Brittany 16

Brittany 16

GUÉRANDE (L.I.) chl. arr. S. Nazaire. An interesting town

surrounded by its machicolated walls of granite, erected in 1431 by

John V., and flanked by ten towers. There are four gates; that of S.

Michel is a veritable fortress in itself defended by two lofty towers.

The Church of S. Aubin is of the 12th and 16th cents., and has two

porches, and an external pulpit of stone of the 16th cent. Within the

church the pillars have carved Romanesque capitals. There is good

glass of the 16th cent. N.D. la Blanche is a graceful chapel, erected

in 1348 by Jean de Montfort. A menhir with cup-markings at Escoblac.

Dolmens at Kerléour, Kerlo, and Sandun. A circle of stones at Kerbourg.

Guérande is a good place for a botanist to stay at who desires to study

the flora of the saltmarshes on one hand, and of the Grande Brière on

the other. The production of salt goes on largely in the salines, and

is carried on by private owners. It requires about 40 consecutive dry

days between June and September to evaporate the water. The annual

production averages 6600 tons. The Grande Brière is divided into 17

communes, and is a vast freshwater peat bed occupying the basin of an

ancient lake.

 

_S. Lyphard_ was a Roman station at the point where the lake of La

Brière formerly discharged into the sea. The church is of the 11th

cent. The peasants of the Bruyère wear a peculiar costume, and are true

Bretons.

 

LA GUERCHE (I.V.) chl. arr. Vitré. The church, of which portions belong

to the 13th and 14th cents., contains some old stained glass. At 2

kilometres to the S. is the Church of Rannée, in part Romanesque.

 

GUICHEN (I.V.) chl. arr. Redon. Old chateaux at Gaylieu and

Gressillonnoye.

 

HÉDÉ (I.V.) chl. arr. Rennes. Ruins of the castle on a rock. The church

is Romanesque. _S. Gaudran_, good glass of the 17th cent. in the

church, and two silver reliquaries of the 12th cent.

 

HENNEBONT (M.) chl. arr. Lorient. Prettily situated on the river

Blavet. The town is divided into the Ville Clos within its ancient

walls and the new town. A bridge connects them. The old town was

fortified by Duke Jean I. (1237-86). It played a signal part in the War

of Succession. Jean de Montfort had secured the place. At the end of

May 1342, Charles of Blois laid siege to it. Within was the Countess

Jeanne, who held out with determination, set fire to the camp of the

enemy, and leaving the town unperceived threw herself into Auray,

where she gathered reinforcements which she introduced into Hennebont

without the feeble Charles being aware what she was about. At last

provisions failed, and the magistrates insisted on capitulation. The

countess entreated for a couple of days' delay, and at the last moment

saw gleaming in the west on the sea the sails of an English fleet sent

to her relief. Charles hastily retreated, but again a few months later

laid siege to the place. He was, however, again repulsed. The parish

church (N.D. de Paradis) on the further side of the river. It is the

principal monument in Hennebont, and was erected in 1514-24, and is

consequently flamboyant before it sank in debasement. The W. front is

light and graceful and has a porch and a tower flanked by a couple

of turrets tied to it by galleries sustained on flying buttresses.

The spire rises to 150 feet. The choir ends in an apse lighted by two

stages of windows. A procession takes place on the last Sunday in Sept.

in commemoration of the cessation of an epidemic in 1699. The chapel of

S. Antoine is partly Romanesque.

 

_Kervignac._ A fine dolmen near the road from Hennebont to Landévant.

On the south, near Kermadio, is another. A third, small, near Lopriac.

This is one of the most ancient parishes in the diocese of Vannes. It

is mentioned as early as the 6th cent. At this time a cloud of locusts

came down on the country, and the Count Weroch, fearing famine, sought

Gunthiern, a refugee king of Gwent, who had settled at Quimperlé and

was in great repute for his austerities. Gunthiern gave water he had

blessed to the envoys of Weroch, and this drove the locusts away. In

return for this favour, Weroch granted to Gunthiern the plou of Vineac.

The Chapel of N.D. de la Clarté is of the 15th cent. That of S. Laurent

contains some remains of the screen. A Holy Well of S. Gildas is still

in request in the hamlet of Kanden.

 

* HUELGOAT (F.) chl. arr. Châteaulin. A picturesquely situated

townlet at the extremity of a lake that discharges amongst masses of

granite down a ravine. The ruinous condition of the granite is not due

to earthquake or to glacial action as supposed by some, but to its

composition. It contains a large amount of soluble silicate of potass.

This disappears under the action of the rain and the granite crumbles

away. Huelgoat is four miles from the nearest railway station. The

road is through the valley of the Argent, between pine-clad hills. The

granite here encounters the schist. The church is a mean renaissance

structure, but the Chapel of N.D. des Cieux is more interesting. It is

of the 16th cent. and contains some old glass of the period. A camp on

a height above the town is attributed to King Arthur.

 

_S. Herbot._ A chapel in the parish of Loqeffret is a picturesque

structure at the roots of the Monts d'Arrée. A stream here falls in

a pretty cascade 400 feet over rocks, and at no great distance from

the chapel are the inconsiderable remains of the renaissance Château

de Rusquec. The Chapel of S. Herbot is actually a large church and

merits attentive study. It possesses a fine square tower without spire

or pinnacles. The date is 1516. The W. front is fine. Throughout, the

carving of the granite is admirable, the foliage is treated with great

boldness. The tower of S. Herbot seems to have served as a model for

that of Carhaix, which is a few years later. On the south is a deep

porch also well sculptured, with the apostles within, and 24 little

statues in the arcade of the entrance. The date of the porch is 1498.

The apse is flamboyant like the rest of the church, but the buttresses

are later additions in 1618 and 1619. The interior is adorned with a

beautiful renaissance screen and returned stalls, but no roodloft. On

the W. face the twelve apostles, on that inside the minor prophets and

the sibyls. In the chancel is the tomb of the Saint, a hermit of whom

nothing authentic is known. It is a work of the 15th cent. There are

some old stained glass windows. That on the S. at the E. end represents

S. Yves between a rich man and a poor suitor. The date is 1556. The

central window contains the story of the Passion, that on the N., S.

Laurence on the gridiron. The date 1556, which is also probably that

of the central window. Outside the screen are two altars piled up

with cows' tails. These are offered to the Saint. Formerly they were

hung about the sanctuary. There is a little ossuary on the W. side of

the porch. The E. window is of earlier character than the rest in the

church, and is of the same character as that of Pont l'Abbé with a

transom supporting a rose. Most of the windows testify to the decline

of flamboyant, when the flames assume a tadpole form and the lights are

uncusped. In the churchyard is a Calvary.

 

_Brennilis_ has a church with tower and W. façade of 1485. There

are two windows of good old glass representing the Conception, S.

Christopher, and a monk. Also the life of the Virgin. The church

possesses a processional cross of 1650.

 

JANZÉ (I.V.) chl. arr. Rennes. The church is partly Romanesque. In the

suburbs a menhir with a hole cut in the face to receive an image of the

B.V.M.

 

_Essé._ Here is one of the finest covered avenues in Brittany. It

consists of a main structure with an ante-chamber, and is divided

within into compartments. The total length is 43 feet.

 

[Illustration: LA ROCHE AUX FÉES, ESSÉ]

 

JOSSELIN (M.) chl. arr. Ploermel. The capital of the ancient county

of Porhoet (Poutre-coet = the land beyond the wood). The story goes

that once upon a time a workman here found an image of the Virgin in

a bramble bush. As it soon established its character as miraculous,

a town sprang up about the sanctuary. Guethenoc, Count of Porhoet,

planted a castle here and called it after his son, who completed his

father's work in 1053. The castle became the headquarters of the counts

and then dukes of Rohan. The original castle had been taken in 1168

by Henry II. of England, and utterly destroyed, but it was rebuilt by

Eudes II. in 1173, and was held throughout the War of Succession by the

partisans of Charles de Blois. In 1370 it was acquired by Olivier de

Clisson, when fresh fortifications were added, notably the keep. Alan

IX. Viscount, (1429-62) constructed the beautiful front towards the

court. Richelieu had the towers and about half the castle blown up, in

1629, and in 1760 the duke himself pulled down two more towers.

What remains of the castle has been most carefully and tastefully

restored by the present duke, who graciously allows it to be shown to

visitors. The front to the river which bathes its walls is furnished

with three towers resting on the rock, and gives some idea of what the

castle must have been when complete. The inner façade that looks upon

what was the Cour d'honeur is a superb example of domestic architecture

in the 15th cent., already under the influence of renaissance ideas.

The ten gables of the dormer windows are connected by a balustrade

of the richest design, greatly varied, but repeating the device of

the Rohans, A Plus. The Church of Notre Dame was originally late

Romanesque, and still retains pillars and a window of the period,

but the bulk of the church is much posterior. The choir and lateral

chapels and the crossing of the transepts date from 1390-1407. The rest

of the church is later still. The N. transept was added in 1491. In

this church, in 1351, the Franco-Breton company of Thirty made their

communion before meeting in deadly combat the Anglo-Bretons of the

same number at the cross of Mi-voie. They made a vow before the statue

of S. Cadoc that still remains in the church. In Notre Dame is the

tomb of Olivier de Clisson, 1507, who married Marguerite de Rohan. An

"indulgenced" procession takes place here on Whitsun-Monday. Formerly

it was accompanied by barking women, taken with hysterical excitement

which made them utter sounds like the barking of dogs. This phenomenon

first appeared in 1728 and was renewed annually. Nothing of the sort

takes place now. The bold square tower is of the 17th cent. with

picturesque slate cap. A new tower and spire are being added at the E.

end. This is well enough, if the old tower be left, and the grouping

will be effective; but if the latter be pulled down as is proposed, the

new spire will be a poor substitute. Inside the church on the right

hand is a niche containing a skull to which the peasants make offerings

of grain, to cure headaches. None know whose skull it is, but it has

recently been enclosed in a wooden silvered bust of S. Laurence.

 

[Illustration: THE COURT, JOSSELIN]

 

The priory church of Ste. Croix is of the 11th cent. Romanesque. S.

Martin's was erected in the 12th cent. and is now a ruin. In 1793

the Republican garrison of Josselin swept the country to capture the

priests, and was fallen upon and defeated by the exasperated peasantry.

In 1795 they burned the church of Guegon and smashed the Calvary, but

were again attacked and driven off by the peasants.

 

The famous Battle of the Thirty took place on the _Lande de Mi-Voie_,

between Ploermel and Josselin. The English-Bretons were under Captain

Bramber or Bemborough, and the French-Bretons under the Sire de

Beaumanoir, governor of Josselin. Although it has been regarded as a

battle between English and French, there were actually but three or

four of English nationality on the De Montfort side, the rest were

Gascons, Angevins and Flemings. Success would perhaps have been with

the Anglo-Bretons, had not one of the French perfidiously violated the

rules laid down before the engagement, mounted his horse and by this

means broke the Anglo-Breton line.

 

The country around is well-wooded and pretty. The town is dirty and ruinous.