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Legends & Romances of Brittany

Chapter 189: I
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About This Book

The volume surveys the legendary life of Brittany, opening with a sketch of its landscape and historical background before compiling folklore, ballads, and regional romances. It examines megalithic monuments and the beliefs attached to them, catalogues fairies, sprites, and other supernatural beings, and gathers folk-tales and popular legends collected from local storytellers. Separate chapters present heroic narratives and accounts of sorcery and the occult, while Arthurian material and medieval lays connected with the region receive focused treatment. The work closes with chapters on saints, customary life, and costume to provide cultural context for the stories.

Edinburgh. The city;

mentioned, 51, 60, 203

Edmund. King of East Anglia;

mentioned, 284

Eliduc, The Lay of. One of the Lais of Marie de France, 305-313

Ellé. A river in Brittany, 19, 332

Élorn. A river in Brittany, 19

Elphin. Son of the Welsh chieftain Urien;

taught by Taliesin, 21

Elves. In Teutonic mythology, diminutive spirits;

the fairy race of Celtic countries may have been confused with, 87

Emerald Coast, The. A district in the southern portion of Brittany, 13

England.

I. The country;

loses its ancient British name, which becomes that of Brittany, 17;

Bretons who accompanied William the Conqueror receive land in, 232;

Bretons invade, from Wales, 234;

claimed as the birthplace of Arthurian romance, 254;

King Arthur moves against the Emperor Lucius’ threatened invasion of, 275;

the existence of King Arthur credited in, in the twelfth century, 278;

Marie de France lived in, 283

400

II. The State;

supports John of Montfort’s claim to Brittany, 31

Enora. See St Enora

Equitan, The Lay of. One of the Lais of Marie de France, 313-317

Erdeven. A town in Brittany;

megaliths at, 42

Ermonie. A mythical kingdom, in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde;

Roland Rise, Lord of, 258;

Duke Morgan becomes Lord of, 259;

Tristrem returns to, 261

Ernault, E. Cited, 16 n.

Eryri, Mount. King Arthur slew the giant Ritho upon, 277

Escoublac. A town in Brittany, 373

Essé. A village in Brittany;

the dolmen of, 53

Estaing, Pierre d’. A French alchemist;

mentioned, 175

Étang de Laval. A lake, supposed to cover the site of the submerged city of Ys, 185

Ethwije. Wife of Geoffrey I of Brittany, 196, 198

Eufuerien. King of Cumbria, 357

Even the Great. Breton leader;

defeats the Norsemen at the battle of Kerlouan, 225, 227

Ewen. Son of Eufuerien, King of Cumbria, 357

Excalibur. King Arthur’s miraculous sword;

given to Arthur in Brittany, 256-257;

Arthur kills the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel with, 277;

mentioned, 280

Exeter. The city;

mentioned, 307

F

Fairies. Credited with the erection of the megalithic monuments, 49-52;

magically imprisoned in dolmens, trees, and pillars, 52;

the fairy lore of Brittany bears evidence of Celtic influence, 54;

the fairies of Brittany hostile to man, 54, 55-56, 85;

the Church the enemy of, 56;

what derived from, in folk-lore, 73-74;

the varying conceptions of, 73;

the Bretons’ ideas of, 74-75;

the fairies of the houles, 75, 88;

the fairies’ distaste for being recognized, and stories illustrating this, 82;

bestow magical sight, 82-83;

and changelings, 83;

prone to take animal, bird, and fish shapes, 83-84;

probable reasons for the fairies’ malevolence, 85-86;

origin of the fairy idea, 85-87;

may have originally been deities, 87;

in Brittany, conceived as of average mortal height, 87;

the Margots la fée, a variety of, 88;

a story illustrating fairy malevolence, 88;

the fairy-woman in the Lay of Graelent, 322-328

Fairyland. Graelent enters, 326;

identified with the Celtic Otherworld, 327;

a place of death and remoteness, 328

Fairy-wife. A folk-lore motif, 327

Falcon, The. A ballad, 196-198

Farmer, Captain George. Commander of the Quebec;

in a Breton ballad, 238

Fays. See Fairies

February. The month;

personified in the story of Princess Starbright, 128-129

Félix. Bishop of Quimper, 337

Feuillet, Octave. A French novelist;

mentioned, 206

Finette Cendron (‘Cinderella’). Mme d’Aulnoy’s story of;

mentioned, 144

Finistère. One of the departments of Brittany, 13;

part of the ancient kingdom of Domnonia, 19;

mentioned, 41, 49, 180

Fions. A name sometimes given to the fairies in Brittany, occurring also in Scottish and Irish folk-lore, 74

Fire-goddess. St Barbe probably represents the survival of a, 334

Fireplaces in Breton churches, 380-381

Fisherman and the Fairies, The. The story of, 80-83

Flamel, Nicolas. A French alchemist;

mentioned, 175

Flanders. The country;

Gugemar in, 292;

mentioned, 145

Fontenelle, Guy Eder De. A Breton leader, associated with the Catholic League, 229-232

Förster, Professor Wendelin. And the origin of Arthurian romance, 254

Forth. A river in Scotland;

mentioned, 357

Forth, Firth of. Mentioned, 356, 359

Foster-brother, The. The story of, 167-172

Foucault, Jean. A Breton peasant;

a story of, 244

Fougères. A town in Brittany;

had a reputation as the dwelling-place of sorcerers, 242

Fouquet, Nicolas. A French statesman;

imprisoned in the castle of Nantes, 205

Four Sorrows, The Lay of the, or The Lay of the Dolorous Knight. One of the Lais of Marie de France, 328-331

Fragan. Governor of Léon, father of St Winwaloe, 370

France.

I. The country;

manners and fashions of, spread in Brittany, 30;

the were-wolf superstition prevalent in, 291

II. The State;

intervenes in the conflict between Brittany and Normandy, 30;

Brittany annexed by, under Francis I, 36

Francis I. King of France;

annexes Brittany to France, 36;

and Françoise de Foix, the Countess of Châteaubriant, 207;

gives the château of Suscino to Françoise de Foix, 210

Franks. The people;

exercised a nominal suzerainty over Brittany, 23;

Morvan fights with, 216-221;

“Morvan will return to drive the Franks from the Breton land,” 224

Franks, King of The. In Villemarqué’s Barzaz-Breiz;

and Morvan’s fight with the Moor, 218-220;

Morvan fights with, 220-221;

the character drawn in the style of the chansons de gestes, 224

Fredegonda. Queen of Neustria;

mentioned, 31

Frémiet, Emmanuel. A French sculptor;

mentioned, 206

Frêne. A maiden;

in the Lay of the Ash-tree, 318-320

Fulbert. A canon of Notre-Dame, Paris, uncle of Héloïse, 249;

mutilated Abélard, 250

Funeral Customs and Ceremonies. In Brittany, 382-384, 386-388

G

Ganhardin. Brother of Ysonde of the White Hand;

in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 271-272, 273

Garb of Old Gaul, The. A song;

mentioned, 237

Gargantua. A mythical giant;

the erection of the megalithic monuments ascribed to, 49

Garlon, The Clerk of. In a legend of the Marquis of Guérande, 199-202

Gavr’inis (‘Goat Island’). An island in the Gulf of Morbihan;

the tumulus at, 48;

nains’ inscriptions on the megaliths of, 98

Gawaine, Sir. One of King Arthur’s knights;

mentioned, 357

Geber. An Arabian alchemist;

mentioned, 175

Geoffrey I. Duke of Brittany, 27;

in the legend of the Falcon, 196

Geoffrey II (Plantagenet). Duke of Brittany, 30

Geoffrey of Monmouth. An English chronicler;

the presentation of Vivien in his work, 69;

and the presentation of Merlin, 70;

acknowledged a Breton source for his work, 255

Gildas. A British chronicler;

fellow-pupil with Taliesin at the school of Cattwg, 21;

St Keenan associated with, 343;

St Bieuzy a friend and disciple of, 345;

the bell of, in the chapel at La Roche-sur-Blavet, 345;

St Bieuzy dies in the presence of, 346;

St Pol of Léon a fellow-student of, 364

Girdle. Superstition of the, 302

Glain Neidr. The sea-snake’s egg or adder’s stone, used in Druidic rites, 247;

Héloïse, represented as a sorceress, said to have possessed, 252

Glasgow. The city;

mentioned, 357, 359

Goelc. A seigneury of Brittany;

a Count of, the father of St Budoc of Dol, 354, 355

Goezenou. A village in Brittany;

the cheeses petrified by St Goezenou preserved in the church of, 369;

holy well at, 382

Goidelic Dialect. A Celtic tongue, 15

Golden Bell, Château of the. In the story of the Youth who did not Know, 111-114

Golden Bell, Princess. In the story of the Youth who did not Know, 110-115

Golden Herb. A plant supposed in Druidical times to possess magical properties, 247-248

Gomme, Sir G. L. Cited, 173, 247 n.

Gorics. A race of gnomes peculiar to Brittany, 87, 98-99

Goulven. A village in Brittany;

historical tablet in the church of, 225

Gouvernayl. Servitor to Tristrem;

in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 263, 264

Gradlon Meur. A ruler of Ys;

in the legend of the city, 185-186;

the statue of, at Quimper, 188-189;

supposed to have introduced the vine into Brittany, 189

Graelent, The Lay of. One of the Lais of Marie de France, 320-328

Grail. Legend of the;

a parallel incident in the Lay of Gugemar and, 301-302

Grallo. King of Brittany;

and St Ronan, 367

Grand Mont. An eminence upon which St Gildas built his abbey, 249

Grand Troménie. The special celebration of the Pardon of the Mountain held every sixth year, 379-380

Granville. A town in Brittany;

women’s costume in, 374

Grifescorne. King of the Demons;

in the story of the Youth who did not Know, 111, 114

Groabgoard. An image at Quinipily, 381

Grottes aux Fées. Name given to the megalithic monuments by the Bretons, 48, 49

Guémené. A town in Brittany, 334

Guérande. A town in Brittany, 198

Guérande. Louis-François, Marquis of;

the story of, 199-202

Guerech. Count of Vannes;

in the story of Comorre the Cursed, 180-181, 183, 184

Gugemar, The Lay of. One of the Lais of Marie de France, 292-302

Guic-sezne. A town in Brittany, 370

Guildeluec. Wife of Eliduc, 306-313

Guillardun. A princess;

in the Lay of Eliduc, 307-313

Guillevic, A. Cited, 16 n.

Guimiliau. A town in Brittany;

the Calvary at, 384-385

Guindy. A river in Brittany, 167, 220

Guinevere. King Arthur’s Queen;

mentioned, 67;

comforted by St Keenan after Arthur’s death, 344

Guingamp. A town in Brittany, 229

Gwen. Mother of St Winwaloe, 370

Gwenaloe (‘He that is white’). The Breton name for St Winwaloe, 370

Gwenn-Estrad. A place in Wales;

battle of, 22

Gwennolaïk. A maiden of Tréguier;

in the story of the Foster-brother, 167-172

Gwénnolé. A holy man;

in the legend of the city of Ys, 185, 186

Gwezklen. The Breton name for Du Guesclin, 32

See Du Guesclin

Gwindeluc. A monk, a disciple of St Convoyon, 335

H

Harp, The. Not now popular in Brittany, but in ancient times one of the national instruments, 228-229

Hatchet of Brittany, The. An appellation of Morvan, 221

Haute-Bécherel. A town in Brittany;

pagan temple at, 342

Head-dress. Of the women of the Escoublac district, 374;

of the women of Ouessant, 374;

of the women of Villecheret, 375;

of the men of Brittany, does not vary much, 375;

headgear of the men of Plougastel, 375;

of the women of Muzillac, 376;

of the women of Pont l’Abbé and the Bay of Audierne, 376;

of the women of Morlaix, 376

See also COIFFES

Heaven. An old Breton conception of, 388, 390-391

Helena, Lady. Niece of Duke Hoel I of Brittany;

carried off by the giant of Mont-Saint-Michel, 275, 276

Hell. In the story of the Bride of Satan, 144;

an old Breton conception of, 388-389

Helléan, Wood of. A former part of the forest of Broceliande, 221, 224

Heloïse. An abbess, beloved of Abélard;

the story of Abélard and, 248-253;

in a Breton ballad represented as a sorceress, 250-253

Hénan. Manor of, in Brittany, 364

Henderson, George. Cited, 52

Hennebont. A Breton château, 206

Henry II. King of England, 30;

identified as the king to whom Marie of France dedicated her Lais, 284

Henry III. King of England;

mentioned, 284

Henry IV. King of France;

and Fontenelle, 231-232;

mentioned, 204

Hersart de la Villemarqué, Vicomte. Writer on Breton legendary lore;

his poem on Nomenoë, 23;

his ballad of Alain Barbe-torte, 25-27;

and a story of the Clerk of Rohan, 190 n.;

his Barzaz-Breiz, 211-212;

stories from his Barzaz-Breiz, 212-237;

indications of the source of his matter, 224-225;

and the story of Fontenelle, 230;

and the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, 237;

on the story of Azénor the Pale, 363, 364;

cited, 57 n., 65 n., 184 n., 247

Hervé. Son of Kyvarnion;

the story of the wolf and, 22;

mentioned, 390

Highlanders. Scottish;

in the story of the Combat of Saint-Cast, 237

Highlands. Scottish;

beliefs in, respecting stones, 52-53;

the ‘Washing Woman’ of, 100

Hildwall. A pious man of Angers;

St Convoyon lodges with, 336

Hodain. A dog;

in the story of Tristrem and Ysonde, 267

Hoel V. Duke of Brittany, 30

Holger. A half-mythical Danish hero;

mentioned, 212

Holmes, T. Rice. Cited, 245 n.

Holy Land. See Palestine

Houles. Caverns;

the Bretons suppose fairies to inhabit, 75

Huon de Méry. A thirteenth-century writer;

on the fountain of Baranton, 71

Hurlers, The. A Cornish legend;

mentioned, 44

I