Milizac (; ) is a former commune in the

Finistère Finistère (, ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. Its prefecture is Quimper and its largest city is Brest, France, Brest. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.department of

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 ...

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 ...

. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Milizac-Guipronvel. Milizac lies along the D38 road about halfway between

Saint-Renan Saint-Renan (; , ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. History The city is named after the Irish Saint Rónán who came in the 5th or 6th century to evangelize the area. While Brest was still a v ...

and

Bourg-Blanc Bourg-Blanc (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Population Inhabitants of Bourg-Blanc are called ''Blanc-Bourgeois'' in French. See also *Communes of the Finistère department *List of the wor ...

, northwest of Brest. It contains a 17th-century parish church dedicated to

Saint Anne According to apocrypha, as well as Christianity, Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's Gosp ...

, the Ecole Marcel Ayme, and a memorial dedicated to 95 local people who lost their lives in various wars.

Geography

The former commune is spread over an area of . Its elevation ranges from . The nearest larger towns are

Guilers Guilers (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Population Inhabitants of Guilers are called in French ''Guilériens''. Breton language In 2008, 7.02% of primary-school children attended bilingua ...

(5 km to the south) and

(6 km to the southwest). The village was once covered by thick forest in the wastelands of the moors and marshes. Vegetation consisted of

gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are na ...

broom A broom (also known as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool, consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. It is thus a ...

and heather.

History

The name Milizac has several other spellings, such as Milizac, Milisac, Milizag, Mélisac or Mélizag. It was the name of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

centurion In the Roman army during classical antiquity, a centurion (; , . ; , or ), was a commander, nominally of a century (), a military unit originally consisting of 100 legionaries. The size of the century changed over time; from the 1st century BC ...

who commanded a Gallo-

Roman Military The military of ancient Rome was one of largest pre-modern professional standing armies that ever existed. At its height, protecting over 7,000 kilometers of border and consisting of over 400,000 legionaries and auxiliaries, the army was the m ...

establishment (''fundus militiacus'') in Brittany. The French Revolution was a disturbing time for the residents of Milizac. There were several significant events, such as the installation of the Municipal Assembly in 1789 and the first City Council meeting in 1790. Religious persecution occurred in 1791 and the Supplication of the Faithful to King Louis XVI in the following year. Signposts were changed to crosses and crucifixes in 1794 while the freedom of worship in the town and the Oath to the Municipality is dated to 1795. In the mid-1870s, a local committee gathered to discuss surtaxes on alcohol and

absinthe Absinthe (, ) is an anise-flavored Liquor, spirit derived from several plants, including the flowers and leaves of ''Artemisia absinthium'' ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. His ...

as the law which authorized the collection of the surtax ceased being in effect on 31 December 1873. A special resolution was recommended to extend the surtax as its proceeds were an important financial resource for Milizac. Without the surtax, the village could not fulfill its commitments or pay for the maintenance of the town hall, reconstruction of the boys' school, the restoration of the cemetery wall, and rural road improvements. Municipal advisers ruled in favor of the surtax system on 15 February 1874. The passed bill, in effect from January 1875 until 31 December 1879 inclusive, applied a surcharge of 20 fr. per hectolitre of pure alcohol in spirits and liqueurs as well as per hectolitre of absinthe. During World War II the commune was under German occupation from 24 June 1940 until 27 August 1944. A total of 29 were killed in the town, including six

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

soldiers who were killed and buried in Milizac (five British and one Canadian). The streets and squares of the commune were given names on 16 January 1973. The official

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

for the commune was awarded on 22 January 1974.

Coat of arms

The municipal coat of arms is dated to the 17th century, representing the noble families of Kéranflec'h (1448) and Manor Curru (Roue Pharamus Kernezne from 1238 to 1689). It is mounted on two willow branches and the top of the shield bears the motto in Breton: ''War Atao Zao'' (Still standing). The left side of the coat of arms has three wavy bars in

azure Azure may refer to: Color * Azure (color), a hue of blue ** Azure (heraldry) ** Shades of azure, shades and variations Arts and media * ''Azure'' (Art Farmer and Fritz Pauer album), 1987 * Azure (Gary Peacock and Marilyn Crispell album), 2013 * ...

surmounted by two cockle shells commemorating an ancestor of the Kéranflec'h family's having made the pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James of Compostella at

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. A black lion with a golden crown adorns the right half.

Landmarks

The 18th-century church is parish church dedicated to St Anne. The

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

is decorated with stained glass depicting St

Paul Aurelian Paul Aurelian (known in Breton as Paol Aorelian or Saint Pol de Léon and in Latin as Paulinus Aurelianus) was a 6th-century Welshman who became first bishop of the See of Léon and one of the seven founder saints of Brittany. He allegedly die ...

and St

Corentin of Quimper Corentin of Quimper (Corentinus; in Breton, ''Kaourintin'') (d. 460 AD) is a Breton saint. He was the first bishop of Quimper. Corentin was a hermit at Plomodiern and was regarded as one of the seven founding saints of Brittany. He is the pat ...

, patrons of the diocese. In the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

are two side altars. The aisles are separated from the nave by columns, connected by semicircular arches. The very slender tower has two galleries which surround the rooms with bells. On the corner of each gallery, a

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was main ...

is connected to the tower by a

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

. The four corner

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

s are cantilevered over a molded cornice. 16 Milizac Le monument aux morts

Other landmarks include the Ecole Marcel Ayme, the ruins of Faramus castle (also known as Curru, or Kurru castle) whose coat of arms included a silver lion crowned with gold, and a memorial dedicated to 95 people who lost their lives; 70 in World War I, 24 in World War II, and 1 in the

Algerian War The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

. Improvements to the public spaces in the town have been an issue of debate in the meetings of the town council held on 27 July 2011. Work commenced on the streets of General de Gaulle, Lamennais, Treg and Leon in August 2011, involving provision of footpaths, parking space, cycleway, road signs and traffic lights. The changes were due to be completed by December 2012.

Population

Inhabitants of Milizac are called in French ''Milizacois'' and ''Milizacoises''. Its population was 3,923 in 2022. There were 1,341 dwellings in the commune in 2012 out which 1,244 were principal residences.

Breton language

The municipality launched a

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...

linguistic plan through

Ya d'ar brezhoneg (, ) is a campaign started in the 21st century by the () to promote and stimulate the use of the Breton language in daily life in Brittany, northwestern France. Breton is a Brythonic Celtic language which has fallen out of general use since the ...

on 31 May 2005. In 2008, 7.52% of primary-school children attended bilingual schools. ''Ofis ar Brezhoneg''
''Enseignement bilingue''
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Geography

History

Coat of arms

Landmarks

Population

Breton language

Notable people

See also

References

External links