How QUIMPERBECAME THE

hen it came to making a decision on which town would become the Concarn'au Pont-Aven 'capital' of the newly created Departement, it Beg*&y$~r BRITTANY was hardly surprising that all the towns of any appreciable size - Quimper, Carhaix, Chateau Lin, Brest, Landerneau, and litigants from Brest, Morlaix and Morlaix and Saint-Pol-de-Leon - coveted Carhaix had been coming to Quimper ever since 1552, when the county courts Civil Constitution of the Clergy. the title. Quimper, which had now become Whereas for the other dCpartements were created (courts which dealt with appeals against judgments in the royal Montagne sur Odet, was dispossessed by of Brittany, the Constituent Assembly a decree of 19 July, 1793, of its title of designated a principal town, passions courts); in the shadow of the beautiful cathedral, vast chambers, formerly the 'capital' which was granted to were running so high in FinistPre that Landerneau. After the fall of Robespierre, they baulked at making the decision. property of religious orders, were made another decree of 5 November, 1794, They confined themselves to choosing available to them, with more than ample space to house all the different adminis- again declared Quimper to be the chief Quimper on a provisional basis on 22 town of the Departement of FinistPre on January, 1790, leaving it up to the electors trative services. They emphasised that a definitive basis, with no appeal allowed to decide for themselves at a later date. Leon was already wealthy, and that against that decision. The meeting of the electoral assembly priority should be given to the poorest More than a century later, the same was fixed for 7 January in the college areas. problem was raised again. In 1905, when chapel, which today has been trans- On 20 August, 1790, the matter was plans were made to reconstruct the formed into an auditorium. There were thrashed out in the Constituent Prefecture (administrative headquarters), about 500 eligible electors, that is to say Assembly. The chairman, in summing some councillors from the north of the taxpayers (male) aged 25 or over and up, asked that Landerneau be designated as principal town, in accordance with the Departement, led by the mayor of paying taxes of at least the value of 3 Morlaix, argued that it would be greatly days work. There were important items vote taken some months previously by a majority of the Finistere electors. to Finisthe's advantage to have its on the agenda: the election of 36 people capital in the city of the viaduct rather who would be responsible for the It was at that point that Denis Bardier, than in Quimpk Having been put to the administration of the Departement, and Grand Master of the famous College Louis Le Grand in Paris, and former vote, this proposal was rejected by a the cholce of a principal town. If the first majority of the Council. question was resolved without much principal of the College de Quimper, difficulty, such was not the case for the intervened. Thanks to his great oratorical second, despite the fact that a majority of talent and his personal connections, The Trhsorerie 251 votes to 219 showed a preference for particularly the impressive support given Landerneau. The minority group from to him by Camille Desmoulins and Generale Robespierre, who were his former pupils, Cornouaille contested the result, and Because of its position as capital, all the after much discussion they succeeded in he succeeded, against all expectations, in reversing the situation and having his main administrative services of the bringing about a consensus: the question Departement are in Quimper, with the would be referred back to the native town, which he dearly loved, designated principal town of the exception of the finance department. This Constituent Assembly, which would rather paradoxical situation dates back a have to decide between the two towns, Departement ofEinistPre. The decision was couched in the long way. It was as a result of an edict Landerneau and Quimper. issued by the government of Louis XVIII, The people of LCon painted a picture following terms: 'The National Assembly has decreed that Quimper will remain without any apparent reason, that the of the old capital of Cornouaille worthy Receiver's Office (now called the of Dante: definitively the administrative capital of Finistere'. TrCsorerie) was transferred to Brest. ... To get to Quimper you have to take a Periodically throughout the 19th century, circuitous route avoiding the mountains the city councillors of Quimper of Arrie, which are impassable at the Landerneau's Revenge expressed a wish that it should be time indicated for the session of the local returned to the administrative capital, Assembly, and which are, in any case, The execution of the king on 21 January, but in vain. horrifically dangerous in all seasons. It is 1793, added to France's political most distressing to see the list of people problems both internal and external. In - SOURCES who perish every year in the snow, or response, the Montagnards, exalted Le Guennec, Quimper and Corentin and who, having escaped from robbers, fall republicans who had gained control of district. prey to wild beasts. Is it right that the Convention, were togovern by terror: Minute books of the Quimper Town 300,000 inhabitants of Lion should have The majority of the Departement's y-ouncil. to go chasing after 200,000 people administrators, judged to have been too Quimper: A Century of History by Alain Le scattered amid ,bandit-infested moderate, were imprisoned before being Grand. mountains and woods? guillotined at Brest on 22 May, 1794; Le Finistkre, articles from the Collected The inhabitants of Quimper, on the other among them was the Citizen-Bishop Works of Yves Le Gallo. hand, highlighted the fact that lawyers Expilly, one of the chief authors of the Archives Department, Quimper.