léon, in episcopal habits, treading on a dragon, and with a bell in his hands.

S. Samson, as archbishop.

S. Solomon, in royal robes, and with a dagger in his breast.

S. Thégonnec, as a bishop with a cart drawn by wolves.

S. Theilo, as an abbot or bishop riding on a stag.

S. Tujean, as a bishop with a mad dog at his side.

S. Vincent Ferrier, in monastic habit, holding a trumpet, and with wings.

S. Yves, in a white robe with long sleeves and doctor's bonnet, giving judgment sometimes between a rich suitor and a poor man.

S. Anthony of Padua, as a Franciscan, with the Child Jesus on one arm.

S. Barbara, with a tower at her side.

S. Cornelius, as Pope, with an ox at his feet.

S. Eligius, as bishop, with a horse at his side.

S. Isidore, dressed as a Breton peasant in bragoubraz (baggy breeches), holding a sickle.

S. Joseph, aged and holding a lily, sometimes with the Child Jesus on his arm.

S. Roch, as a pilgrim showing a wound in one leg.




VII. General Instructions


In the humblest village one may reckon on obtaining good meals, but not always on having dry sheets. It is not customary to air the latter, and except in hot dry weather, it is well to be on one's guard in this matter. Water should never be drunk. Too frequently it is drawn from the well in the yard, and is contaminated. Coffee in out of the way parts, even at such headquarters as Carhaix, is not coffee at all, but roast lupin berries.[1 - This is mixed with chicory, and is very liable to upset the stomach.] The ordinary charge for déjeuner at 11.30 is 2.50, with cider and coffee, and 3 francs for dinner at 7 p.m. But in second class inns is 50 centimes less. A bed is usually 1.50 or 2 francs. Sanitary arrangements are rudimentary. Usually one can rely on freedom from vermin, but it is well to be provided with a small bottle of oil of lavender, a preservative against bugs; but it will be needed exceptionally only. The commercial traveller is all pervading. He is sometimes interesting, occasionally objectionable, if a farceur usually the latter. On entering a café or railway carriage, it is customary to raise the hat, so also in leaving. For Maps get those of the État Majeur, 57 Brest, 73 Châteaulin, 60 Dinan, 41 Lannion, 88 Lorient, 58 Morlaix, 117 Nantes, 40 Plouguerneau, 74 Pontivy, 87 Pont l'Abbé, 72 Quimper, 90 Redon, 75 Rennes, 59 S. Brieuc, 42 Tréguier, 89 Vannes, 102 Belle Ile, 56 Ouessant. Of these each has 4 sheets, N.W., N.E., S.W., S.E., except these – 102 Belle Ile has a single sheet, S.E., Lannion has only N.E., S.W., S.E., 56 Ouessant has only N.E., 87 Pont l'Abbé only N.E., Tréguier only N.W., S.W., S.E.

Each sheet costs about 25 centimes or 2½d. The same can be had in colours at 1 franc per sheet, but there is no great advantage in these latter.

In this book routes have not been given, as there is such a diversity of manner of travelling in these days, some going by train, and some by bicycle and motor car. For the latter the best map is that published by the cycling club, as it gives the roads that are suitable, and the hills are all indicated. The line adopted in this book has been to give the chefs-lieux d'arrondissement, and a few other places that are suitable as centres, and to indicate what is to be seen within an easy range all round.

Less details have been given relative to the Department of Ille-et-Vilaine, at least as to certain portions of it which do not offer much of interest to encourage a visit, and with regard to Loire Inférieure only the truly Breton region of Guérande and S. Nazaire has been included.

The following list of headquarters is recommended, whence excursions may be made radiating on all sides. Places of little moment and regions that need not occupy a visitor's time are omitted.



Côtes-du-Nord.– Dinan. Thence Lamballe, Plancoet, Ploubalay, Dol, Jugon, Becherel.

Guingamp. Thence Belle-Ile, Pontrieux, Plouagat, Bourbriac.

Lannion. Thence Perros-Guirec, Plestin.

Loudéac. Thence Uzel, Plouguenast, La Chèze, Mur.

Paimpol. Thence Lézardrieux, Pontrieux, Plouha and Iles de Bréhat.

Plouaret. Thence Plestin, Begard and Belle-Ile.

Rostrenen. Thence S. Nicolas du Pélem, Maël Carhaix, Goarec.

S. Brieuc. Thence Etables, Châtelaudren, Quintin, Lamballe.

Tréguier. Thence Lézardrieux, La Roche-Derrien.

Finistère.– Audierne. The Cap Sizun.

Brest. Thence S. Rénan, Ploudalmezeau, Lannilis, Plabennec, and Ouessant.

Châteaulin. Thence Crozon, Le Faou, Pleyben.

Châteauneuf-le-Faou. Thence Pleyben and Montagnes Noires.

Huelgoët. The Montagnes d'Arrée.

Landerneau. Thence Daoulas, Ploudiry, Sizun, and the Montagnes d'Arrée.

Landivisiau. Thence S. Thégonnec, Plouzévédé, Ploudiry and Sizun.

Lesneven, the coast by Plounéour-trez.

Morlaix. Thence Lanmeur, Taulé, Plouigneau, S. Thégonnec.

Pont-aven. Concarneau, Fouesnant.

Pont l'Abbé, the Penmarch peninsula.

Ploudalmezeau, Lannilis, and the coast.

S. Pol-de-Léon. Plouescat and the Ile-de-Batz.

Quimper may be made a centre for much, owing to several lines of railway diverging from it. Briec, Rosporden, Douarnenez, Pont Croix, Plougastel S. Germain, Pont l'Abbé.

Quimperlé. Thence Bannalec, Pont-aven, Pont Scorff.

Morbihan.– Auray. Thence Pluvigner, Belz, Carnac, Quiberon.

Baud. Thence Pluvigner, Locminé and the Blavet River.

Grand-Champ. Thence the Landes de Lanvaux, and S. Jean de Brévelez.

Hennebont. Thence Pont Scorff, Plonay, Lorient, Port Louis.

La Faouët. Thence Gourin and Guéméné.

Ploermel. Thence Josselin, Mauron, Guer, La Trinité-Porhoet.

Pontivy. Thence Cleguerec, Guéméné, the Blavet valley, Mur, Rohan.

Rochefort-en-Terre. Thence Elven, and the Lande de Lanvaux, Malestroit, la Gacelly, Questembert.

Vannes. The Morbihan, and Sarzeau, Elven and Grand Champ.

Ille-et-Vilaine.– Becherel. Thence Tinténiac, Hédé.

Dinard. Thence S. Malo, Cancale, S. Servan, Châteauneuf, Dol.

Dol. Thence Combourg.

Fougères. Thence Louvigné, S. Briac-en-Congles, S. Aubin-du-Cormier.

Montfort. Thence S. Méen and Montauban.

Redon. Thence Allaire, la Gacilly, Pipriac, Fougeray, S. Nicolas.

Rennes. Thence Mordelles, Guichen, Château-Giron, Janzé.

Vitré Thence Châteaubourg and Argentré-du-Plessis.

Loire Inférieure.-Guérande. La Grande Brière and the Saltmarshes.

Le Croisic. Sea coast and Saltmarshes.

S. Nazaire, mouth of the Loire.



Contractions





Cheflieux and Surroundings

Argentré (I.V.) chl. arr. Vitré. In the neighbourhood are many small lakes, forming one of the arms of the Vilaine, one of the sources of which is in the forest of Pertré. The château de Plessis is of the 15th cent. and has been restored. In it is a portrait of Mme. de Sevigné by Mignard. The circular chapel is of the 17th cent.

At Primel is a chapel of the 15th cent. A calvary is in the parish churchyard.

At Etrelles the church is of the beginning of the 16th cent.

Arzano (F.) chl. arr. Quimperlé. An uninteresting place, but some pretty scenery on the Ellé and Isole. The neighbourhood is best visited from Quimperlé.

* AUDIERNE (F.) a com. of Pontcroix. A large fishing village, at the mouth of a tidal creek, into which flows the insignificant Goujen. The entrance to the harbour is dangerous. The river front of the village or town is occupied almost wholly by buvettes. Sardines are here tinned. The church, originally dedicated to S. Rumon, the same as S. Ronan, has been transferred to the patronage of S. Raymond Nonnatus. It is well-situated, and of renaissance period, but has preserved an earlier internal arcade. The south porch is of the usual 16th cent. type in Lower Brittany, but with renaissance details. Ships are carved over the church. The tower with gallery is mean. A curious recess with stoup outside the W. end, with broken circle above it. An old house in the street bears the date 1668. Audierne swarms with children who pester the visitor with begging. It is an unattractive place, but has good inns, and forms a centre for an interesting district. See alsoPont Croix (#litres_trial_promo).

At Primelin is the Chapel of S. Tugean (a Saint Antianus) in a hamlet, surrounded with trees. It is a noble structure throughout, in the flamboyant style. A noble south porch with statues within of six apostles. The tower without spire is early flamboyant, and has a curious side turret with spire. The W. doorway is good with the four doctors of the church above it. The N. transept is double, divided by round pillars surmounted by Doric capitals. The carved wood roof of the chancel and N. transept deserve notice. Rich rococo altarpieces. Paintings (1705) about the baptistery. A good statue of S. Tugean represents him with a mad dog on one side and a boy kneeling on the other. The Saint is patron against hydrophobia. Outside the chapel is a cell into which were thrust those who had been bitten, and were not cured. They were communicated with the Host, thrust to them at the end of a stick, and there left to die. S. Tugean's key is preserved in the church. The P. on the last Sunday in June is very famous. Near the windmill is a small dolmen, or rather a kistvaen, the cover of which has been lifted and propped on small stones. This was used by lepers to lie in, expecting a cure.

Plogoff has a church of the 16th cent., but possesses remains of an earlier period, pillars with Romanesque capitals. The Chapel of S. Collodec (Kenan, B. of Duleek) has a pretty spire, and a carved granite cross. P. 1st Sunday in July. The Pardon at the Chapel of N.D. de Bon Voyage is on the 3rd Sunday in July. The Enfer de Plogoff is a chasm into which the sea enters. The Pointe du Raz rises 240 feet above the sea, which is here rarely at rest. It commands a fine view of the stretch of coast from the Pointe to S. Mathieu on the north, and to Penmarch on the south. The Ile de Seine lies nine miles away to sea, west of the Pointe du Raz, the passage is dangerous on account of the currents. It possesses little to attract a visitor, a couple of menhirs, called the Fistillerien or the Gossips, and a dolmen.

The Baie des Trépassés takes its name from the number of dead bodies washed ashore in it after a wreck. A Byzantine writer speaks of this bay and tells a curious story about it. He says that here the boatman was called up at the dead of night to convey passengers to the Ile de Seine. He took his oars and launched his boat, and heard a sound as of people entering his barque, but saw no one. The boat settled deep in the water, and he rowed over with his invisible burden. On reaching the Isle of Seine, he could hear the passengers disembark, and coins were cast to him, but still those whom he had ferried over remained invisible. He had, in fact, conveyed the souls of the dead to the Isle of the Dead. And this strange occurrence took place repeatedly.

The Etang de Laoual is supposed to cover the cursed city of Is, where Ahes, daughter of King Grallo, carried on high revelry and debauch. The wrath of heaven was kindled, and the sea overwhelmed the city. Remains of a Roman city remain at Troguer, and this was the termination of the Roman road from Carhaix (Vorganium). At the Chapel of S. They (the Cornish S. Day) the P. is on the 1st Sunday in July.

Cleden-Cap-Sizun. The coast here is bold, and there are numerous prehistoric monuments. At Goulien is a menhir 18 ft. high, and there are remains of a Roman camp.

Beuzec-Cap-Sizun. The church (S. Budoc) has a fine 16th cent. tower. Near the hamlet of Kerbanalec is an allée couverte. The holy well of Ste. Azenora (the Cornish Sennara), mother of S. Budoc, is supposed to have the peculiarity of filling with milk the breasts of any man who drinks thereof. Mothers nursing their children frequent it. P. at N.D. de la Clarté on the Sunday after the 15th August.

* AURAY (M.) chl. arr. Lorient. On a height above the river of Auray and the harbour. The river is a tidal creek, very unsavoury when in flow or when left dry. A large export of pine logs takes place hence to Cardiff for the mines. There are several old houses in the town, especially by the bridge. The halles have a vast roof on bold timber work. The Church of S. Gildas was built in 1636, and is utterly Italian, except for the vaulting. The south entrance is not without merit. The Church of S. Goustan dates from the 16th century. In the chapel of the Pêre Eternel is rich carved stall work derived from the Chartreuse.

Within an easy stroll from Auray is the Chapel de Ste. Avoye. Here, according to legend, the Saint, who is the same as the Cornish S. Ewe, arrived in a stone boat from Britain. The chapel is surrounded by a few farmhouses and trees. It is a renaissance structure. The W. tower consists of only three sides, two bold buttresses carried up a great height, with a back, sustaining a pent-house roof, which in turn supports a spirelet of slate. The arrangement is probably unique. There was a porch below, but it has fallen. The tracery has been removed from the windows, and some good stained glass sold. Within is a fine but late screen with the twelve apostles on one side and cardinal virtues and other allegorical figures on the other. In the nave is a piece of the so-called "boat of S. Avoye," in which she is supposed to have come over. Actually it is, probably, a large grinder for corn polished within. On it are cut three symbols, one a cross, one like a T, and the third like I. Children that are delicate are placed in the "Boat" to recover strength. Over the altar is a painting representing S. Avoye in prison fed by the B. V. Mary. There are two Pardons, the principal on the 1st S. in May, the second on the 3rd S. in September. Outside the chapel are stone benches along the wall. In Breton the Saint is Santez Avé.

Ste. Anne d'Auray is a great pilgrimage resort, with a pretentious modern church in nondescript style intended for renaissance, 1866-75, with bad glass. In 1623 a peasant dug up an image, probably of one of the Deæ Matres of Gallo-Roman times, so common in Brittany, at a place called Ker-anna. He jumped to the conclusion that it represented the mother of the B. Virgin. The Carmelites heard of it and resolved on making capital out of it; they ran it with great success and built a convent and church on the spot in 1645. The statue was destroyed in 1790, but the cult continues unabated. The Pardon is on the Sunday after July 26, and attracts vast crowds. In front of the church is a Santa Scala copied from that at Rome, and indulgenced with nine years for every step ascended by pilgrims on their knees. A large tank receives the miraculous spring of S. Anne, and is dominated by her statue. The pilgrims sing lustily the cantique of Ste. Anne d'Auray to this air: —








There is here a statue of the Duc de Chambord (1891) in bronze, flanked by those of Bayard, Du Guesclin, Ste. Geneviève, and Joan of Arc.

The Chartreuse near the Auray railway station is now a deaf and dumb asylum. It occupies the site of the battle in which, in 1364, Jean de Monfort defeated and killed Charles de Blois. He founded the monastery, but only a small portion of the old structure remains. Here is the chapel, on the N. side of the church, in which rest the bodies of the royalists who had been landed from English transports at Quiberon, and whom Hoche and his republican soldiers shot down in cold blood to the number of 952 between 1st and 25th August 1795. The butchery took place not far from the Chartreuse, and the bodies were buried on the spot since called le Champ des Martyrs. In 1814 they were transferred to this chapel erected to contain them. It was completed in 1829. In the midst of the chapel is the mausoleum of white marble.

The chapelle expiatoire is situated at a quarter of an hour's walk from the Chartreuse and is in the Greek style, and is on the site of the massacre. Near by is a cross commemorative of Montfort's victory over Charles de Blois.

Plougoumelin. The parish church modern and bad. The Chapel of N.D. de Becquerel has a fine west porch of the Breton commingling of flamboyant and renaissance. An unfailing spring issues from under the wall of the apse. The water is thought to cure diseases of the mouth. Several lechs are in the parish. One called the Pierre du Serment is about 4 ft. 6 in. long, is in the churchyard and lies prostrate. Another is between the parsonage and the cemetery, and a third, round, with three hollows sunk in it, is at the presbytère. A tumulus by the river of Auray at Le Rocher covers an allée couverte. There are six others, smaller, in a line with it running from S.W. to N.E. They have yielded copper vessels and flint weapons, and belong to the intermediate age, before alloy was introduced for the formation of bronze.

Crach. Here in the commune are numerous prehistoric remains. Rather over a mile from Auray on the road to Crach is a fine dolmen, the coverer 22 ft. long, and having on it a circle of hollows. Other dolmens at Keryn, Kergleverit, and Parq-er-Gueren, near the Chapel of S. Jean. Several menhirs on the common. The Château de Plessisker is of the 17th cent. P. at Crach on the 1st S. in July. See alsoLocmariaquer (#litres_trial_promo).

Bain (I.V.) chl. arr. Redon, on the Route nationale from Rennes to Nantes. In the cemetery a cross of the 16th cent. Château de la Noé of the 15th cent. By a little lake are the remains of a castle converted into a farmhouse.

* BAUD (M.) chl. arr. Pontivy. A district in which much hemp is grown and cordwaining is carried on. The women wear coiffes like sunbonnets, and sabots with leather toe-pieces and straps neatly embroidered. The church, a mean structure of 1687, is about to be pulled down. It is dominated by the far more stately Chapel of N.D. de la Clarté of the 16th cent. Vaulted throughout with very peculiar straight groining and vaulting in the S. aisle. The chapel has an apse, the tracery has been removed from the windows and the old stained glass got rid of to make way for sad modern rubbish. The tower is later than the chapel and is unfinished. A huge ducal crown of Brittany is suspended in the apse. The crown is closed above, a right claimed by the dukes. P. 2nd July.

In the woods of the old château of Quinipili (guide advisable) is the rude granite statue of the famous Venus of Quinipili removed from Castannec on the Blavet. It is 6 ft. high, with the hands crossed over the breast and with a sort of stole hanging down in front, and a band about the head on which are cut IIT. The statue, which received idolatrous worship, was transferred in 1695 to Quinipili, by Count Pierre de Lannion, along with a huge granite basin that stood before it. He set it up on a pedestal in his grounds and cut a pseudo-classic inscription on the base. As the original statue was indecent, he set a sculptor to alter it, and probably the stole is due to this man's chisel.

Camors. There are two dolmens in the forest, and an allée couverte at Kerpenru. Of menhirs, one is on the lande of Penher, three at Kerguelen, a stone-row of twenty uprights at Kernoul. Seven menhirs in the wood at Floranges, and six in the forest of Camors. At Porhoet-er-Saleu, are the remains of the castle of Conmore, Count of Poher, and regent of Domnonia. He is regarded as the Bluebeard of Brittany, although he was actually only thrice married, to the sister of Jonas, King of Domnonia, to that of Meliau, King of Cornouaille, and lastly to Triphena, daughter of Weroch, Count of Vannes. This latter marriage was effected by the persuasion of S. Gildas. Conmore, however, so ill-treated his wife that she ran away to her father at Vannes. Gildas, who was at the time at Castannec, was furious with Conmore, and local legend asserts, that he came before this castle, gathered up a handful of earth, and casting it against the walls cursed it, that it should never again be inhabited. S. Triphena is invoked in the neighbourhood by women with troublesome husbands, and little wooden crosses may be found on the site of the castle set up by them in token that they have made a vow to S. Triphena to rid them of their annoyance. The church of Camors is dedicated to S. Senan, abbot of Iniscathy.

Guénin. The church is of 1773. The Chapel of N.D. de Menez-guen is flamboyant but late, 1577, with alterations made in 1604 and 1751. It is a cross church with a central tower. One descends by several steps into the chapel. Lean and lanky girls go to it and pray for fat to be laid on. P. 1st S. in July. Pilgrims take water from the fountain to give to their cattle.

Questinic. Chapel of S. Mathurin, P. 2nd S. in May. Chapel of Locmaria, renaissance 1574, a cross church with central tower and spire, and some old glass.

Bieuzy. The station of S. Nicolas des Eaux gives access to several points of historical and architectural interest. The train from Auray to Pontivy cuts by a tunnel through a neck of land round which the river Blavet makes a great loop. This loop was occupied in Roman times by a walled town Sulim, of which numerous remains have been found; and the sides are so precipitous that no enemy could attack it, save on the north. The road from the station to Bieuzy has been engineered by a great sweep up the height, but the pedestrian can ascend to the Chapel of La Trinité by a sharp scramble, and by clinging to the broom and heather. This finger of land, almost surrounded by the river on all sides, was covered with ruins in the beginning of the 6th cent. S. Gildas came hither from Rhuys about the year 530, and founded a little colony of monks where is now the hamlet of Castannec. Finding that there was a gross image of Venus among the ruins that the people worshipped, he and Budoc (Bieuzy) his disciple threw it down and rolled it along to their monastery and built their wall over it. The image remained buried thus under the wall till the ruin of the monastery by the Northmen, and perhaps for some time after. Castannec was never restored to any extent, by the returned monks of Rhuys. In 1125 Castannec was made into a parish, and the church was where is now the Chapel of La Trinité, and it was served by the monks of Redon, but the population was small and the revenue insufficient, and was united to Bieuzy. Then it was that in removing the remains of the old priory the image of the Venus was restored to light, and at once received a religious cult from the peasants, who called it Groah en Goard, the Woman of la Couarde, which is the name of the promontory. It was placed near a large basin scooped out of granite, and in this women came to bathe, invoking the assistance of the Venus of Couarde. In 1661 a mission was held at Baud, and the missioners besought Count Claude of Lannion to destroy the idol. He had it accordingly rolled down the hillside into the river. However, the peasants fished it up and replaced it in 1664. Then the Bishop of Vannes interfered, and at his request the Count sent masons to smash it. They, however, contented themselves with injuring one arm and one of the breasts and again rolled it down into the Blavet. In 1695, Pierre de Lannion, who had succeeded his father, drew it forth from the water and had it conveyed to Baud to ornament his château of Quinipili; and there it remains to the present day with the granite basin before it, but not in quite the same condition, for, as has been said already, the Count employed a sculptor to work the statue over and give it a more decent appearance.

Near the Chapel of Ste. Trinité a path leads to the hermitage of S. Gildas. It is advisable to obtain a child as guide. The Saint with his disciple Budoc, or Bieuzy, was wont to retire to a cave under an overhanging rock beside the Blavet during Lent, and at certain times when he desired to be private. He built up the face of the cave and divided it into two parts, one for himself and one for Bieuzy. A chapel was added in the Middle Ages, and this was restored in 1837. It consists of two parts, and is under the rock in a most picturesque situation. The bell is attached to the rock. The structure is of the 15th cent., but the E. window and an arch are 1st pointed (perhaps the window is due to the restorer) and there are rude windows round-headed, that may possibly be of a still earlier date. An arch divides the chapel into two with an altar in each. In the outer chapel, on a pedestal, is the bell-stone of Gildas, a slab of diorite, on which stands a couple of pebbles, and when the stone is struck with these it rings. At Mass on the day of the Pardon, Whitsun-Monday, and on S. Gildas's day, Jan. 29, the bell-stone is used for ringing at the Sanctus, Elevation and Communion. On the left side of the principal altar is a block of rock and masonry used for the pain bénit, which is distributed among the pilgrims. There was another bell-stone, that of S. Bieuzy himself, but this was carried away, and broken in the transaction, by a seigneur of Kervèno in 1660, but the rector reclaimed it and in 1702 succeeded in recovering it, and it is now placed in the churchyard of S. Bieuzy near the cross. The church of Bieuzy has a modern spire and nave. The choir and transepts are renaissance of 1560. There are three superb stained glass windows of this date in the apse representing the scenes of the Passion; one subject, the Risen Lord, appearing as a gardener to the Magdalen, deserves notice. The S. door of the church is flamboyant with a flamboyant window above. A S. door, blocked in the choir, has some lovely flamboyant foliage on it. There is a picturesque renaissance house opposite the church. It is worth the visitor noticing the type of well in all this district. The structure of granite for the support of the drum for the chain is very striking, and there is an excellent example in a yard near the E. end of the church at Bieuzy. A few yards from the village is the Holy Well with a niche for the Saint. The water is sought for those who are off their heads.

Returning to the station, S. Nicolas des Eaux is next visited. The chapel is in a very dilapidated condition. It is a flamboyant cruciform structure (1524) with a fine double doorway and with foliage about it, and with late flamboyant tracery in some of the windows, but from most it has been hacked away.

S. Nicodème is perhaps the most beautiful example of flamboyant in Morbihan. It was completed in 1539, and a bell bears the date 1507 which is about the date of the spire and tower. The west entrance under the tower is peculiarly bold and beautiful, with its lace work fringed arch. A flight of steps leads down to the chapel, and on the left is a singular Holy Well, composed of three gabled structures united at the back. The date on this well is 1608, but it is impossible to hold this to be the true indication of its erection, and must commemorate a reparation, for the character of the sculpture and the general design are of a century earlier, and in its quaintness and originality indicate the same master hand that had planned and drawn the marvellous tower and spire. The three fountains are to (1) S. Gamaliel with an ox at his side and a biniou player; (2) S. Nicodemus with a human-headed ox by him; and (3) S. Abibo with a horseman at his side. Hard by is an immeasurably inferior Holy Well to S. Cornelius, constructed in 1790.

The chapel itself is not equal in beauty to tower and spire. It contains a minstrel gallery of stone in the N. transept. The altarpieces are bad rococo. Two little oxen are stuck up against the N. wall of the chancel to commemorate the success of an invocation to S. Cornély. There is a very curious retable at the side representing the Resurrection. S. Nicodemus is represented carrying a napkin, three nails and with a heraldic wreath about his head. Most of the windows have had their tracery removed. The Pardon here is very famous and largely attended. The first Saturday in August is held as a great fair here, and at it girls sell their hair. Young women wearing black caps and not coiffes are such as have parted with their natural ornament. On the Sunday following is the Pardon. An angel descends from the gallery of the spire and sets fire to a great pile of brushwood and firework hoops.

Bubry. The church is modern and bad, near it are two lechs, one with four equal faces, and the other has a cross pattée on two faces. The ossuary is full of skulls arranged in order. In the "place" is a great granite basin fed with water from the fountain of S. Helen. The Chapel of S. Yves is five kilometres to the south of this village, and is in a jumble of flamboyant and renaissance. The date 1598. This chapel drew so many pilgrims, and such abundant donations, that the near-by Seigneur de Kernivinen became jealous, and going to the chapel one day of the Pardon, fell on the rector and boxed his ears, because he refused to give up to him a share of the spoil. This was in 1630. He was put into the ecclesiastical court and condemned to restore 10,000 livres which he had carried off from the chapel, and to pay a fine of 2000 which was to be given to the hospital. P. of Ste. Helene, 4th S. in July. This is spoken of as well attended.

Melrand. The Chapel of Locmaria is fine. It has a bold, square tower surmounted by a spire: it is all of flamboyant work with a few details showing that the renaissance was at hand. The E. window, partly hidden by a retable of 1680, contains in twelve tableaux scenes from the Life and Passion of our Lord. In the N. transept window is a fine Jesse tree, in one of the S. transept the angelic salutation. Near the chapel is a Holy Well of 1574. P. at Guellouët in Melrand, 1st Sunday in July.

Becherel (I.V.) chl. arr. Montfort. On high ground. In the church a Romanesque font. Old gateway, 16th cent. House of the Little Sisters of the Poor is here. The headquarters or Mother-House. Les Iffs has a church of the 15th cent. containing nine windows of superb stained glass, the finest in the Department. The tower is of the 16th cent. On a height is the Château de Montmuran of various dates. In the chapel, Du Guesclin was dubbed knight in 1354. He married Jeanne de Laval, granddaughter of the Countess of Montmuran, for whom he defended the castle against the English. The E. window of the chapel is good early flamboyant and contains fine old glass. The château is very picturesque. The Château de Caradeuc, partly ancient, in a park with fine trees, and well kept, has within, among other paintings, two Murillos.

Begard (C.N.) chl. arr. Guingamp. A Cistercian abbey was founded here in 1130 by Stephen III., Count of Penthièvre. It was rebuilt in the 17th century, except the Romanesque church. It is now a lunatic asylum. According to local tradition, Begard was first settled by such ragged hermits that the place was called after them, a settlement of "Beggars." A menhir is at Kergouézennic 18 ft. high.

Kermoroch. The chapel of Langoerat, 1373, has in it stained glass and paintings. There are ruined castles at Perrier and Leshorz.

Pedernec. A ruined castle at Runangoff. The Chapel of N.D. de Lorette dates from 1514. A 16th cent. manor house at Kermathaman. A menhir 25 ft. 6 in. high.

Belle Ile (C.N.) chl. arr. Guingamp. Prettily situated in the valley of the Guindy. The church is modern, the old church is turned into halle. The Chapel of Locmaria is made into the cemetery chapel. It stands on a rocky height above the river and the road to Trégrom. It is late flamboyant, the pillars are surrounded by stone seats. The W. door has boldly carved foliage in coarse granite. The roodscreen, with figures and foliage in the panels of the gallery, has been removed to the W. end.

Plounevez-Moedec on very high ground, traversed by the main road from Paris to Brest, straight as a bowstring. The church has a 2nd pointed arcade and E. windows and N. aisle. The rest flamboyant. The gallery at the W. end is one removed from the chapel of Keramanach, with the vaulting wantonly taken away. The tower, renaissance, has been restored recently. The chapel of Keramanach (S. Fiacre) may be visited equally well from Belle Ile or from Plouaret. It is late 2nd pointed with square end, E. window and S.E. window of same period, as also N. aisle. There are remains of good stained glass in the windows. The porch has rich 16th cent. groining. The W. bell turret has a gallery. The chapel contains a fine alabaster reredos of the 15th cent., each panel has been let into a wooden frame. On the road from Plounevez to Trégrom is a menhir 30 ft. high.

Locquenvel. Church of 15th and 16th cents. with stained glass representing the legend of S. Envel.

Belz (M.) chl. arr. Lorient. In very desolate country. The road from Auray runs through plantations of Austrian pine grown for the Welsh collieries, or over furzy moors. Belz itself is an utterly uninteresting place, with an ugly church, and a ruinous but large chapel near it. Belz lies, however, near the curious inland sea of Etel, and was formerly head of a pou or pagus. A mile and a half beyond Belz is the hamlet of S. Cadou, occupied entirely by fishermen and their families. The women wear scarlet petticoats which they take care to display. A stone causeway 140 ft. leads to the Isle of S. Cadou and his chapel. S. Cadoc, son of Gwynllyw, King of Gwent or Monmouthshire, arrived here about 525 and founded a monastery and school on the island. To facilitate the passage and repassage of his pupils he constructed the causeway, having learned the art of dyking at Llancarvan. It was here, pacing it with Gildas, that they discussed the salvability of Virgil. Cadoc, who loved that author, could not believe that he was lost, but Gildas held the harsher view. As they talked, Cadoc turned over his Virgil to point out some remarkable passages, probably the prophecy of the Incarnation, to his friend, when the wind swept the volume out of his hand into the sea. He slipped in rushing to recover it, and some pieces of iron in the causeway are supposed to indicate where his foot slid. Only with difficulty did Cadoc recover the precious book. The chapel has an early Romanesque apse, with rudely carved capitals to the pillars supporting the chancel arch. The chapel was much spoiled at its alteration in 1842. In the S. transept is the stone bed of S. Cadoc with a receptacle under it, in which strange sounds are thought to be heard. These are due to the echo of the waves and winds. The gallery of the flamboyant screen has been removed to the W. end. In the nave are four paintings. (1) S. Cadoc arriving at the isle; (2) S. Cadoc settling on it; (3) Pirates land and he protests that he has nothing; (4) Cadoc departing, with the inscription: —



Oratoire mon œuvre adieu, dit-il pleurant,

Belz t'oublierai je? Non. Il cingla de céans.


P. S. after 21st Sept. Numerous megalithic remains are to be found about Belz. A menhir at Kervoen, another at Mélionec; remains of an allée couverte 30 ft. long at Kernours; a dolmen in good condition at Kerlutu; others at Kerhuen, Kervoen and Kerlourd. At Crubelz in a tumulus is a chamber of masonry nearly 11 ft. high. Roman bricks were found in it, and it would seem to have been constructed in Gallo-Roman times, but in accordance with earlier traditions and usages.

Locoal, on an arm of the sea of Etel, united to the mainland by a causeway like that at S. Cadou. Locoal was a locus penitentiæ of S. Gudeval or Gurval, Bishop of Aleth. He scooped out a cave and dwelt therein. Disciples came to him to the number of 188. To protect themselves against the high tides they erected the dykes that still remain. At length, desiring greater retirement in his extreme old age, Gudeval retired with seven disciples into the forest of Camors, where he died in 640. Some lechs remain; one near the cemetery is 4 ft. high, with a cross cut on it in relief, surmounted by a circle and cross. Another on the way from Locoal to Mendon, 7 ft. 6 in. high, with two crosses cut on it, bears on it the words CRUX PROSTLON; it is the tombstone of the wife of Count Pasquitien, the murderer of King Solomon. She died in 875. The parish church was burnt by the Spaniards in 1592, and again accidentally in 1765.

Etel, at the mouth of the channel that connects the inland sea with the ocean, is a small port partly closed by a rock and by moving sands. Near the village is a dolmen with seven supporters. A little further on is one with five.

Erdeven (Ar deven = on the sand-downs). All this district is covered with wind-blown sands. The most remarkable prehistoric monument is the alignment of Kerzerho, which extends over two miles and a quarter, and is composed of 1030 stones, with, however, gaps caused by pilferers. Unhappily the stones are still being broken up and carried away. The lines are on the S. and S.E. of the village. After passing an isolated menhir and a ruined cairn, the rows are reached running east. Then comes a gap where the stones have been carried off to build walls, but presently they reappear, the blocks smaller. Then ensues another hiatus, and then another succession of ranges of fine stones stretching to a tumulus. The northern line reaches to a tumulus, the Mané Bras. On the summit are the ruins of two dolmens, with traces of an enclosing circle of uprights. To the east of Kerangre is another group of monoliths. At Mané Groh are two dolmens. The dolmen of Corcomo is the finest in Morbihan.

Plouhinic. Near Kerfourchen two fallen dolmens and a menhir. From the windmill to the west alignments running S.E. Near the Mill of Gueldra the lines recommence in eight rows, and may be traced to Kervué and Kervelhué.

Bourbriac (C.N.) chl. arr. Guingamp. The church is in part Romanesque, and possesses a crypt. The windows are of 15th cent. The tower 1635. At Tanvedou is a tumulus enclosing a dolmen.

S. Adrien. Chapel of Avangour, 1576, with marble retable of same period.

Cadout (S. Illtyd). Church of 14th and 15th cents., with a sculptured retable. On high ground the manor house of Bois-de-la-Roche, 15th cent. restored.

Bréhat (Isle de) (C.N.). Opposite Roscoff lighthouses. On the Isle of Lavré the remains of a Celtic monastery have been traced, consisting of a group of bee-hive huts and an oblong chapel. One hut is fairly perfect, and is kept in repair as a sea mark. In the church is preserved a piece of oriental silk called the stole of S. Pol de Léon.

* BREST (F.) chl. d'arrond. Was a fishing village about a mediæval castle on the site of a Roman camp, till Cardinal Richelieu resolved on giving to France the command of the seas, when he fixed on Brest for a great dockyard, 1631. His undertaking was not followed up by Mazarin, but Colbert pursued it with energy, and extensive works were executed. Thanks to this great minister and to Admiral Duquesne, Brest became a naval and military port of the first class. The Breton parliament had not relished the undertaking, and forbade the delivery of timber to the royal works, and ordered the cessation of the forging of cannon, but the royal will was supreme, and the opposition of the parliament disregarded. The port was extended, and the rocks blasted; barracks, storehouses, workshops, were created, and fine quays were constructed. Vauban fortified it, Recouvrance was united to Brest by a turning bridge. From Brest issued a fleet of 80 ships of the line under Tourville in the naval campaigns of 1690 and 1691. In 1694 an Anglo-Dutch fleet in vain attempted an attack on Brest. In the 18th cent. its quays and fortifications were extended. Granite basins were constructed capable of receiving vessels of 120 guns. Dajot, whilst engaged on the defences of the place, constructed the terrace planted with elms, that gives such a fine view of the harbour. Issuing from Brest, the fleet commanded by d'Orvilliers met, July 27, 1778 the English fleet off Ouessant. A French convoy was guarding a fleet of vessels laden with grain from America, when it was attacked by Admiral Howe. The French were under Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse. The English fleet, which had been in quest, had been for four days unable to find the French owing to fog. The engagement took place on the 27th July. There were 26 French men-of-war and 35 English.





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notes



1


This is mixed with chicory, and is very liable to upset the stomach.