BRITTANY
THE LITTLE GUIDES
CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES
OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES
ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL
THE TEMPLE
WESTMINSTER ABBEY
THE ENGLISH LAKES
THE MALVERN COUNTRY
SHAKESPEARE'S COUNTRY
SNOWDONIA
BEDFORDSHIRE AND HUNTINGDONSHIRE
BERKSHIRE
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
CAMBRIDGESHIRE
THE CHANNEL ISLANDS
CHESHIRE
CORNWALL
CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND
DERBYSHIRE
DEVON
DORSET
DURHAM
ESSEX
GLOUCESTERSHIRE
HAMPSHIRE
HEREFORDSHIRE
HERTFORDSHIRE
THE ISLE OF WIGHT
KENT
LANCASHIRE
LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND
LINCOLNSHIRE
LONDON
MIDDLESEX
MONMOUTHSHIRE
NORFOLK
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
NORTHUMBERLAND
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
OXFORDSHIRE
SHROPSHIRE
SOMERSET
STAFFORDSHIRE
SUFFOLK
SURREY
SUSSEX
THE EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE
THE NORTH RIDING OF YORKSHIRE
THE WEST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE
WARWICKSHIRE
WILTSHIRE
NORTH WALES
SOUTH WALES
KERRY
BRITTANY
NORMANDY
ROME
SICILY
[Illustration: CALVARY, PLOUGASTEL]
BRITTANY
_By_
S · BARING · GOULD
_With Illustrations by_
J · WYLIE
AND FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
AND THREE MAPS
I rather would entreat thy company,
To see the wonders of the world abroad,
Than living dully sluggardiz'd at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.
_Two Gentlemen of Verona_
Act I. Sc. i.
LONDON
METHUEN & CO. LTD.
_36 Essex St. Strand_
_Third Edition_
_First Published_ _July 1902_
_Second Edition_ _April 1914_
_Third Edition_ _1921_
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.
CONTENTS
PAGE
I. GENERAL FEATURES AND GEOLOGY 1
II. BOTANY 6
III. HISTORY 11
IV. ANTIQUITIES 24
V. THE PARDONS 26
VI. ICONOGRAPHY 29
VII. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS 31
DESCRIPTION OF PLACES IN BRITTANY,
ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY 36-238
INDEX OF PLACES 239
INDEX OF SUBJECTS 244
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
CALVARY, PLOUGASTEL _Frontispiece_
PAGE
GEOLOGICAL MAP OF BRITTANY 1
MAP OF BRITTANY SHOWING LIMITS OF BRETON
TONGUE 11
FOUGÈRES 16
(_From a Photograph by Messrs Neurdein frères, Paris._)
THE BRIDGE, AURAY 40
(_From a Photograph by Messrs Neurdein frères, Paris._)
STE. ANNE D'AURAY 42
(_From a Photograph by Messrs Neurdein frères, Paris._)
THE LINES OF ERDEVEN 57
THE LINES OF CARNAC 68
(_From a Photograph by Messrs Neurdein frères, Paris._)
N.D. DE LA FONTAINE, DAOULAS 82
S. SAUVEUR, DINAN 84
TOWER, DINARD 87
PLOARÉ 92
S. FIACRE 97
FOUGÈRES 100
(_From a Photograph by Messrs Neurdein frères, Paris._)
LA ROCHE AUX FÉES, ESSÉ 112
THE COURT, JOSSELIN 113
CALVARY AND OSSUARY, S. THÉGONNEC 123
MORLAIX 146
CHURCH AND OSSUARY, TRÉGASTEL 150
PONTCROIX 173
N.D. DE CONFORT 174
IN QUIMPER 180
(_From a Photograph by Messrs Neurdein frères, Paris._)
THE CATHEDRAL, QUIMPER 182
(_From a Photograph by Messrs Neurdein frères, Paris._)
LOCRONAN 183
QUIMPERLÉ 186
(_From a Photograph by Messrs Neurdein frères, Paris._)
THE CATHEDRAL, RENNES 188
(_From a Photograph by Messrs Neurdein frères, Paris._)
S. BRIEUC 196
(_From a Photograph by Messrs Neurdein frères, Paris._)
LE KREISKER, S. POL DE LÉON 205
(_From a Photograph by Messrs Neurdein frères, Paris._)
TRÉGUIER CATHEDRAL 217
VANNES 226
(_From a Photograph by Messrs Neurdein frères, Paris._)
MAP OF BRITTANY 238
[Illustration: GEOLOGICAL MAP OF BRITTANY
SHOWING THE GRANITE AND ERUPTIVE ROCKS DOTTED]
BRITTANY
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:--
Fumaria parviflora.
Diplotaxis muralis.
" viminea.
Arabis sagitata.
Lepidium campestre.
Thlaspi perfoliatum (L. Inf.).
Helianthemum vulgare.
Althæa hirsuta (L. Inf.).
Silene inflata.
Anthylis vulneraria.
Astragallus glycyphyllis (Ren.).
Potentilla verna.
Galium spurium.
" tricorne (L. Inf.).
Dipsacus pilosus (Ren.).
Scabrosa columbaria.
Cirsium acaule.
" eriophorum (L. Inf. Rennes).
Centaurea scabiosa.
Podospermum laciniatum.
Chlora perfoliata.
Lithospermum officinale.
Anchusa italica.
Cynoglossum pictum (Ren.).
Salvia sclarea.
" pratensis (L. Inf.).
Stachys germanica (L. Inf.).
Stachys annua.
" recta (L. Inf.).
Ajuga Chamæpitys.
Potamogeton Hornemanni (Rennes).
Orchis pyramidalis.
" hircina.
" palustris.
Ophrys aranifera.
" apifera.
Juncus obtusiflorus.
Carex nitida.
" paludosa (L. Inf.).
Avena putescens.
Bromus erectus.
" arvensis.
Equisetum Telmateia.
Adianthum Capillus Veneris.
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:--
Glaucium luteum.
Silene Otites.
" conica.
Spergula nodosa.
Medicago minima.
Ononis repens.
Ornithopus compressus.
Vicia lathyroides.
Buplevrum aristatum.
Corrigiola litteralis.
Asperula cynanchica.
Graphalium luteo-album.
Chondrilla juncea.
Cynanchum vincetoxicum.
Linaria supina.
Salix repens.
Asparagus officinalis.
Allium sphærocephalum.
Muscari cornosum.
Koeleria cristata.
Aira canescens.
Testuca uniglumis.
Geranium sanguineum.
Trifolium strictum.
Rosa pimpinelli folia.
Epilobium parvi florum.
Herniaria glabra.
Oenanthe Lachenalii.
Salvia verbenaca.
Samolus Valerandi.
Thesium humifusum.
Carex punctata.
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:--
Thalictrum flavum.
Fumaria micrantha.
Raphanus maritimus.
Crambe maritima.
Cochlearia anglica.
Helianthemum umbellatum.
Viola palustris.
Astrocarpus Clusii.
Arenaria montana.
Lavatera arborea.
Ervodium maritimum.
Ulex Galii.
Adenocarpus complicatus.
Trifolium Michelianum.
" angustifolium.
Lupinus reticulatus.
Potentilla vaillantii.
Pyrus aucuparea.
Scleranthus perennis.
Eryngium viviparum (sp.).
Torilio heterophylla.
Sium angustifolium.
Œnanthe pimpinelloides.
Peucedanum officinale.
Linosyris vulgaris.
Artemisia gallica.
Crepis setosa.
Erica vagans.
" setosa.
Linaria pelisseriana.
" supera.
Teucrium scordium.
Statice rariflora.
Plantago carinata.
Quercus toza.
Zostera nana.
Epipactis palustris.
Malaxis paludosa.
Gladiolus illyricus.
Pancratium maritimum.
Juncus obtusiflorus.
Eriophorum vaginatum.
" gracile.
Carex teretiuscula.
" triformis.
Polypogon littoralis.
Agrostis spica venti.
Cynosurus echinatus.
Isoetes Delalandei.
These in addition have been noted in Finistère:--
Diplotaxis muralis.
Astragallus Bayonensis.
Pyrus aucuparea.
Cineraria spathulæfolia.
Gentiana campestris (sp.).
Erythria diffusa.
Lithospermum prostratum (sp.).
Anchusa italica.
Galeopsis versicolor (sp.).
Teucrium scordium.
Urtica membranacea (sp.).
Triglossum Barrilieri.
Orchis palustris.
Narcissus reflexus (sp.).
Scilla verna.
Juncus squarosus.
Scerpus cœspitosus.
Eriphorbium vaginatum.
Carex dioica.
" punctata.
Crypsis aculeata.
" schœnoides.
Bromus velutinus.
Lycopodium selago (sp.).
Grammitis leptophylla (sp.).
Polystichum oreopteris.
Hymerophyllum tunbridgense (sp.).
These also in the Côtes-du-Nord:--
Erodium botrys.
Selinum curvifolia.
Cirsium acaule.
Gentiana amarella (sp.).
Symphytum tuberosum.
Eufragia latifolia.
Polygonum bistorta (sp.).
Paris quadrifolia.
Aira flexuosa.
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.
[Illustration: MAP OF BRITTANY SHOWING LIMITS OF BRETON TONGUE]
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, Porhoët, 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 Porhoët. 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 Porhoët; the
viscount lived at Josselin. Later it was broken up and gave birth to
the viscounty of Rohan.
[Illustration: FOUGÈRES]
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.