Memory, invention and the Breton state: the first inventory of the ducal archives (1395) and the beginnings of Montfort historiography
2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 33; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/j.jmedhist.2007.07.001
ISSN1873-1279
Autores ResumoAbstract 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, 1980–2001), vol. 1, 34, as evidence for the general practice of registration in the Breton chancery. I now believe that in many instances, these dorsal notes refer to the transcription of particular documents into formularies by Hervé Le Grant himself rather than a general practice for documents issuing from the chancery, a matter confused by the introduction at virtually the same point in 1404 of chancery registers: see also below and n. 76. 38 This will be become even clearer with the annotation to my edition of the 1395 inventory. 39 AD Loire-Atlantique, G 1, seventeenth-century, extracts from the lost original of the inquiry, 23–4. 40 Recueil Jean IV, vol. 1, 38 for some details on Le Fèvre's career. 41 AD Loire-Atlantique, G 117 no. 41, letters of Olivier Salhaddin, bishop of Nantes, drawn up by Le Fèvre, 12 May 1342. Le Fèvre and Le Grant jointly drew up a vidimus of an obligation of Joan, princess of Wales, acknowledging a debt to John IV, on 26 April 1382 (AD Loire-Atlantique, E 209 no. 20). One of Le Fèvre's most impressive vidimuses is of the second treaty of Guérande, 4 April 1381 (AD Loire-Atlantique, E 92 no. 6=Preuves, vol. 2, 301–2). Originally from the diocese of St-Pol de Léon, he latterly enjoyed a canonry at Nantes and was present when the chapter swore to uphold the Guérande treaty he had written out (Paris, Archives Nationales [henceforward AN], J 242 no. 58,Footnote18 26 June 1381) and on 25 March 1383 he was present when the duke as lord of Rays performed homage to the bishop of Nantes (Preuves, vol. 2, 446–8). 42 For the signa of Le Grant and Saint-André see Michael Jones, 'Notaries and notarial practice in medieval Brittany', in: Notariado público y documento privado: de los origenes al siglo XIV, Actas del VII Congreso Internacional de Diplomática, ed. J. Trenchs Odena, 2 vols (Valencia, 1989), vol. 2, 773–815 [reprinted in Between France and England, ch. VIII], plate 4. 43 Les statuts et privilèges des universités françaises depuis leur fondation jusqu'en 1789, ed. Marcel Fournier, 3 vols (Paris, 1890–20), vol. 3, no. 1897 no. 139 (511). 44 Michael Jones, Ducal Brittany, 1364–1399 (Oxford, 1970), 86 and following. 45 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 154 no. 10=Preuves, vol. 2, 231–2 and Recueil Jean IV, vol. 1, no. 322; the duke's practice of protesting in notarial form against decisions which he disagreed with or had been forced into through fear, was first seriously discussed in B.-A. Pocquet du Haut-Jussé, Les papes et les ducs de Bretagne, 2 vols (Paris and Rome, 1928), vol. 1, 403–4; see also Recueil Jean IV, vol. 1, 30 and Jones, 'Notaries', 793–4. 46 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 166 no. 4=Preuves, vol. 2, 547–8 and Recueil Jean IV, vol. 2, no. 646 (19 Dec. 1387); E 166 no. 8=Preuves, vol. 2, 57 and Recueil Jean IV, vol. 2, no. 683. John Bell Henneman, Olivier de Clisson and Political Society under Charles V and Charles VI (Philadelphia, 1996), 120 and following for these events. Le Grant and d'Orenge drew up jointly an instrument recording the bishop of Nantes' attestation of the letters of mutual donation which John IV and Jeanne de Navarre exchanged on 15 February 1388 (AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 2 no. 1=Preuves, vol. 2, 547–8). 47 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 112 no. 12, 7 March 1383, containing a vidimus of 11 January 1367 of letters of Charles V, 5 January 1367, revoking the assignation of John IV to appear before the Parlement de Paris to answer an appeal of Bonabé, seigneur de Rougé. 48 The lease of a house en le grant rue de la Chaucée to Herve and Guillemette, daughter of Jacquet Mauléon, in 1412 (AD Loire-Atlantique, B 1110) and Hervé's establishment two anniversaries for himself and his wife, in the cathedral of Nantes to be celebrated on 21 March and 20 September respectively after the 'Livre des anniversaires', were first indicated by Blanchard in Lettres de Jean V, vol. 1, xc. She even seems to have assisted her husband in his official tasks: when original letters of John V, 14 January 1405, discharging Guy XII, lord of Laval from his position as the duke's guardian (curateur) were later delived to the Trésor des chartes for safe-keeping, they were interestingly endorsed: Recueu par mestre Hervé Le Grant de Jehan Mauleon le XXVIIIe jour d'avrill l'an mil CCCC et cinq presens Jehan Halouart, Estienne Gourbin et Guillemete Mauleon, femme dud. mestre Hervé … (AD Loire-Atlantique, E 5 no. 4). 49 Jean Kerhervé, 'Jean Mauléon, trésorier de l'Épargne. Une carrière au service de l'État breton', in: Actes du 107e Congrès national …, Questions d'histoire de Bretagne, 161–84. There is, however, a slight ambiguity over the identity of Jacquet: when Le Grant delivered instruments in his house, he is usually described as Jacquet Mauléon clericus rather than bourgeois or merchant (e.g. AD Côtes-d'Armor, A 89 no. 8, 8 April 1391 and AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 5 no. 1b, 2 July 1391), as he is at Le Grant's own house on 7 September 1384 when Hervé delivered a copy of letters of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, 1 December 1377, promising that Brest castle would eventually be returned to John IV by the English (AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 12 no. 4). Since Kerhervé has shown that a Jacquet Mauléon was delivering goods to the ducal wardrobe as early as 1387 there may be a question of homonymy (see also next note). 50 Kerhervé, 'Jean Mauléon', 176 n. 70 after AD Loire-Atlantique B 1890 and E 204 no. 9 (debts of John IV); Preuves, vol. 2, 658 and 716–21 (Rohans). Since the references to Jacquet Mauléon as a clerk chiefly date from the 1380s and early 1390s, it may have been the case that his business interests developed to such an extent that he gave up his clerical work. 51 Kerhervé, 'Jean Mauléon', 176 n. 71. 52 Among these is one of the largest instruments which I have seen: AD Loire-Atlantique, E 172 no. 14, 17 May 1383, recounting a certification by Alain du Bois, proctor of Jeanne de Rays, taking possession of the castellanies of Châteaulin, Rosporden and Fouenant; he also drew up another very large instrument for John IV's taking possession of the castellany of Rays between 24 March and 6 April 1383, with various additional letters of commission, now known from a vidimus drawn up by Jean de Rippa, 17 December 1394 (AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 15 no. 4). Cartulaire des sires de Rays, ed. René Blanchard, 2 vols (Archives historiques du Poitou, xxviii and xxx, Poitiers, 1899–1900), vol. 1, xxxiii and civ–cvii for John IV's eventually unsuccessful attempt to acquire Jeanne Chabot's lands. 53 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 88 no. 7 (cf. Preuves, vol. 2, 439–41). 54 Instrument, Nantes, 13 March 1384, relating the duke's acceptance of Thibaud's fealty, known now from a copy of 1405 (AD Loire-Atlantique, E 236 f. 30v). There had been considerable dispute over John IV's exercise of régale, that is enjoyment of the temporalities, during the vacancy following the death of Geoffroi Le Marhec, bishop of Cornouaille, in 1383. Ducal and episcopal officers had clashed violently, as is revealed by documents listed in Hervé's 1395 inventory, now lost (AD Loire-Atlantique, E 238 f. 33v–34v, nos. 336–49 in my edition). Despite his fealty, by 1 September Thibaud acknowledged owing a fine of 1500 l. for offences against the duke (AD Loire-Atlantique, B 12838/1 f. 105v no. 588). These events are not discussed in Pocquet du Haut-Jussé, Les papes nor in the Histoire de Quimper, ed. Jean Kerhervé (Toulouse, 1994), unlike a similar dispute in 1400. 55 AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 5 no. 1d, 7 April 1384, drawn up with Guillaume Morin. 56 Cf. AD Loire-Atlantique, E 238 f. 2r, nos 14 and 17, 5r, no. 48 and 8r, no. 88. The concession over the two cases had first been conferred in Philip IV's letters granting John II the status of peer of France, September 1297 (AD Loire-Atlantique, E 103 no. 4=Preuves, vol. 1, 1122–33, listed in Hervé's inventory, E 238 f. 1v, no. 8). 57 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 24 no. 5=Preuves, vol. 2, 496–8 and Recueil Jean IV, vol. 2, no. 559 (as witness to John IV's will, 21 October 1385). 58 For letters of John IV written by Hervé Le Grant at Montfort l'Amaury, 19 August 1383, see AN, J 243 no. 48 and for other written at Paris on 6 November 1383, AN, J 243 no. 674 (= Recueil Jean IV, vol. 2, nos 459 and 465). Le Grant also wrote a quittance of the duke for Charles VI on 1 February 1384 (BnF, MS français 20590 no. 28=Recueil Jean IV, vol. 2, no. 482) which has no place of issue although this was also almost certainly at Paris. 59 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 8 nos 2 (15 January 1392) and 3 (24 Jan. 1392), E 110 no. 31 (26 Jan. 1392), and E 166 nos 8 (15 Jan. 1392), 11 and 15 (both 26 Jan. 1392). 60 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 167 no. 4 (15 Dec. 1394); cf. Preuves, vol. 2, 641–2. 61 Two identical originals survive: AD Loire-Atlantique, E 115 no. 8 and AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 12 no. 9=Preuves, vol. 2, 450–6. 62 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 112 no. 18 and E 115 no. 7, 31 July 1391,=Preuves, vol. 2, 576 and Recueil Jean IV, vol. 2, no. 785, for the original commissions for the envoys. 63 Pocquet du Haut-Jussé, 'La dernière phase', 145. 64 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 238 f. 1r, C'est l'inventoire des lettres de Monseignour le duc de Bretaingne baillées en garde de Maistre Hervé le Grant en la Thesaurerie de la Tourneuve de Nantes ou moys de Juign l'an mil troiscens quatrevigns et quinze. 65 Lettres de Jean V, vol. 2, nos 1221–2 after mentions of John V's now lost letters in later inventories of 1430 (AD Loire-Atlantique, E 239 f. 20) and 1450 (E 240, 9e cahier, f. 1). 66 AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 12 no. 9, 10 February 1396. 67 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 172 no. 18, 16 May 1399, ratification by Jeanne Chabot, dame de Rays, of an agreement with John IV, leading to the restitution of her seigneury. A vidimus of the sentence delivered against the duke, with his ratification, on 28 May 1399 carries the endorsements: Me que G. Coglais a porté avecques lui l'original et la doit raporter a Hervé and Le Vidimus du treité d'entre le duc et la dame de Rais (AD Loire-Atlantique, E172 no 20). 68 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 166 no. 16, vidimus of the king's letters stating that John IV was obliged to deliver rents worth 10,000 l. to Jean, comte de Penthièvre, as part of the settlement. 69 Preuves, vol. 1, 1216. 70 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 126 no. 2, 10 June 1397 at Quimperlé; for John I's original letters see the facsimile and translation into French in Arthur de La Borderie and Barthélemy Pocquet, Histoire de Bretagne, 6 vols (Paris and St-Brieuc, 1896–1914), vol. 3, 337–8. For the original, see AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 F 1109 (= Preuves, vol. 1, 914–15); various cartulary copies survive including that in Le cartulaire de la seigneurie de Fougères, ed. Jacques Aubergé (Rennes, 1913), 154–6. 71 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 55 f. 40v–42v. As a note on a preliminary folio by La Borderie states, the original register had 148 folios, the last of which is still numbered VIIXX VIII, and it currently contains 85 documents ranging from 1240–1456. Most of those pre-1395, like John I's banishment of the Jews, can be found listed in Hervé's inventory. Pocquet du Haut-Jussé, 'La dernière phase', 145 erroneously attributes it to Le Grant, but the hand is mid fifteenth-century and the sequence in which post-1416 documents juxtapose earlier ones shows that he cannot have been the final compiler even if his work contributed to preserving and ordering many of the documents contained in the register. 72 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 132 f. 6r–17v; Frédéric Morvan, 'Le Livre des Ostz (1294). Un éclairage sur les rapports du duc et la noblesse à la fin du XIIIe siècle', in: Noblesses de Bretagne du Moyen Âge à nos jours, ed. Jean Kerhervé (Rennes, 1999), 37–88 for a recent edition and commentary. This small volume of 22 folios, 160x230mm., with some rubrication, is mentioned in Hervé's inventory (E 238 f. 79r no. 837, Item, le papier de celx qui doivent host au duc de Bretaingne et est ledit papier en parchemin). 73 E 132 f. 18r–19v, Forma homagium seu submissionis Britannie facti per illustrissimum principem dominum Johannem Britannorum ducem comitem que Montisfortis et Richemondie illustrissimo principi domino Karolo Regi Francie anno domini Mmo tricentisimo LXVIo die XIIIa mensis septembris Parisius. There are several anachronisms in this title: for instance, John IV did not receive the earldom of Richmond from Edward III until 1372; it also seems to conflate the homage to Charles V at Paris on 13 December 1366 (cf. Recueil Jean IV, vol. 1, nos 88–9) and that to Charles VI at Compiègne on 27 September 1381 (ibid., nos 388–9). Paul Jeulin, 'L'hommage de Bretagne', AB, xli (1934), 380–473 is an exhaustive discussion of this critical matter. 74 AD Loire-Atlantique, E 236 f. 5r, Cy ensuit la tenour par vidimus et copie de pluseurs des lettres de tres excellent prince et seignour monseignour le duc de Bretaingne que maistre Hervé le Grant, tresorier et garde d'icelles, a fait escripre en ce livre pour l'utilité et profit de mondit seignour des quelles ensuit les rebriches en la forme si apres contenantes. Carefully written, with some rubricated initials, this large quarto volume, 290x335mm., contains 114 folios, with a modern index added by Léon Maître on the previously blank folios 97–102. The notaries who completed most of the volume were Jean Halouart and Jamet Lamoureux. 75 Lagadec, 'Transcription', 33. 76 For example, AD Loire-Atlantique, E 103 no. 7, original letters of Louis X, May 1316, granting John III the castellany of St-James de Beuvron, endorsed Scripta est, Herveus. These letters are listed in the 1395 inventory (E 238 f. 1r, no. 4) and transcribed into E 236 f. 33r. Similarly AD Ille-et-Vilaine, 1 E 5 no. 3, original letters of King John II, July 1352, ratifying those of Philip VI, June 1328, ordering the return to ducal courts of all Breton cases that have not come to the Parlement de Paris via the Grands Jours, endorsed Scripta est, H. and R. Registrata which seem to be the royal letters inventoried in 1395 (E 238 f. 3v, no. 36, Item, une autre grant lettre o le grant seau du roy en laz de soye et cire vert et cousu en toile le dit seel pour ce qu'il estoit cassé contenant: Ut a senescallibus ipsius appelletur ad parlamentum suum, which compares with an endorsement on the original Pour le duc de Bretaigne ut a senescallis ipsius appeletur ad parlamentum suum.), and then copied into E 236 f. 33r. 77 Halouart was still active as a secretary in 1420 but dead by 1438 (Lettres de Jean V, nos. 1411 and 2303), while by 1420 Lamoureux was treasurer of Arthur de Richemont (Lettres de Jean V, no. 1418). 78 Many of the documents in AD Loire-Atlantique, E 236 were copied out again into a later volume covering the years 1220–1451 (E 113, 96 folios, paper) during another intense period of chancery activity around 1450. 79 AD Loire-At
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