In this historic town of -Atlantique, precious archives made available to the general public

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Editorial Guérande

Published on

Oct 7, 2024 at 6:30 a.m.

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In this -Atlantique municipality labeled City of art and history, an association puts its precious archives online for free. On the Friends of Guérande website, remarkable and unpublished archives of the Guérande country, since the end of the 14th century, are made available to the general public. An original approach on the scale of and an exceptional opportunity to delve into the rich past of the medieval city of Guérande, particularly through great families.

From peasants to nobles

It is under the leadership of Alain Gallicé, historian, that these elements are made public. We find, for example, an inventory, after death, of Bernard Guegan, a peasant from Saillé from the end of the 14th century, with his house and his garden, his chests, his wooden bowls and his 18 sheep, one of the rare inventories which concern non-noble people.

These archives also evoke noble families, their homes and manors, which were the subject of notarial deeds and cadastral updates.

The Cardinal’s mansion ©Collection Les Amis de Guérande

Great historical value

These local documents have a strong historical and documentary value. They are accompanied by contextualization, without the constraint of having to decipher ancient manuscripts.

They were established from the reforms, a tax census, of the nobles and exempts of the bishopric of , from 1425 to 1513, who, depending on their financial income, had to perform military service for a duration proportional to their wealth, “an unprecedented source, hitherto little exploited”, specifies Alain Gallicé.

The cadastre of the ducal domain of 1441 enriches these archives which are based on colossal documentary research.

Alain Gallicé, historian, linchpin of this archive publication open free to all ©Jean-Pierre Riou

324 noble families before 1532

There is also a dictionary of feudatories from the 16th century. Minutes of a general watch, the review of men in arms, of May 15 and 16, 1532, in Nantes, it lists the owners of a fief who owed faith and homage to the duke, then to the king.

From private archives, it is a military review of the bishopric of Nantes, which concerns the seneschal of Guérande and the barony of La Roche-Bernard, an unparalleled document which contains 324 family biographical notices: the 324 noble families or ennobled and noble families who disappeared before 1532.

Permanent enrichment

These open archives will be gradually enriched.

Josick Lancien, president of the Friends of Guérande.

They may be of interest to all those who are researching these periods and the Guérande region: families, genealogists, but also the curious and those who have an interest in the places and their owners.

Each family record consists of one page, up to dozens of sheets. There we find the Bouchart families, several members of whom were ducal receivers of Guérande in the 14th and 15th centuries, Carné, also represented by recumbent figures in the collegiate church, Sécillon, Villeneuve, Duvergé, du Cardinal, Careil, Drezeuc and even Rieux, the lords of Ranrouët, with an 80-page notice.

The Friends of Guérande also offer news about the association and historical information on their Facebook page.

Useful: amisdeguerande.com

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