Bretaigne DAO continues to build its historical corpus with new manuscript reproductions, legal research tools, and a digitization campaign initiated with the Archives of Côtes-d’Armor. Recent advancements include an old copy of the will of Claude of France preserved in Carpentras and the identification of thirteen letters from Anne of Brittany addressed to the bishop and chapter of Tréguier.
The will of Claude of France: an old copy accessible for study
The Inguimbertine Library-Museum of Carpentras has sent Bretaigne DAO three digital photographs of manuscript 1805, belonging to the Peiresc collection.
These views cover folios 359 verso to 362 recto and provide access to an old copy of the will of Claude of France, Duchess of Brittany, wife of Francis I and daughter of Anne of Brittany.
The text is of interest to the history of dynastic successions in the early 16th century, particularly due to the provisions concerning the dauphin Francis and his brothers Henry and Charles.
Its examination also reveals a chronological discrepancy. While the entry in the Collective Catalogue of France mentions July 6, 1524, the photographed copy states July 26, 1524 in its heading as well as in the final dating. This latter date is found in other known transcriptions of the will.
However, a difference between a catalogue entry and a manuscript copy does not, on its own, allow for conclusions about the value or lineage of the witness. It is necessary to compare the different copies, editions, and contemporary documents. Research is therefore focused on other witnesses noted particularly at the Mazarine Library and the National Library of France, in order to reconstruct the documentary tradition of the act.
In Rennes, the old legal libraries provide their working tools
Another part of our work concerns the heritage collections of the Library of the Champs Libres in Rennes.
Several manuscripts related to jurisprudence and the Custom of Brittany have been obtained in digital form, notably Ms 94, 99, 100, 106, and 107, associated with the works of Poullain du Parc. They allow for the study of the reasoning of Breton jurists, acts of notoriety, consultations, and the application of the Custom before the courts of the Ancien Régime.
Our corpus also includes several historical catalogues of the library of lawyers at the Parliament of Brittany, including those from 1750 and 1753, as well as manuscript Ms 2041, established around the end of the 18th century.
Ms 319 and 320, for their part, allow for the reconstruction of the former classification of the titles of the Treasury of the Nantes castle. Ms 319 is an inventory established between 1565 and 1579; Ms 320 is an alphabetical table dated 1773. Their comparison provides a promising method for recovering the former designations of charters, treaties, contracts, and ducal privileges, and then searching for their possible correspondences with current references.
On October 28, 2026, the Champs Libres also provided new information regarding several manuscripts of Breton law, particularly collections of rulings associated with Chappel.
This work is not only aimed at accumulating files. It seeks to understand how archives have been classified, copied, cited, and sometimes dispersed over the centuries.
Thirteen letters from Anne of Brittany noted in Tréguier
A reproduction campaign is underway with the Departmental Archives of Côtes-d’Armor.
The official directory of the funds of the cathedral chapter of Tréguier describes, under reference 2 G 310, thirteen letters from Anne of Brittany addressed to the bishop and his chapter between 1493 and 1507. However, an educational sheet from the same Archives attributes the letter dated April 27, 1498, to reference 2 G 311. This discrepancy in cataloguing has been noted and will need to be resolved with the reproduction service upon delivery of the images.
Part of this set — at least nine pieces according to an old bibliography — was published in the 19th century by Joachim Gaultier du Mottay under the title "Unpublished Letters of Duchess Anne." Henri Hauser later noted this publication in 1906 in Les Sources de l’histoire de France — Seizième siècle.
Our approach consists of returning to the preserved pieces in order to verify the published transcriptions, dates, titles, addresses, dorsal mentions, and any material traces of validation.
The Archives of Côtes-d’Armor proposed the realization of 25 photographs for 16.50 euros. Our agreement was sent on October 29, 2026. The images are therefore awaited: they have not yet been received or studied by Bretaigne DAO.
This set will help clarify the relationships between Anne of Brittany, religious institutions, and the administration of the duchy at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries.
Breton archives scattered across several countries
These efforts are part of a broader investigation.
In Spain, Bretaigne DAO has gathered reproductions of several acts preserved at the Archivo General de Simancas, including documents from 1483 related to the agreements between Francis II and the Catholic Monarchs. In England, reproductions of diplomatic acts preserved at The National Archives have documented Anne of Brittany's relations with Henry VII. These files have already been the subject of articles in the Agence Bretagne Presse.
Research continues in Italy, particularly in the archives of Turin, where several files concern the succession claims of the House of Savoy on the Duchy of Brittany. Other investigations focus on the papal dispensations related to the marriages of Anne of Brittany, dynastic contracts, and acts associated with the events of 1532.
An identified reference is not an acquired original; a reproduction is not yet a verified transcription; and an original piece does not necessarily establish the validity of the claims subsequently associated with it. These distinctions remain fundamental in our method.
A historical work constructed alongside the analysis
All of this work contributes to the preparation of a book dedicated to the Duchy of Brittany, its institutions, its diplomatic relations, and the transmission of its archives.
Each document is progressively integrated into a corpus organized according to its provenance, reference, date, material status, and any possible variants.
Our Linked Brittany program also aims to digitally connect people, places, institutions, events, and documents through their archival references. This method should facilitate the study and transmission of a Breton documentary heritage currently distributed among many French and foreign institutions.
Bretaigne DAO thanks the teams of the Inguimbertine Library-Museum, the Library of the Champs Libres, and the Departmental Archives of Côtes-d’Armor, as well as the other heritage institutions that support this research.
Our ambition remains the same: to return to the sources, distinguish established facts from hypotheses, and make the history of Brittany ever better documented and accessible.
Main documentary references
Inguimbertine Library-Museum, Carpentras, Peiresc collection, Ms 1805, fol. 359v–362r.
Library of the Champs Libres, Rennes, Ms 94, 99, 100, 106, 107, 319, 320, and 2041.
Departmental Archives of Côtes-d’Armor, funds of the cathedral chapter of Tréguier, set described under 2 G 310 in the general directory; final cataloguing of the pieces to be confirmed upon reproduction.
Joachim Gaultier du Mottay, "Unpublished Letters of Duchess Anne," Mémoires de la Société archéologique et historique des Côtes-du-Nord, vol. III, 1857-1860.
Henri Hauser, Les Sources de l’histoire de France — Seizième siècle, vol. I, Paris, 1906, p. 35.
Archivo General de Simancas, PTR, LEG, 92, 5 and RGS, LEG, 148312, 246.
Bretaigne DAO — DUCHY OF BRITTANY / Linked Brittany
https://www.bretaigne.bzh/
Editorial note: reproductions from Tréguier are ordered but have not yet been received. The photographs provided by the institutions will not be published without prior verification of their reuse conditions.
Article prepared with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools. Source verification and editorial validation remain the responsibility of Bretaigne DAO.
