Memory, invention and the Breton state: the first inventory of the ducal archives (1395) and the beginnings of Montfort historiography

The general importance of a small group of medieval Breton historians, either employed in the ducal chancery or close to the ruling dynasty, in shaping a view of the Breton past that was favourable to the contemporary policies of the Montfortist dukes of Brittany between the late fourteenth and early sixteenth century has been well explained by recent writers. Mystery, however, still surrounds the identity of the author of the earliest ambitious attempt to recount the duchy's history from remotest times to the present in the Chronicon Briocense, 'Chronicle of St-Brieuc', compiled c.1389-1416. By using evidence that has come to light in the course of editing the first inventory of ducal archives (1395), this article seeks to confirm earlier hypotheses that Master Hervé Le Grant, keeper of the Trésor des chartes, is the most likely candidate as author of the Chronicon. The probability that he is also the main perpetrator of a series of well-known forged documents intended to justify ducal prerogatives which continued to have an impact on how the history of Brittany was written long after the duchy had lost its independence is also explored.