Tréguier Cathedral

An icon depicting Saint Tugdual

The existence of this fine cathedral in what is effectively a small town is due to the fact that Tréguier was to become a place of pilgrimage for two men; Saint Tugdual, a Welshman and Saint Yves. We should however, note that Tréguier is no longer the seat of a bishop, the bishopric having been abolished in 1801 when it was divided between the diocese of Quimper and Saint-Brieuc. However the church is still referred to as Tréguier Cathedral.

In was in the 6th-century that Anglo-Saxon invasions caused Saint Tugdual to leave Wales and settle in Brittany. Tugdual had been a pupil at the monastery of Llanwit Major founded by Saint Iltud, but now, with his mother and several fellow monks, he braved the seas and settled in Brittany at a point where the rivers Guidy, Jaudy and their estuary joined and eventually and in around 532, founded a monastery there which he called "Landreguer" ("the monastery of three rivers") and around this monastery and the village of Minihy grew what was to eventually be the town of Tréguier. Tugdual was made a bishop by the Breton king, King Childebert and from the Landreguer monastery emerged a cathedral dedicated to Saint André (Andrew).

The Norman invasions of the 9th-century saw Tréguier and the cathedral ravaged so much that the then bishop, Monseigneur Gorennan, fled and had Tugdual's body moved to Chartres. There was no bishop in residence for 90 years, but finally, the invaders were forced out by Alan II, Duke of Brittany

The bishopric of Tréguier was created in 950 but the first bishops had to be content with a cathedral made from wood until in around 970 Bishop Gratias encouraged the building of a new cathedral in the Romanesque style. Of this building all that is left today is the north transept tower known as the "Hastings" tower, named rather strangely after one of the leaders of the Norman invaders, and some of the internal columns or pillars.

It was in 1339 that construction of the Gothic cathedral was started, this during the bishopric of Richard de Poirier. Work commenced with the West Porch but only two years later the War of Breton Succession forced further building to be halted. Brittany was to be exhausted and ruined by this war, fought between the de Blois and de Monfort families, the former assisted by the French and the latter by the English. In 1345, the English invaded the area and used the cathedral as part of their garrison destroying much of the building in the process save for the tomb of Saint Yves which they left untouched. The Treaty of Guérande finally brought the fighting to a halt and this allowed the building work to be restarted, firstly from 1363 to 1371 during the bishopric of Bishop Begaignon when the nave and side-aisles were completed as well as the "porche du Peuple" and then during the bishopric of Bishop Morelli between 1385 and 1400. Morelli's coat of arms can be seen in the vaulting keystone of the second choir crossing.[1][2][3]

A view of the cathédrale Saint-Tugdual in Tréguier. Note the north flank of the choir, the spire of the "Tour des Cloches", the "Sanctus" and "Hastings" towers and the west gallery of the cloisters.

In around 1432, the south porch was completed under Bishop Pierre Pédru and Bishop Jean de Ploeuc had frescoes and stained glass windows added to the cathedral although the windows were removed during the revolution.

In 1420, Duke Jean V had a chapel created so that he could be buried alongside Saint-Yves, the end of the 15th-century saw the building of the cloisters, 1515 saw the construction of the choir's flying buttresses, and in 1648 the stalls which dated back to 1509 were restored.

Between 1785 and 1787, a stone spire replaced the existing lead-covered spire, partly financed by a generous loan from Louis XVI. Bishop Augustin Le Mintier instigated this, and the plans and services were used of the civil engineer François Anfray.

In 1793 the cathedral was sacked by a battalion of revolutionaries but in 1801 and after the Concordat it returned to being a place of worship. The cathedral was restored and Prosper Mérimée took an active part in the cathedral's restitution in his role as "Inspecteur Général des monuments historiques".

In 1860 houses and shops around the cathedral were cleared to create space and allow the cathedral to be seen without obstruction, the cloisters were restored in 1910 and in 1946 the building was given the status of a "Basilique Mineure".[3]

The building takes the shape of a Latin cross with a length of 75 metres and a width of 17.45 metres. The length of the transept is 40 metres, the arms of the transept 7 metres and the height of the internal vaulting 18 metres.

The vaulted nave has seven crossings, and the sides comprise three levels starting with grand arcades, then a triforium and finally high windows. Such an elevation is very much a gothic convention mostly inspired by Chartres. The nave crossings vary in length and the columns are not uniform, no doubt explained by the fact that the columns of the first three crossings date to the beginning of the 14th-century whilst the other four columns were erected in the second half of the 14th-century.

Seen from the place du Martray, the nave part of the cathedral's exterior displays massive buttresses and large flying buttresses.[2] The central buttresses of the choir have pilasters some having 4 statues at their base depicting Breton saints and legendary figures. Here are some images of the cathedral exterior.

• 
  View of the chevet
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  View of the chevet, the "Tour des Cloches", the " Sanctus" tower and the cathedral's south flank.
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  The West Porch with balcony and a small two gabled roof. The porch opening has a central colonnette with 2 arcs in "tiers-point à 3 lobes" and a central rosace of 5 lobes. A double door leads into the church, and in the trumeau is a 15th-century sculpture of the Virgin Mary with the child Jesus. In the tympanum are the arms of the Kermartins, the family of Saint Yves thought to date to the 13th/early 14th -century. Above the porch we see the first flying buttresses supporting the nave and a large elaborate window. Above this, a triangular gable has gothic pinnacles on either side.
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  View of the clock tower and the "Sanctus" tower behind.
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  View of the three-story Romanesque style "Hastings" tower. The upper story has two semi-circular windows on each of the four faces. The lower story has bays on three sides. A stairway is housed within the north-east turret.

The cloisters form an irregular quadrangle of 46 bays with two entrances/exits and abut the former bishop's palace. Each bay has an arch divided into two parts by a colonnette and at every third bay there is a flying buttress. The cloisters date to between 1640 and 1668 and were mostly built during the bishopric of Jean de Ploeuc. The "Maître d'oeuvres" involved in the construction were Pierre le Tirrant and Roland le Besque, the carpentry was by Yvon Cogan and Pierre Nicholay and the granite used came from either the quarries of the Île Grande or from Pluzunet.[3] In 1920, the Musėe archėoloogique of Saint-Brieuc placed several additional gisant along the cloisters' walkways, these of noble knights holding their swords, abbots holding the cross, cantors with their batons and one depicting a noblewoman called Jeanne. These gisant had been originally held in local chapels which had been destroyed.

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  View of the cloisters
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  A row of gisants in the west aisle of the cathedral cloisters
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  The calvary in the centre of the cloisters' lawn. It came from the Keralio château in Plougrescant. Before this Calvary was erected there had been a statue of Saint Yves on the lawn.

Three of the gisant given to the cathedral by the Musėe archėoloogique of Saint Brieuc are described in Emmanuelle Le Seac'h's book "Sculpteurs sur Pierre en Basse-Bretagne. Les Ateliers du XVe and XVIIe siècle" (ISBN 9782753533097) These are two gisants for members of the Bréhant family and another for a member of the Bois-Boissel family. These gisant came from the old Ėglise Saint-Michel in Saint-Brieuc. In earlier times the cloisters were opened up for use by local merchants as a market place.

The cathedral contains many enfeu, tombs, gisant and funerary fragments. These include:-

• Tombstone in the shape of a keystone. This granite tombstone dates to 1340. The inscription is only partly legible reading "CI GISTE G. GIEMBLY, MORFOICE LAN de GRACE M CCCGVARANGE A ROVA". The tombstone came from the priory of Saint-Pierre in Matignon.[9]

• The tomb of a priest. This granite tomb dates to the 14th-century and was discovered in 1863 in the cemetery of the Saint-Pierre priory at Matignon.[10]

• The gisant of Guy le Lionnais, Abbot of Beaulieu. This granite tomb is reckoned to date between 1477 and 1517. Guy le Lionnais was also the canon of Rennes.[11]

• The tomb of Pierre de Chabucet, Canon of Saint-Brieuc. This granite tomb executed in around 1473 has the following incomplete epitaph "HIC JACET MAGISTER PETRUS de CHABUCET CAN (ONICUS) BRIOCE (ESIS) et ... QUI OBIT ANNO (DOMINI) M CCCC LXXIII ORATE (PRO) EO."[12]

• The tomb of Guy Eder, Bishop of Saint-Brieuc. This 1431 granite tomb is inscribed with the epitaph "HIC IACET BO (NAE) ME (MORIAE) G (UY) EDER (EPISCOPUS) BRIOCEN (SIS) QUI OBIIT XXIII DECEMBRIS ANNO (DOMINI) M° CCCC° XXI ORATE PRO EO". Eder was the Bishop of Saint-Brieuc from 1428 to 1431[13]

• The tomb of an unidentified Rohan seigneur. The cathedral holds this tomb carved from kersanton stone and dating from around 1630 to 1650. This tomb came originally from the abbey at Bon.[14]

• The tomb of Eon Gilbert. This tomb of the seigneur Eon Gilbert carved from granite and dating to the third quarter of the 15th-century carries the inscription "CI GIST EON GILBERT JADIS SEIGNEUR de CARJEGU et DU ROST QUI TREPASSA LE III ... DU MOIS de ... MILIIII et LXIIII". Not all the text is readable hence the gaps shown[15]

• Fragment of the tomb of Guillaume Bouttier. The cathedral holds a fragment of Bouttier's granite tombstone. He died in 1468 and was the abbé at Beaulieu from where the fragment came.[16]

• The tomb of Louis or Alain de Penmarch. There is a fragment of this granite tomb kept in the cathedral. It dates to the 16th-century. De Penmarch was a canon at Saint-Brieuc.[17]

• Tombstone of Thébault de Breignon, Bishop of Saint-Brieuc. This marble tombstone dating to 1776 is broken into two pieces. De Breignon was Bishop of Saint-Brieuc from 1745 to 1776.[18]

• The tomb of Guillaume Le Flo, abbot of Beaulieu which dates to 1427. The tomb came to the cathedral from the Abbey at Beaulieu. Guillaume Le Flo died in July 1427.[19]

• Tombstone of Françoise Mascé. This granite tombstone dates to the 17th-century and the inscription, although incomplete, reads "ANCOISSE MASCE FILLE de NOBLE GENTS GUILLAUME MASCE et IANNE MASCE et IANNE DESBOIS SIEUR et DAME ... LA COUR".[20]

• The tomb of Oaf and his wife Elizabeth née Mortemer is particularly poignant as it includes their children Arthur, Edwige, Elizabeth, Rolph and Edmond who were all found dead on the morning of 1 November 1444, the tomb of Alain de Vitré known as de Dinan, a granite tomb, was thought to have been executed in 1197 and came from the abbey at Beaulieu which Alain de Dinan and his uncle Rolland de Dinan had founded in 1170. Alain de Dinan died in 1187.[21]

• The tomb of Pierre de Chabucet, Canon of Saint-Brieuc' inscribed "HIC JACET MAGISTER PETRUS de CHABUCET CAN (ONICUS) BRIOCE (ESIS) et ... QUI OBIT ANNO (DOMINI) M CCCC LXXIII ORATE (PRO) EO". It was executed in around 1473.[22]

• The granite tomb of an abbot of Beaulieu which came from Beaulieu Abbey. It dates to the first half of the 14th-century.[23]

• Also the tomb of Jean de Troguindy the Sieur of Launay, a 14th-century tomb is inscribed with the coats of arms of Coëtmen and Kerbouric and the Chastel motto "Si plet à Dieu" and the tomb of Eon Guillebert and his wife[24][25]

• Statue for a tomb. This sculpture dates to the 17th-century. Carved from kersanton, it marks the tomb of a Rohan noble and came from the Abbey de Bon Repos.[26]

• The tomb of Alain de Vitré. This granite tomb dates to around 1197 and came to the cathedral from the abbey at Beaulieu. Alain de Vitré, or de Dinan, co-founded the abbey with his uncle Rolland de Dinan. Alain de Vitré died in 1187.[27]

• An unidentified tomb. This granite tomb has been dated to the second half of the 14th-century and was uncovered in 1863 in the cemetery of the Saint-Pierre cemetery in Matignon.[28]

• Epitaph for a noblewoman. This fragment of a tomb dating to 1680 reads ": ICY GIST DAMle FIACRE THEPAULT DAme de TREZEL DECEDEE LE 17 OCTOBRE 1680 ELLE DEMANDE VOS PRIERES".[29]

A view of the cathédrale Saint-Tugdual in Tréguier. Note the north flank of the choir, the spire of the "Tour des Cloches", the "Sanctus" and "Hastings" towers and the west gallery of the cloisters

Several notables are buried beneath the floor in the choir area including Bishop Jean de Ploeuc, Bishop Jean de Coetquis, Bishop Hugues de Coatredrez, Bishop Jean Calloët, Bishop Adrien d'Amboise, Bishop Champion de Cicé, Bishop Balthazar Grangier, Bishop Jegou de Kerlivio, Bishop François de la Fruglaye, and Bishop Le Borgne de Kermorvan.

• A decorative frieze depicting a scene from a hunt. The granite frieze now displayed in the cathedral came from the Ploufragan manor of Tertre Jouan.[30]

• An heraldic blazon in granite. The cathedral has on display a blazon created to mark the marriage between Thébaud de Keymerc'h and Jeanne de Couvran in 1494. The blazon came from the convent of Saint-François in Saint-Brieuc which had been founded by Thébaud de Keymerc'h. [31]

• Fragment of a shield/coat of arms. This 15th-century granite relief recalls the alliance between Charles du Parc, Lord of the Motte du Parc, who died in 1847 and Marguerite Paynel.[32]

• Coat of arms. This granite relief depicts the arms of Christophe du Chatel, Jean de Ploeuc and Jean du Coetquis. Christophe du Chatel had served as the Tréguir bishop between 1465 and 1479. He succeeded Jean du Coetquis.[33]

• An altarpiece containing an 18th-century painting of the "Voeu de Louis XIII". The figure of Saint Francis inspired by Federico Barocci's "Pardon d'Assise".
• The statue known as Notre-Dame-de-la-Clarté : Vierge à l'Enfant
• Statue of John the Evangelist. This wood and polychromed statue dates to the 16th century.[34]

It is from this transept that the "Tour des Cloches" rises. Also In the south transept is a large panel in wood with a relief depicting John the Evangelist at Patmos and a copy of Murillo's painting depicting Jesus and John the Baptist. There is also a sculpture depicting Saint Yves between a rich man and a poor man. The stained glass window lighting the south transept recounts the story of the Vine, a symbol of the Church, the vine passing around depictions of Brittany's seven founding saints.

The Saint Yves cenotaph

The Saint Yves cenotaph in Tréguier cathedral

Saint-Yves died on 19 May 1303, at the manor of Kermartin in Minihy and on the day of his death he was carried by the priests of Tréguier to the cathedral surrounded by an enthusiastic crowd. The next day he was buried in the nave area and this saw the start of great pilgrimages to Tréguier to pay homage to him. Yves was born in Kermartin, his father being a minor Breton noble. His mother Azo du Quinquis had a deep faith and told her son "Vivez, mons fils, de manière à devinir un saint!" (Live my son in the manner that befits a saint). For 10 years Yves studied Theology and Law in Paris and then moved to Orléans to practice civil law. He became an "official" firstly at Rennes and then Tréguier where his services were claimed by the bishop. He also became the rector of Trédrez and then of Louannec. The cathedral "Official" played an important role in judging and settling dispute whether ecclesiastical or civil. Yves also set up an asylum at Minihy.[2] Yves de Kermartin was proclaimed as a saint in 1347. On 19 May each year, the Yves "pardon" is celebrated and the reliquary containing his skull is carried from the cathedral to Minihy by a procession of clerics and lawyers. The original Saint Yves tomb was destroyed during the French Revolution and the present monument dates to 1890. Saint Yves himself is depicting laying down supported by depictions of two angels. On the south face of the monument are depictions of Catel Autret, one of his friends Guiomar Morel, Charles de Blois in armour, Maurice, Archdeacn of Rennes and Catherine Héloury. On the south face are depictions of Yves' mother and father, Héloury and Azo, Alain de Bruc who employed Yves as a cathedral official, Cathovada and Riwalon a juggler. On the east face is a depiction of Clément VI who canonised Yves and Philippe V1 de Valois who initiated this canonization. On the west face are depictions of Monseigneur Bouché, bishop of Saint-Brieuc and Tréquier and Jean V, Duke of Brittany. At the base of the monument are the nine ancient bishops of Brittany; Saint Samson, Saint Pol, Saint Corentin, Saint Tudual, Saint Clair, Saint Melaine, Saint Patern Saint Malo and Saint Brieuc, two Kings of Brittany, Judicãel and Salomon, two martyrs Saint Donatien and Saint Rogatien and finally Saint Gildas.

This internal plan of the cathedral layout will help navigation around it.

Internal plan of Treguier Cathedral

1- Chapelle Saint-Yves or Choeur du Duc 2- Chapelle Saint-Jean 3- Chapelle Sainte-Anne 4- Chapelle Saint-Nicolas (today known as Mont-Carmel) 5- Chapelle Saint-Martin (today known as Saint-Joseph) 6- Chapelle Saint-Jérôme (today known as Sainte-Philomène) 7- Chapelle de la Sainte-Croix 8- Chapelle Saint-André 9- Chapelle Saint-François d'Assise 10- Chapelle Saint-Tudual (today known as Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours) 11- Chapelle du Sacré-Coeur 12- Chapelle du Rosaire et des Trépassés 13- Chapelle des Fonds 14- Enfeu of a cathedral cantor 15- Enfeu of a knight 16- Enfeu of a knight 17- Enfeu df Canon Jean de Lantillac 18- The "Hastings" tower 19- Portal known as "Saint-Jean" 20- Portal known as "Saint-Jérôme" 21- Transept north 22- Transept south 23- The West porch 24- The South porch 25- The Saint Yves cenotaph

The ambulatory runs around the choir area and gives access to ten side chapels. On the north side of the choir and along the ambulatory there are three chapels, the Chapelle Sainte-Anne, the Chapelle Mont-Carmel and the Chapelle Saint-Joseph. The chapel dedicated to Sainte Anne contains an 18th-century statue of Sainte Anne and an enfeu (walled tomb) where the coat of arms is broken but the motto "S'il plait à Dieu" is still legible.

After the Chapelle Saint-Joseph we move to the three apsidal chapels, the Chapelle Sainte-Phliomèna, the Chapelle de la Sainte-Croix and the Chapelle Saint-André. All three of these chapels are pentagonal in shape. The Chapelle Sainte-Phliomèna was at one time used to access the cloisters and contains a statue of Philomena. The Chapelle de la Sainte-Croix is the cathedral's axial chapel and holds the insignia of the basilica. The chapel also holds a "pietà" in polychromed wood and a painting of Christ's descent from the cross. The third chapel the Chapelle Saint-André is also known as the "Chapelle des Morts" and is dedicated to those men of the parish who gave their lives in the Great War. The chapel includes three stained glass windows marking that war and a statue of Saint Michael and another of Saint Andrew to whom the very first Tréguier cathedral was dedicated.

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  Stained glass window dedicated to those lost in the Great War.
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  Stained glass window dedicated to those lost in the Great War.
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  The interior of the axial chapel with the insignia of the basilica, the pavillon and the tintinnabulum

After the apsidal chapels the chapels along the south choir and in sequence are the Chapelle Saint François d'Assise with a statue of Saint Francis showing his stigmata, a "Vierge de Déliverance", a statue of Sainte Marguerite, a statue of Sainte Elizabeth, and a painting depicting "L'imposition du cordon a saint Francis", the Chapelle Notre-Dame de bon-secours, the Chapelle du Sacré-Coeur and the Chapelle du Rosaire et des Trépassés. The Chapelle Notre- Dame de bon-secours contains the enfeu of Bishop Christophe du Chatel who died in 1479 and a painting entitled "Adoration des Mages" signed A.P. Noblet (possibly the Morlaix painter Jacques Noblet). It dates to 1640 and is a copy of a Rubens painting which originally hung in the Église des Capucins in Aix-la-Chapelle but is now kept in the Rouen Museum of Art.[35]

After these chapels around the ambulatory, the next chapel in the south transept is the chapelle Notre-Dame du Rosaire which is joined by the chapelle des Défunts or des Trépasses.

Before the Revolution all the cathedral chapels were furnished with decorated altars, altar-pieces and paintings but were destroyed on 4 May 1794 when revolutionaries ran through the cathedral with axes and machetes and smashed all before them.

This 18th-century oil painting hangs in the cathedral and has the following inscription "Ceux qui prieront et adoreront le sacré Coeur de Jésus seront exaucez. L'an 1720, les pestiférez de Marseille et d'ailleurs ayant dévotement invoqué le Sacré Coeur divin, la peste cessa aussitôt. En faveur de ce miracle, l'an 1726, le pape Clément XI a accordé un bulle et des indulgences. Cette feste ce célèbre le vendredi qui suit l'octave du Très-sain-sacrement. Dite un Pater et un Ave pour celui qui a donné ce tableau".

The skull of Saint Yves

This contains many of the cathedral's treasures including a reliquary said to contain the skull of Saint Yves. It is inscribed "SANCTI YVONIS CONFESSORIS". On the day of the "Grand pardon" in May of each year, this reliquary is carried in great procession to Minihy. This reliquary was given to the cathedral by Monseigneur de Quélen, the Archbishop of Paris, whose family owned the manor of Kermartin. The sacristy also contains other relics, jewellery and various documents and religious artefacts.

"La Pleureuse" in Tréguier

This war memorial is known as "La Pleureuse". Francis Renaud the sculptor had used Marie-Louise Le Put as a model for his sculpture. She wears mourning clothes with a large hood or cowl covering her head ("Capuche" in French ). The sculpture was commissioned in 1920, shown in 1921 at the Salon des Artistes and the memorial was inaugurated on 2 July 1922. At that time the sculpture was known as "Douleur".[36]

Calvaire de Réparation

Le calvaire de Réparation

This is a remarkable and dramatic Calvary. The central crucifix is 12 metres high and flanked by two 10 metres high crosses bearing the good and the bad murderer. At the foot of these three crosses are depictions of five people; St Longinus, who pierced Jesus in his side with a lance, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, a kneeling Mary Magdalene, John the Evangelist, and Sainte Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. The crosses and attendant figures are positioned on a pedestal which is decorated with a bas-relief depicting Saint Yves and below this is inscribed "vere hic homo filius dei erat/en gwirione an den ze e ca mab doue/cet homme etait vraiment le fils du dieu". ("Truly this man was the Son of God"), the words in Latin, Breton, and French spoken according to the Saint Mark gospel by the Roman centurion at Golgotha (see Mark 15:39). In the bas-relief, the Saint Yves relief is flanked by the coat of arms of Pope Pius X (right) and of Pierre-Marie-Frédéric Fallières, Bishop of Saint-Brieuc and Tréguier (left). The monument was inaugurated on 19 May 1904 in the presence of Cardinal Labouré. The calvary is surrounded by a gated fence. The statues on either side of the gate depict Saint Maurice and Saint George whilst the other pillars support statues of Saint Malo, Saint Paterne, Saint Brieuc, Saint Pol (de Léon), Saint Corentin, Saint Samson and Saint Tugdual, the seven founder saints of Brittany.

A painting of the cathedral

This painting by Joseph-Félix Bouchor depicts a view of the cathedral's cloisters.

A painting of Tréguier by Joseph-Félix Bouchor

"Cathédrales et basiliques de Bretagne" with preface by Yves-Pascal Castel, texts by Chantal Leroy and Dominique de la Rivière and photographs by David Bordes. Éditions Ereme. Paris. ISBN 9782915337693.

"La cathédrale de Tréguier" by Jean-Michel Boulbain. Editions CEFAG.

Michelin's The Green Guide. Brittany. ISBN 978-1907099724.

"Cathédrale de Tréguier" by Yves Thomas. Published by Imprimerie Lescuyer.

"Tréguier" by Michel Devillers. Published by Ouest-France. ISBN 285882049X.

• Catholic Hierarchy: Diocese of Tréguier

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