is now united to Rocabey by an embankment, the Sillon, along which
runs a tramline. The town is walled in and a pleasant walk is on them;
the circuit of the walls may thus be made. The castle is of the 15th
cent.; it is square with flanking towers. Six gates give admission to
the town, in which the streets are very narrow and odorous, and the
houses lofty. At the highest point of the island, but smothered among
houses, is the Chapel of S. Aaron (Aelhaiarn). This Welsh hermit
occupied the island when S. Malo arrived. The cathedral is of the
14th cent. The choir is very English in character, with a square east
end. The nave is of the 12th cent. but W. front and sides have been
entirely Italianised. The fine central spire was added in 1859, and
was the gift to the town of Napoleon III. The tide at S. Malo rises to
an extraordinary height. At ebb by a causeway the islets of le Grand
and le Petit Bey can be reached. On the nearest are ruins of a castle,
and the tomb of Châteaubriant. On the further is a fort that is not
occupied. In the offing is the island of Cézambre. Here S. Brendan,
when obliged to quit Ireland, founded a monastery, in or about 524;
and when S. Malo arrived about a quarter of a century later, he was
well received by the abbot and monks on it. There are a cave and a
chapel of S. Brendan on the island. But the Government has extended the
fortifications on Cézambre and no one without a special authorisation
is now allowed to set foot on the island. In S. Malo there are a little
museum and a passable library in the Hôtel de Ville. The Breton museum
in the Cassino should be visited. It contains good specimens of local
carved oak, and chambers fitted with lit-clos, and figures in costume.
A flying bridge invented by a native, who invested all his capital in
it, connects S. Malo with S. Servan. S. Servan, Dinard, Paramé, are
watering places.
_S. Servan._ The cité marks the site of the ancient city of Aleth and
the substructions of the early cathedral have been discovered there.
The seat of the bishopric was removed from Aleth to S. Malo by S. John
of the Grate, the Bishop in 1142. The reason for the change was the
insecurity of Aleth, whereas it was possible to thoroughly fortify the
island of Aaron.
_Paramé_ is a watering place, with a low shelving shore, facing north
and miserably cold in winter, dusty in summer, and detestable at all
times, except to such as frequent the gaming tables.
SAINT MÉEN (I.V.) chl. arr. Montfort. A dull town in uninteresting
country. It was the seat of an abbot, head of an important abbey in the
Middle Ages. In 1554, S. Samson of Dol, who was engaged in working up
a revolt against Conmore the Regent of Domnonia, sent his nephew Mevan
across the great central forest to Vannes, probably to consult with
Gildas, and to ascertain whether any assistance could be obtained from
Count Weroch. On his way, Mevan lighted on a clearing in the forest,
where now stands the little town bearing his name. In this clearing
lived a British colonist, named Cadvan, who welcomed him and invited
him to establish a lann hard by and take over the religious charge of
his colony. Mevan agreed, and when Cadvan died, as he had no children,
he bequeathed the whole of his plou to Mevan as well as the lann
already granted. This was the origin of the abbey, and around the abbey
grew the town. The abbey is now turned into a petit séminaire. The
nave of the church was pulled down in 1771. The tower belongs to the
end of the 12th cent. The transept is of the 13th cent. The choir is of
the 14th cent. In the church is the tomb of S. Méen or Mevan, a granite
sarcophagus. A pretty chapel of the 12th cent. turned into a sacristy.
A Holy Well of S. Méen.
* SAINT NAZAIRE (L.I.) chl. d'arr. Is the seventh most important
port in France and is situated at the extremity of a promontory of a
gneiss rock that runs along the bank of the Loire. There is nothing of
antiquity in the place, which is wholly modern and built on a stiff and
formal plan, the houses rivalling each other in ugliness. But there is
one curious object in it, an enormous dolmen in the midst of a square,
that has been spared, and has given its name to the street leading to
it. Five lighthouses guard the entrance of the Loire. From S. Nazaire
a visit may be paid to La Grande Brière, a vast turf deposit, once an
inland lake. The peculiar costume has almost disappeared, only the
women retaining their coiffe. The population of all this district is
British, and the descendants of the very earliest immigrants. The
hair is for the most part fair, the eyes grey or blue. Formerly the
Breton tongue was spoken throughout this district, but it is now spoken
by only about 400 persons in the neighbourhood of Batz by Croisic.
Curiously enough, the villagers of Batz regard themselves as of
different blood from the rest, and to be descendants of Scandinavian
pirates who were suffered to settle there. Till quite recently it was
an unheard of event for a young man of Batz to marry a girl of what he
regarded as the Breton villages. That in colour of hair and eyes there
should be no distinction does not militate against the tradition, for
the pure blooded Celt is as fair as the Scandinavian.
SAINT NICOLAS DU PÉLEM (C.N.) chl. arr. Guingamp. A menhir in the
forest of Kerhuel, and another near Kerhuel, 9 ft. high. In the valley
of Prat-roury another, fusiform, about 11 ft. high. The old Roman
road from Aleth to Carhaix ran through this parish, and it remains in
fairly perfect condition in several places. On a height is the camp
of Dzillon near Kerimard, circular with a tump hollowed out within,
certainly a Norseman burh. The Château de Pélem is in ruins, but two
of the towers are standing. The Church of S. Nicolas has got very fine
restored stained glass of the 14th cent., representing in twenty-four
medallions scenes from the gospel story; at the bottom of the window
the donors are represented kneeling. Another window contains fragments
of medallions representing the life of the Baptist. The roodscreen was
wantonly destroyed in 1861. The Chapel of S. Eloi has a fine flamboyant
east window with remains of stained glass in it. The Chapel of Riolon
is mainly of the 15th cent., and has an east window of the renaissance
with stained glass in it representing the Eternal Father seated in the
midst of a rose, surrounded by the evangelists, the prophets, and
angels playing instruments of music. Another window has fragments of
stained glass in it representing saints.
_Canihuel._ A huge menhir called Coz-resto, 23 ft. high, has been
split by lightning. It is in a line with other menhirs at Kergornec,
Saint Gilles-Pligeaux, and Crech Ogel in the old bourg of Quintin. At
Botquelen is another menhir 13 ft. high.
The parish church was built in 1474, burnt in 1595 and repaired in
1598; it is almost wholly of the 16th cent. with a flamboyant E. window.
_Kerpert._ Church of the flamboyant period; in the E. window glass of
the 16th cent. representing the life of S. Peter; ossuary.
_Lanrivain._ Ossuary and Calvary of 1548. On the platform are several
figures; there are three crosses, the principal one sustains a group of
eleven figures carved in one block.
_Peumerit-Quintin._ Near the hamlet of Pempoul a ruined allée couverte.
The Chapel of S. Jean du Loch is mainly of the 15th cent. but retains
some portions of the earlier 12th cent. building.
_S. Connan._. Near the Mill of Kerdic a ruined allée couverte. Dolmen
in the Parc-an-Neurn.
_S. Gilles Pligeaux._ Two menhirs at Kergornec, one in the
Parc-er-Pélem, is 22 ft. high and leans. The other at four hundred
paces from it, near the bottom of the valley in Parc-ar-golven, is 13
ft. high. They seem to belong to a system of which only some remain,
as Crech Ogel in Vieux Bourg, Coz-resto in Canihuel, and one in the
Lande de Bohan in S. Mayeux. Dolmen called Roc-ar-Velcien, the table
supported by three uprights. The coverer is almost circular, about
23 ft. in diameter. The church is of the 16th cent., tower and porch
of 1644. In the cemetery a chapel dedicated to S. Laurence, with an
entombment in the crypt of terracotta of the 17th cent. Date of chapel
1538.
[Illustration: LE KREISKER, S. POL DE LÉON]
* S. POL DE LÉON (F.) chl. arr. Morlaix. An ancient cathedral town,
but the diocese has been united to that of Quimper. The cathedral has
two western towers and spires and façade of 1st pointed. The nave is
entirely 2nd pointed and has a very beautiful arcade. The cleristory
is quite simple, mostly with 1st pointed windows. The side aisles have
an arcade under the windows. The transepts are double, _i.e._ with
aisles to the east, fine 2nd pointed. The E. aisle of the S. transept
contains very bad flamboyant windows. The choir, ending in an apse,
is flamboyant 1431-50, and contains fine carved oak stalls of 1512.
The choir has double aisles, N. and S. On the N. side is the Chapel of
S. Paul, with his skull, hand, and bell in shrines. The pillars and
vaulting of the S. aisle may be noticed.
The Chapel of Kreisker possesses a tower and spire that are supposed
by Bretons to be the glory of Finistère. It is badly proportioned;
the spire and spirelets overload the summit of the tower. It may be
regarded as curious and a clever bit of architecture, but it is not
pleasing. This tower is central. The windows are all flamboyant
but affect an earlier type. The chapel has triforium and circular
cleristory windows on the S. side but none on the N. There is a noble
N. porch very richly carved. A very rich W. window. The E. window
contains bad modern glass reproducing old figures of Breton saints. The
S. side has an arcade under the windows with small lights pierced at
intervals. There is a good piscina in the S. aisle. The Church of S.
Pierre is now turned into a cemetery chapel. It is 15th cent. but has a
baroque west front. Ossuaries (small) are in the wall surrounding the
cemetery. On the way to Roscoff, just beyond the railway, is an allée
couverte or dolmen.
_Roscoff_ is a quaint place, with an old house or two, situated
near the sea, and commanding the Island of Batz. The church has a
very remarkable renaissance tower and spire (1550), more fantastic
than pleasing, with ships carved on it and cannons or culverins as
gargoyles. It is in three stages with galleries. The church is late
flamboyant. There are two ossuaries; one is very rich. In the church
are preserved the panels of an alabaster retable of the 15th cent. of
Flemish work. The Chapel of S. Ninian in the street is in ruins; it was
erected by Mary Stuart to commemorate her landing at Roscoff, 1548. The
hospital dates from 1573. A Chapel of Ste. Barbe is on a height. P. of
Santec, 2nd Sunday after Trinity. P. of Ste. Barbe, 3rd Monday in July.
P. in the parish church, August 15.
_Sibiril._ The Château of Keronzéré erected in 1458 was restored in
1602.
_Ile de Batz._ It takes a quarter of an hour to cross from Roscoff to
the island, and is only to be attempted when the sea is calm. The tide
here rises 30 ft. But a visit hardly repays the trouble. When Paulus
Aurelianus, a native of Glamorganshire, landed on the west coast of
Finistère, he heard that a kinsman, Withur, was living in these parts,
and had made himself count or chieftain. He went to visit him, and
found him on the Isle of Batz, very old, busy making a copy of the
Gospels with his own hand. Withur received him cordially, and advised
him to settle among the ruins of an old Roman town on the mainland.
Paulus did so, and hence the city of S. Pol de Léon. Legend says that
there was a dragon on the island, which S. Paul tamed by binding his
stole about its neck and then bidding it precipitate itself into
the sea. This is an allegorical way of saying that he put an end to
paganism in Batz. The Toul-ar-Sarpant, where the dragon is supposed
to have haunted, is pointed out, and the stole of S. Paul, a piece
of Byzantine work, is preserved in the church. It is a silk tissue,
with a blue ground worked over with white and yellow, to figure a
set of warriors facing each other, with a sort of turban head-dress
and holding falcons on their wrists, and with a dog between the legs
of each horse. A Romanesque chapel stood on the site of S. Paul's
monastery on the island. This is called the Peniti; the chapel is
ruinous and half-buried in sand. There is a lighthouse on the island.
SAINT RÉNAN (F.) chl. arr. Brest. Pleasantly situated in a woody basin,
through which flows the little stream of the Aberildut. The church has
a Romanesque choir, and a tower and spire, ill proportioned, of 1772.
There are some old and picturesque houses.
_Lanrivoaré._ The church has a tower in two stages and spire of the
usual type but erected in 1727. The church itself is flamboyant.
The chancel is Italian. In the N. transept is a singularly uncouth
flamboyant window. Above the arches into the choir, transept and nave,
the twelve apostles are painted. On the south side of the church is a
walled-in quadrangular space where, according to tradition, a whole
Christian population was massacred by pagans. No certain details exist,
and it is probable that the pagans were the Northmen, who committed
frightful atrocities in Brittany in the 10th cent. In the midst of
the enclosure is the graveyard of the unnamed saints, laid down with
polygonal and various shaped pieces of granite. It is enclosed by a
dwarf wall overlaid with pieces of slate. At the east end is a sort
of altar sustaining a cross and some fragments of carving. Before the
altar lie eight rolled boulders. These are popularly supposed to have
been loaves turned into bread. S. Huarvé asked a woman to give him
bread, and she refused. As a judgment for her hardheartedness all her
loaves were petrified. Actually these pebbles are "cursing stones,"
and such boulders exist in several chapels in Ireland, and are used for
calling down disease or destruction on an enemy. The person invoking
the curse, after a certain number of prayers turns the stone round
seven times. That these pebbles have been so employed is probable, as
the under surfaces of the stones are well rubbed. But happily this
pagan usage is no longer in resort, and the stones remain with only the
childish legend attached to them to explain their presence. S. Rivoaré,
the patron of the church, was a priest, brother of Rivanon the mother
of S. Huarvé or Hérvé, the blind bard saint. It is not unusual to see
pilgrims, also the parishioners of Lanrivoaré enter the enclosure,
take off their shoes and stockings, kneel, and recite prayers and then
pace on the slates thrice about the burial place, taking care to step
on each slab of slate, and omit none. In the village is a curious
stone cross with a clothed figure of Christ upon it. A short walk from
Lanrivoaré leads to the ruined Château of Kergroades, situated in
beautiful woods, with avenues of oak and chestnut. It is difficult to
find, and a guide must be taken. The château is in a charming position;
it is of renaissance architecture throughout, and the court of honour
front is in fair condition. But the gates are locked and admission is
not easily obtained. The patronal feast at Lanrivoaré is on the 3rd
Sunday in October, and P. at the Chapel of Lanvennec the 4th Sunday in
September.
SAINT SERVAN (I.V.) chl. arr. S. Malo; _see_ S. Malo.
SARZEAU (M.) chl. arr. Vannes. Sarzeau is the principal village or town
on the peninsula that bears its name, which divides the sea of Morbihan
from the ocean. That peninsula is some 20 miles long and 6 across, but
it has been much diminished in width by the sea which has eaten away
much of the coast. It is granitic on the west, and schist on the east,
and the granite is of a soft quality, allowing the sea to decompose
and break it up. Thus a parish church of S. Demetri has been engulfed.
A second was built further inland, and that is now almost entirely
surrounded by the sea and threatens shortly to disappear in the waves.
Formerly a forest covered the promontory, now it is sparsely wooded and
trees only flourish on the side toward the inland sea. But the climate
is equable, and vines are cultivated; this is the most northern point
reached by vineyards. Yet wine can only be made once in about three
years, and is not of a good quality. At Cohports is a menhir 12 ft.
high, and a circle of standing stones at Croen-Linden, and dolmens,
more or less ruined, at Noédic, Prat-Fetén, Trest, Kergilét, Brillac,
and Kerbley. An allée couverte 30 ft. long at Clos-Rodus. Gildas coming
from Glastonbury about 520 founded a monastery at Rhuys, and a cell
or peniti at Coetlann, afterwards called the Priory of S. Pabu, but
this has disappeared. In the town is the house in which Le Sage was
born, the author of "Gil Blas" (b. 1668, d. 1747). The church is a
horrible structure, begun in 1670 and ended in 1683. It was formerly
one vast hall, but a couple of ranges of columns were introduced in
1883 sustaining arcades, and qualifying somewhat the internal ugliness.
Externally, the pinnacles are composed of little pyramids resting on
balls.
The Castle of _Sucinio_ was occupied in 1218 by Duke Pierre de Dreux,
and in 1238 their son, Jean I., confined within it the baron Olivier
de Lanvaux, who had rebelled against him. This prince was fond of the
place and several of his children were born there. He took in the
forest about the priory of Coetlann or Saint-Pabu, and the greater part
of the castle that now stands was erected by him. His son John II.
continued the works, and put his treasure in its vaults. During the
War of Succession it was occupied by Charles de Blois, then taken by
Jean de Montfort, and retaken by Du Guesclin. John IV. greatly repaired
the castle, and within its walls was born Arthur of Richemond, future
Constable of France. In 1474 the Earls of Pembroke and Richemond were
imprisoned within its walls. The castle forms an irregular pentagon.
It had eight towers, but of these only six remain. The entrance to the
east is preceded by a drawbridge, and is defended by two large towers,
one of which contains the chapel. The castle, occupied in 1795 by the
Royalists, was sold as national property, and the peasant who purchased
it despoiled it of its roof and staircases, and let it fall into
complete ruin. A fee of one franc per head is charged for admission,
the money being devoted to the relief of the poor of Sarzeau.
_S. Gildas de Rhuys._ Near the ocean; here precipitous cliffs receive
the lashing of the Atlantic rollers. Near the drained marsh of Kerver
is a menhir 12 ft. high. Near the hamlet of Net four others, and the
remains of an allée couverte 70 ft. long and 12 ft. wide; at Clos-er-Bé
a dolmen called Meen-platt, and near Largneven a fallen menhir 15 ft.
long. The Abbey of S. Gildas was founded about 520. Gildas was the son
of Cau, prince of Alcluyd or Dumbarton; Cau and all his family were
driven south by the Picts and Saxons, and took refuge in N. Wales,
where Maelgwn Gwynedd gave them lands, and the sons for the most part
entered into religion. Not so Hywel, the eldest, a quarrelsome man, who
fell out with King Arthur, and lost his life in the quarrel. Arthur
was forced to surrender some lands in Radnorshire to the family as
blood-money, and then Gildas gave him the kiss of peace. Gildas was
a married man and had several sons, amongst whom the most noted was
Kenneth, hermit of Gower, but who came to Brittany with his father and
became a founder there. When aged thirty Gildas settled at Rhuys, and
here he wrote his scurrilous letter against the princes and clergy
and people of Britain, reviling in it in outrageous terms Maelgwn,
who had treated his family with kindness and generosity. Gildas was
on good terms with Weroch, Count of Vannes, and with Conmore, Regent
of Domnonia, and this latter richly endowed his houses. This did not
prevent Gildas from turning against him and heading a revolt which
caused the death of his benefactor. It was whilst Gildas was at Rhuys
that he was visited by S. Brendan. Although the Irish travellers
arrived in cold and snowy weather Gildas refused them hospitality;
but the Irishmen broke down the gates and forced themselves upon the
sour British abbot. Gildas died in 570, and, according to his desire,
his body was placed in a boat and thrust forth to sea. Two months
after the body was washed ashore at Arzon, at the extremity of the
headland, on March 11th, on which day a procession leaves S. Gildas,
annually, and visits the site where it was found. In 818 the monks of
Rhuys were forced by Louis the Pious to adopt the Rule of S. Benedict
and abandon their Celtic practices. In 919 they were forced to fly
from the Northmen. They hid some of the bones of Gildas in sand in his
tomb, but carried away most of his relics, and took refuge in Berry. In
1008, at the request of Geoffroi, Duke of Brittany, Felix, monk of S.
Benoït-sur-Loire, with six others came to Rhuys to restore the ruined
abbey. He rebuilt the church which was consecrated in 1032, and much
of this edifice remains. The church, in the form of a Latin cross, is
composed of two distinct parts, the nave, rebuilt in 1699, and the
choir and N. transept built by S. Felix 1010-32. The choir is apsidal,
with the tomb of Gildas behind the high altar. It is surrounded by
Romanesque columns with stilted arches, surmounted by small 11th
cent. windows. The N. transept also possesses an apse to the east,
and under a low arcade in the N. wall the tombs of S. Felix and S.
Gulstan. On the N. side of the choir on the outside let into the wall
is a curious carving representing two knights on horseback tilting at
each other. The Romanesque capitals rejected when the nave was rebuilt
have been in three cases utilised, by being inverted and turned into
bénitiers; another is thrown outside. A beautiful statue of Gildas by
Vallet stands over the tomb. It is that of a sweet and placable saint,
not of a rancorous and revengeful man. In the S. transept, which was
destroyed by a storm and has been rebuilt, is a huge barbaric retable.
The treasury contains a silver bust containing part of the skull,
and reliquaries for arm and thigh bones of the Saint; some of these
reliquaries are of the 15th cent. There is also a mitre of the 15th
cent. which is erroneously supposed to have been that of Abelard.
The conventual buildings are of the 18th cent. and are occupied by a
religious order which receives female paying guests during the season.
Abelard, born in 1079, became a Benedictine monk in 1117, and was
elected abbot of S. Gildas de Rhuys in 1125. But the strictness of his
rule roused the monks against him. "The life of the monks," he wrote,
"was indisciplined and frightful. The abbey gates were decorated with
the feet of stags, bears and boars. The monks were roused from their
slumbers by no other signal than the hunter's horn and the baying of
hounds. The natives were barbarous and disorderly." The community
revolted against any attempt to bring it to discipline, and Abelard
believed that his life was in danger; he accordingly fled in 1138 and
died at Cluny in 1142.
By following the road behind the church, along the convent walls, the
Chapel of S. Bieuzy is reached, and a path to the right leads to the
little Baie de Portas, where in the rock is an impression like that of
a horse's hoof. Legend says that Gildas left the Isle of Houat on a
flying horse that landed at this spot. A stair cut in the rock leads to
the Baie de Saint Gildas, where is a spring and over it a statue of the
Saint.
_Arzon_ has a modern church surmounted by a spire, and two stained
glass windows recording a vow made in 1673 by some sailors of the
place to S. Anne, during the war with Holland. The Chapel of Er Hroez
marks the spot where the body of Gildas was found. There are circles
of stones at Er-Lannig, and a good many fallen menhirs. At Graniol is
a tumulus containing an allée couverte. Another at Bilgroéz. The Butte
de Tumiac was explored and a covered avenue found in it, but was so
slovenly dealt with that the stones have collapsed.
SCAER (F.) chl. arr. Quimperlé. A dull town, with a vulgar modern
church. At S. Jean, about two miles distant, on a lande, is a fine
menhir. An abundant spring of Ste. Candide supplies the town, but it
has no architectural character. The Chapel of Coatdry is an object of
resort from all the neighbourhood on the occasion of the Pardon, 1st
Sunday after Trinity, and again the last Sunday in September, when very
interesting collections of costumes may be seen.
LE SEL (I.V.) chl. arr. Redon, is without much interest. The church is
modern. The tumulus of Chalonge is covered with trees and surrounded by
a moat.
SIZUN (F.) chl. arr. Morlaix. The church (S. Sulien) has a fine spire
of more simple character than those usually met with in Finistère. The
porch is renaissance. There are in the parish chapels of S. Cadoc and
S. Illtyd. The great Pardon is on the last Sunday in July. The P. of S.
Cado the last Sunday in September, and at Loc Ildut on Corpus Christi
Day. The Chapel of S. Cado is on the Monts d'Arrée.
_Commana._ A fine allée couverte measuring 50 ft. A dolmen and a
menhir. In the church are some gorgeously barbaric altarpieces, a mass
of carving, gilding and colour, of very late renaissance or baroque. P.
last Sunday in July. Those interested in prehistoric remains would do
well to investigate the Monts d'Arrée, over which many are scattered.
A map of the district with the monuments thereon is published in the
_Bulletin de la Soc. d'emulation des Côtes-du-Nord_, T. xxxv. (1897).
[Illustration: TRÉGUIER CATHEDRAL]