Memory, invention and the Breton state: the first inventory of the ducal archives (1395) and the beginnings of Montfort historiography

Abstract The general importance of a small group of medieval Breton historians, either employed in the ducal chancery or close to the ruling dynasty, in shaping a view of the Breton past that was favourable to the contemporary policies of the Montfortist dukes of Brittany between the late fourteenth and early sixteenth century has been well explained by recent writers. Mystery, however, still surrounds the identity of the author of the earliest ambitious attempt to recount the duchy's history from remotest times to the present in the Chronicon Briocense, 'Chronicle of St-Brieuc', compiled c.1389–1416. By using evidence that has come to light in the course of editing the first inventory of ducal archives (1395), this article seeks to confirm earlier hypotheses that Master Hervé Le Grant, keeper of the Trésor des chartes, is the most likely candidate as author of the Chronicon. The probability that he is also the main perpetrator of a series of well-known forged documents intended to justify ducal prerogatives which continued to have an impact on how the history of Brittany was written long after the duchy had lost its independence is also explored. Keywords: Brittany Chronicon Briocense Ducal archivesForgeriesHervé Le GrantJohn IVHistoriography Trésor des chartes Notes 1 Jean Kerhervé, 'Aux origines d'un sentiment national. Les chroniqueurs bretons de la fin du Moyen Age', Bulletin de la Société archéologique du Finistère [henceforward BSAF], cviii (1980), 165–206; Jean Kerhervé, 'L'Historiographie bretonne: La naissance de l'histoire en Bretagne: milieu XVe–fin XVIe siècle', in: Histoire littéraire et culturelle de la Bretagne, ed. Jean Balcou and Yves Le Gallo, 3 vols (Paris-Geneva, 1987), vol. 1, 245–71; Jean Kerhervé, 'Entre conscience nationale et identité régionale dans la Bretagne de la fin du Moyen Âge', in: Identité régionale et conscience nationale en France et en Allemagne du Moyen Âge à l'époque moderne, ed. Rainer Babel and Jean-Marie Moeglin (Beihefte der Francia, Bd 39, Sigmaringen, 1997), 219–43. I have not unfortunately been able to consult Dominique Philippe, 'L'histoire en Bretagne du XIVe au XVIe siècle, ou la défense de l'identité' (thèse pour le doctorat de nouveau régime, Université de Bretagne Occidentale Brest, 1988). 2 Pierre Le Baud, Histoire de Bretagne avec les chroniques de Vitré et de Laval, ed. le sieur [Charles] d'Hozier (Paris, 1638). 3 Alain Bouchart, Grandes Croniques de Bretaigne (Paris: Galliot du Pré, 1514). Four further editions were published by 1541 (cf. Arthur de La Borderie, Étude bibliographique sur les Croniques de Bretaigne d'Alain Bouchart (1514–1541) (Rennes, 1889)). Alain Bouchart, Les Grandes Croniques de Bretagne, ed. H. Le Meignen (Nantes, 1886), contains additions made from 1518 to carry the history on from 1488; Alain Bouchart, Grandes Croniques de Bretaigne, ed. Marie-Louise Auger and Gustave Jeanneau, 3 vols (Paris, 1986–97), meticulously re-edits and annotates the first edition. 4 La Chronique de Bretagne de Jean de Saint-Paul, ed. Arthur de La Borderie (Nantes, 1881). 5 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France [henceforward BnF], MS français 8266; Jean-Christophe Cassard, 'Un historien au travail: Pierre Le Baud', Mémoires de la Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Bretagne, lxii (1985), 67–95. 6 Jean Kerhervé, 'La "Généalogie des Roys, Ducs et Princes de Bretaigne" de Pierre Le Baud (1486)', in: Bretagne et pays celtiques. Langues, histoire, civilisation. Mélanges offerts à la mémoire de Léon Fleuriot 1923–1987, ed. Gwennolé Le Menn and Jean-Yves Le Moing (Rennes, 1992), 519–60, including an edition based on the presentation manuscript, Geneva, Bibliothèque publique et universitaire, MS Petau 131; Jean-Christophe Cassard, 'L'Histoire au renfort de la diplomatie: La "Généalogie des roys, princes et ducs de Bretaigne" de Pierre Le Baud (1486)', in: Actes du 107e Congrès national des sociétés savantes (Brest 1982), Philologie et Histoire jusqu'à 1610, t. 2 Questions d'histoire de Bretagne (Paris, 1984), 220–45. 7 Le Baud, Les Chroniques de Vitré, separately paginated 1–81, in Histoire, ed. d'Hozier. 8 Pierre Le Baud, Croniques et ystoires des Bretons, ed. Charles de la Lande de Calan, 4 vols (Nantes, 1907–22). 9 Archives départementales [henceforward AD] d'Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 F 1003, partly described in Chronicon Briocense. Chronique de Saint-Brieuc. Texte critique et traduction, ed. Gwenaël Le Duc and Claude Sterckx, t. 1 Chapitres I à CIX (Paris, 1972), 8. The manuscript had passed through the hands of the great romantic historian Arthur de La Borderie (d. 1901), who refers to it as Vetus Collectio manuscripta de Rebus Britanniae Armoricae. 10 La Chronique de Nantes (570–environ 1049), ed. René Merlet (Paris, 1896), esp. viii–xxv for Le Baud and this chronicle, citing the Vetus Collectio. The notebook also contains important fragments of a controversially dated Legenda sancti Goeznouii which the author of the Chronicon Briocense had earlier used and on which Le Baud was also to draw (cf. Claude Sterckx and Gwenaël Le Duc, 'Les fragments inédits de la vie de saint Goëznou', Annales de Bretagne [henceforward AB], lxxviii (1971), 158–66 and 277–85; Gwenaël Le Duc, 'La translation de Saint-Mathieu, ms 101 du Mont-Cassin', in: Saint-Matthieu de Fine-Terre à travers les âges. Colloque des 23 et 24 septembre 1994, ed. Bernard Tanguy and Marie-Claire Cloître (Plougonvelin, 1995), 49–73; idem, 'La date de la Vita Goeznouei', BSAF, cxxv (1996), 263–81). 11 Cf. note 9 for a partial edition; the most detailed discussion remains Paul de Berthou, 'Introduction à la Chronique de Saint-Brieuc' and 'Analyse sommaire et critique de la Chronique de Saint-Brieuc', Bulletin archéologique de l'Association bretonne, xviii (1900), 67–84 and xix (1901), 3–110. 12 Guillaume de Saint-André, Le Bon Jehan & Le Jeu des Échecs, XIVe siècle. Chronique de l'État breton, Texte établi, traduit, présenté et annoté par Jean-Michel Cauneau and Dominique Philippe (Rennes, 2005), with a comprehensive discussion of problems surrounding Saint-André's identification and the nature of his work, replaces earlier and partial editions: C'est le Libvre du bon Jehan, duc de Bretaigne, ed. E. Charrière as an appendix to his Chronique de Bertrand du Guesclin, 2 vols (Paris, 1839), vol. 2, 421–560, itself replacing the edition which appeared in Dom Gui-Alexis Lobineau, Histoire de Bretagne, 2 vols (Paris, 1707), vol. 2, 693–750, reprinted in Dom Pierre-Hyacinthe Morice, Preuves pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique et civile de Bretagne [henceforward Preuves], 3 vols (Paris, 1742–46), vol. 2, 305–63. 13 Michael Jones, 'A prince and his biographer: John IV, duke of Brittany (1364–99) and Guillaume de Saint-André', in: England and the continent in the middle ages. Studies in memory of Andrew Martindale, ed. John Mitchell with Matthew Morton (Harlaxton Medieval Studies, VIII, Stamford, 2000), 203–17, an English version of 'Un prince et son biographe: Jean IV, duc de Bretagne (1364–1399) et Guillaume de Saint-André', in: Les princes et l'histoire du XIVe au XVIIIe siècle, ed. Chantal Grell, Werner Paravicini and Jürgen Voss (Pariser Historische Studien, Bd 47, Paris, 1999), 178–92. 14 Michael Jones, 'Politics, sanctity and the Breton state: the case of the Blessed Charles de Blois, duke of Brittany (d. 1364)', in: The medieval state. Essays presented to James Campbell, ed. J.R. Maddicott and D.M. Palliser (London, 2000), 215–32 [reprinted in my collected essays Between France and England. Politics, power and society in late medieval Brittany (Aldershot and Burlington VT., 2003), ch. VI]. 15 Saint-André's work was the starting point for Michael Jones, '"Mon pais et ma nation": Breton identity in the fourteenth century', in: War, literature and politics in the late Middle Ages, ed. C.T. Allmand (Liverpool, 1976), 144–68. Cauneau and Philippe's introduction to their new edition also examines Saint-André's portrait of John IV in detail in the light of 'la naissance de l'État breton' (59–88). 16 See n. 9 above. 17 Respectively Paris, BnF, MSS latin 6003 and 9888 (this last used by Lobineau and Morice for their editions). 18 AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 F 1003, passim; a detailed 8-page typescript note by Gwenäel Le Duc attached to a copy of the inventory of the Série 1 F in the Salle de Lecture, Rennes, dated 9 May 1995, summarising the contents of this manuscript, identifies probable borrowings by Le Baud from the Chronicon as well as other sources. Most of the extracts from the Chronicon come from §§ 360–488 of de Berthou's 'Analyse' (above n. 11) but not necessarily in the same order; see also Le Duc's article and the appendices in St-Mathieu de Fine-Terre, ed. Tanguy and Cloître, 313–16 cited above n. 10. 19 Lobineau, Histoire, vol. 2, 833–92 and Preuves, vol. 1, 7–102. Morice explained reasons for omitting parts of the texts thus: Le jugement que l'Auteur porte lui-même de son Ouvrage, nous apprend avec quelle précaution il faut le lire. Il commence d'abord par nous donner la substance de l'histoire de Geoffroi de Montmouth; lorsque cet Auteur lui manque, il compile les Ecrivains Bretons & François sans ordre & sans aucun discernement. Il a inseré dans sa Compilation plusieurs Legendes des Saints & un grande nombre d'Actes, dont quelques-uns sont évidemment faux. Pour éviter les redites, nous avons cru devoir supprimer ici tout ce qui n'est pas de l'essence d'une Chronique, & placer ailleurs les Actes qui méritent attention. As a consequence, both he and Lobineau before him omitted passages which, as will be shown below (pp. 17–19), are important for establishing the possible authorship and date of the Chronicon. 20 At least 34 charters, five papal bulls and a letter from some Cardinals were recognised by B.-A. Pocquet du Haut-Jussé, 'La dernière phase de la vie de Du Guesclin. L'affaire de Bretagne', Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes [henceforward BEC], cxxv (1967), 144–5. 21 I am indebted to an unpublished paper of Kathleen Daly, 'Archives and archivists in France and the Burgundian dominions in the fifteenth century' for a number of references in the following discussion of trésors des chartes. Fuller bibliographical references to princely trésors des chartes mentioned here will also be found in the Introduction to my forthcoming edition cited in n. 31. 22 A magisterial account is provided by Henri-François Delaborde, 'Étude sur la constitution du Trésor des Chartes et sur les Origines de la Série des Sacs dite aujourd'hui Supplément du Trésor des Chartes', in: Layettes du Trésor des Chartes [henceforward Layettes], ed. A. Teulet et al., 5 vols (Paris, 1863–1909), vol. 5, i–ccxxiv. 23 Layettes, vol. 5, xxiii. 24 Layettes, vol. 5, lxxv–lxxix. 25 Henri de Berranger, Guide des Archives de la Loire-Atlantique, t. 1, Séries A à H (Nantes, 1962), 74; Inventaire sommaire des Archives Départementales antérieurs à 1790, Loire-Inférieure, Série E, ed. Léon Maître (Nantes, 1879), 1–102, liasses E 1–E 248 for the current contents of the Trésor with documents ranging from 1030–1514, together with later inventories and finding aids. The earliest mention of 'armoires' in the Trésor at Nantes appears to be in a note scribbled at the end of Hervé Le Grant's inventory of 1395: 'En ceste armoire a en trois poches …' (AD Loire-Atlantique, E 238, unfoliated last half page). 26 Raoul Grimaud, seigneur de Procé, was responsible for the letters in 1509–10 (see the incomplete inventory in AD Loire-Atlantique, E 242) and René de Bourgneuf, seigneur du Cucé, Nicolas Blanchet and Pierre Gautier between 1566–79 for the numbers, which are still of immense value for identifying both surviving documents at Nantes and from the Trésor but now in other repositories or those published (for example in Lobineau, Histoire and Preuves) but subsequently lost (AD Loire-Atlantique, E 243, 397 folios, with marginal annotations by Léon Maître to the liasses in série E at Nantes where originals may currently be found). AA 1 (now in AD Loire-Atlantique, E 105) is a letter of Dauphin Charles granting various lordships to Richard de Bretagne, younger brother of John V, 8 May 1421. 27 Jean Richard, 'Les archives et les archivistes des ducs de Bourgogne dans le ressort de la Chambre des Comptes de Dijon', BEC, cv (1944), 123–69 is the authoritative guide. 28 Daly, 'Archives and Archivists', passim. 29 In addition to the references in n. 25 above, the most comprehensive discussion of early ducal archives is in Lettres et mandements de Jean V, duc de Bretagne [henceforward Lettres de Jean V], ed. René Blanchard, 5 vols (Nantes, 1889–95), vol 1, iii and following. 30 Hidden behind barrels of money in the castle at Nantes, the Trésor was fortuitously spared when no one could be bothered to move them for the Commission du triage (Berranger, Guide des Archives, 4); the fate of the archives of the Chambre des comptes was, however, very different (Berranger, Guide des Archives, 22 and Michael Jones, 'Membra disjecta of the Breton Chambre des comptes in the late middle ages: treasures revisited and rediscovered', in: War, government and power in late medieval France, ed. Christopher Allmand (Liverpool, 2000), 209–20). 31 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 238; for which see also Claire Lagadec, 'Transcription et étude d'un inventaire d'archives de Bretagne XIVe–XVe siècles', Travail d'étude et de recherche en Histoire Médiévale, sous la direction de Monsieur Kerhervé (Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, année 1997–98), a useful preliminary study, providing an Introduction and full transcript, but not attempting to identify the items listed nor provide a serious critical apparatus, for which see Le Premier Inventaire du Trésor des chartes des ducs de Bretagne (1395), ed. Michael Jones (Bannalec, 2007). 32 Blanchard numbers 839 articles (Lettres de Jean V, vol. 1, iv). 33 cf. for the original see AD Loire-Atlantique, E 6 no. 3, May 1366=Preuves, vol. 1, 1607–08. 34 Lagadec, 'Transcription' 32 and 57, numbering each of them separately in her transcription. 35 The earliest is the record of an inquiry by the seneschal of Poitou into the duke's rights to levy customs on the Loire, 24 May 1220 (AD Loire-Atlantique, E 238 f. 18v, no. 200 in my forthcoming edition: Item, une lettre o pluseurs seaux en coues doubles o cire jaune et un seel en cire verte ou a II aigles et flordelis, contenant en la subscription: Que le duc de Bretaingne peut faire ses bans comme il veult en Loyre, the original of which is ibid., E 126 no. 1=Preuves, vol. 1, 846–7). 36 See previous note for a good example. 37 My edition identifies most of Hervé Le Grant's endorsements on surviving originals, though some have been deliberately erased by later archivists and others have faded or been overwritten and are thus frequently illegible. Blanchard first discussed the significance of documents bearing an endorsement Registrata or simply an initial R (Lettres de Jean V, vol. 1, xcviii–xcvix) and I did the same in my Recueil des actes de Jean IV, duc de Bretagne [henceforward Recueil Jean IV], 3 vols (Paris and Bannalec, vol. 1, as evidence for the general of in the Breton I now that in to the of documents into by Hervé Le a general for documents from the a by the introduction at the same point in of chancery see also below and n. will be with the to my edition of the AD Loire-Atlantique, 1, extracts from the lost original of the Recueil Jean IV, vol. 1, for some on Le AD Loire-Atlantique, no. letters of of Nantes, by Le 12 May Le and Le a of an of of a to John IV, on 26 (AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. of Le most is of the of 4 (AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. vol. 2, from the of de he a at Nantes and was present when the to the he had written (Paris, Archives [henceforward no. 26 and on 25 he was present when the duke as of to the of Nantes vol. 2, the of Le and see Michael Jones, and in medieval in: de de ed. 2 vols vol. 2, [reprinted in Between France and ch. Les et des ed. 3 vols (Paris, vol. 3, no. no. Michael Jones, Ducal and following. AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. vol. 2, and Recueil Jean IV, vol. 1, no. the duke's of in which he with or had been into through was first discussed in B.-A. Pocquet du Haut-Jussé, Les et les ducs de Bretagne, 2 vols (Paris and vol. 1, see also Recueil Jean IV, vol. 1, 30 and Jones, AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. vol. 2, and Recueil Jean IV, vol. 2, no. E no. vol. 2, and Recueil Jean IV, vol. 2, no. John de and Charles and Charles and following for Le and an the of of the letters of which John IV and de on 15 (AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 2 no. 1=Preuves, vol. 2, AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. 7 a of 11 of letters of Charles V, 5 the of John IV to before the de to an of seigneur de The of a en le de la to and of in (AD Loire-Atlantique, and for and his in the of Nantes to be on 21 and 20 after the des were first by Blanchard in Lettres de Jean V, vol. 1, to have her in his when original letters of John V, 14 of from his as the duke's were later to the Trésor des chartes for were par Hervé Le de Jehan le et Jehan et Hervé (AD Loire-Atlantique, E 5 no. Jean Kerhervé, de au de l'État in: Actes du 107e Congrès national Questions d'histoire de Bretagne, however, a the identity of when Le in his he is described as or AD A no. 8 and AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 5 no. 2 as he is at Le Grant's on 7 when Hervé a copy of letters of John of duke of 1 that castle be to John IV by the English (AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 12 no. Kerhervé has shown that a was to the ducal as early as may be a of (see also Kerhervé, n. after AD and E no. 9 of John Preuves, vol. 2, and the references to as a date from the and early it may have been the case that his to an that he his Kerhervé, n. is one of the which I have AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. 17 May a by Alain du of de of the of and he also very for John of the of between 24 and 6 with various letters of now from a by Jean de 17 (AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 15 no. des de ed. René Blanchard, 2 vols du and vol. 1, and for John attempt to AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. 7 (cf. Preuves, vol. 2, Nantes, 13 the duke's of now from a copy of (AD Loire-Atlantique, E f. had been John of that is of the the following the of Geoffroi Le of in Ducal and had as is by documents listed in now lost (AD Loire-Atlantique, E 238 f. in my his by 1 a of for the duke (AD Loire-Atlantique, f. no. are not discussed in Pocquet du Haut-Jussé, Les nor in the Histoire de ed. Jean Kerhervé a in AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 5 no. 7 with Guillaume Cf. AD Loire-Atlantique, E 238 f. 14 and no. and no. The the had first been in letters granting John II the of of France, (AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. vol. 1, listed in E 238 f. no. AD Loire-Atlantique, E 24 no. vol. 2, and Recueil Jean IV, vol. 2, no. to John 21 letters of John IV written by Hervé Le at 19 see no. and for other written at on 6 no. Recueil Jean IV, vol. 2, and Le also a of the duke for Charles on 1 MS français no. Jean IV, vol. 2, no. which has no of this was also at AD Loire-Atlantique, E 8 2 and 3 E no. 31 and E 8 11 and 15 26 AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. 4 cf. Preuves, vol. 2, originals AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. 8 and AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 12 no. vol. 2, AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. 18 and E no. 31 vol. 2, and Recueil Jean IV, vol. 2, no. for the original for the Pocquet du Haut-Jussé, 'La dernière AD Loire-Atlantique, E 238 f. C'est des de le duc de Bretaingne en de Hervé le en la de la de Nantes ou de et Lettres de Jean V, vol. 2, after of John now lost letters in later inventories of (AD Loire-Atlantique, E f. and f. AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 12 no. 10 AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. 16 May by de of an with John IV, to the of her A of the the with his on 28 May the que a lui et la a Hervé and Le du le duc et la de (AD Loire-Atlantique, no AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. of the letters that John IV was to to de as of the Preuves, vol. 1, AD Loire-Atlantique, E 126 no. 2, 10 at for John original letters see the and translation into in Arthur de La Borderie and Histoire de Bretagne, 6 vols (Paris and vol. 3, the see AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 F Preuves, vol. 1, various including that in Le de la de ed. (Rennes, AD Loire-Atlantique, E f. As a note on a preliminary by La Borderie the original had folios, the last of which is still VIII, and it currently contains documents ranging from Most of those John of the be found listed in Pocquet du Haut-Jussé, 'La dernière it to Le Grant, but the is and the in which documents earlier that he have been the his work to and of the documents in the AD Loire-Atlantique, E f. des sur les du duc et la à la fin du siècle', in: de Bretagne du Moyen Âge à ed. Jean Kerhervé (Rennes, 1999), for a recent edition and small of 22 folios, with some is mentioned in inventory 238 f. no. Item, le de qui au duc de Bretaingne et en E f. que et are in this for John IV did not the of from it also to the to Charles at on 13 (cf. Recueil Jean IV, vol. 1, and that to Charles at on 27 Paul de Bretagne', is an discussion of this critical AD Loire-Atlantique, E f. la par et de pluseurs des de prince et le duc de Bretaingne que Hervé le Grant, et a en ce pour et de des les en la with some this contains folios, with a by Léon Maître on the The who most of the were Jean and Lagadec, AD Loire-Atlantique, E no. original letters of May granting John the of de letters are listed in the inventory 238 f. no. and into E f. AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 5 no. 3, original letters of John those of the to ducal of Breton that have not come to the de the H. and Registrata which to be the letters in 238 f. no. Item, une lettre o le du en de et cire et en le seel pour ce a which with an endorsement on the original Pour le duc de Bretaigne a and into E f. was still as a in but by (Lettres de Jean V, and by was of Arthur de (Lettres de Jean V, no. of the documents in AD Loire-Atlantique, E were into a later the folios, of chancery AD

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