Breteil (; Gallo: ''Beurteuil'', ) is a commune in the department of

Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Ill-e-Vilaenn'', ) is a departments of France, department of France, located in the regions of France, region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named a ...

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

. It is located in northwestern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Geography

The river Meu forms the commune's southwestern border. Breteil is part of the canton of Montfort-sur-Meu and the arrondissement of Rennes. The town has 3502 inhabitants and covers 1470 hectares. It is surrounded by the towns of

Montfort-sur-Meu Montfort-sur-Meu (, literally ''Montfort on Meu''; , before 1993: ''Montfort'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in the northwest of France. ...

, Bédée, La Nouaye,

Iffendic Iffendic (; ; Gallo: ''Fendic'') is a commune in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany. It is located in the North West of France. Geography The towns nearby are Montfort-sur-Meu, La Nouaye, Bédée, Pleumeleuc, Saint-Gonlay, Ta ...

, Pleumeleuc, Talensac, Saint-Gonlay.

Population

Inhabitants of Breteil are known as ''Breteillais'' in French.

History

In 1120, Raoul de Montfort included the castle of Breteil in the dowry of his daughter for her wedding to the earl of La Riolaye. The parish of Breteil was created from the division of the former parish of Pleumeleuc in 1122. In this year, the bishop of Aleth consecrated the church of Breteil to

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monks of Saint-Melaine de Rennes. In 1152, the Lord of Montfort-sur-Meu gave two plots of agricultural land in Breteil to the abbey of Saint-Jacques de Montfort to contribute to the monks' activities. In the town centre of Breteil, a priest named Guillaume gave a house to the abbey of

.
Like everywhere in

, particularly Upper Brittany, small farmers had land, but they were usually small areas. Relatively few peasants were economically secure; the others, except for farmers, had to work as day labourers and servants. With 167 servants out of 1271 inhabitants in 1774, Breteil had relatively fewer servants than several neighboring towns. The territory of the parish fell into two jurisdictions: * Breteil and la Riollais * la Touche Parthenay, Launay-Sinan and la Gautrais The

head tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. ''Poll'' is an archaic term for "head" or "top of the head". The sen ...

, the "twentieth" and other taxes were collected by tax collectors who travelled throughout the parish, which was divided into four districts: town centre, the abbey, la Boulais and Painbay.

The French Revolution

On 1 April 1789, inhabitants gathered to write down the register of grievances ahead of the next convention. Seventy-one voters voted for Mathurin Vitré de la Corbinais and Noël Legros to attend the next meeting of the

Estates of the realm The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed a ...

of the jurisdiction of the Sénéchal of Rennes.
In January 1791, none of the parish priests swore an oath to the

Civil Constitution of the Clergy The Civil Constitution of the Clergy () was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that sought the Caesaropapism, complete control over the Catholic Church in France by the National Constituent Assembly (France), French gove ...

; in 1792, with the decree of 26 August and the election of François-Guy Martin as a priest, they were forced to go into exile or hiding, with the help of local farmers.
The presbytery and the lodging of a buyer of ecclesiastical goods were looted on 18 March 1793 by about 300 bandits, later called

chouan Chouan (, "the silent one", or "owl") is a French nickname. It was used as a nom de guerre by the Chouan brothers, most notably Jean Cottereau, better known as Jean Chouan, who led a major revolt in Bas-Maine against the French Revolution. Part ...

s (= royalists). The turmoil sparked by the mass movement of 300 men lasted several days: on 19 March, women and children sound the alarm by hitting bells with hammers, as the fighters had been arrested the day before by the national guard of

. Of the 22 soldiers requested to form the conscript, only 5 men volunteered. The national guard only needed to fire a few times to make the insurgents panic; a dozen ''Breteillais'' were arrested, but most were released the next day.
In 1794, the revolt of the chouans expanded. At La Herdrouais, Jean Éveillard, captain of the national guard, is assassinated on 31 December while resisting people wearing masks and looking for guns. Marie Gallais, his mother, and a half-sister suffered a similar fate on 16 December 1795.

Tourism

Management of tourism in Montfort-sur-Meu is entrusted by

Montfort Community Montfort can refer to: Feudal fiefs and houses * House of Montfort, a French noble house, extinct in the 14th century * Lords, counts and dukes of Montfort-l'Amaury, fief originally held by the House of Montfort * House of Montfort-Brittany, de ...

to the Tourist Office of the district of Montfort.

Buildings and other sights

Buildings

* Saint Malo church The body and the southern side of the church were built during the 16th century; its framework carries an inscription from 1503. The church is noteworthy for its porch, which has a carinated archway. * Chapel of the Abbey This chapel, belonging to the abbey of Saint-Jacques de Montfort-sur-Meu, is built from

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

and puddingstone. * Chapel of La Riolais This chapel seems to have been built during the 17th century, even though the sculpted pediment located at the top of the eastern door seems to date from the 15th or 16th century. Strangely, this chapel is not orientated, for its core is to the south.

Sights

* Pedestrian circuit "Le Pont Rozel" The "Pont Rozel" pedestrian circuit can be walked all year, in any season. It starts at the church of Breteil.

References

External links

* *
Mayors of Ille-et-Vilaine Association
{{authority control Communes of Ille-et-Vilaine