“Breton races, a living history” is the magnificent beautiful book richly illustrated with 250 photos, paintings, engravings many of which are unpublished, which will be published this Wednesday, November 9 by Apogée editions with the help of the Écomusée du pays de Rennes “La Bintinais”. It coincides with the very rich exhibition of the same name to be seen from November 26, 2022 to September 3, 2023 at “La Bintinais” and which evokes Breton heritage, animal biodiversity, the birth, near-disappearance and rescue of the black hen. de Janzé, Breton postman horses, white pork from the west, Landes de Bretagne mutton. Its author is the Morlaisian writer and historian François de Beaulieu.
Before the 19th century we didn’t talk about breed, we said “I have my cow, she comes from Callac or Saint-Pol-de-Léon”.
Scientific curator of exhibitions on wolves, peat bogs, apples or domestic breeds in Brittany, former professor of literature, François de Beaulieu has published 70 books devoted to the natural and cultural heritage of Brittany : on the Poule Coucou de Rennes, the Mouton d’Ouessant, the Goat of the ditches or even a work which served as support for a radio series of France Bleu Breizh Izel this summer: “Holidays in Brittany from 1815 to 1965”.
It is our responsibility to save the breeds that remain, to keep the biodiversity and to preserve the pastures. Fortunately, today there is a breed federation in Brittany which coordinates the breeders
News that affects the historian: The decline of animal species
In its latest report of October 13, 2022, the NGO WWF notes that in less than 50 years, between 1970 and 2018, the average decline in vertebrate populations is 69%. Lowland gorillas, leatherback turtles, dugongs, sharks, corals, tree frogs…so many icons of biodiversity essential to the balance of our disappearing ecosystems. In the book “Breton breeds, a living history” François de Beaulieu mentions in particular the selection of domestic animals which begins with the horse in the 17th century in Brittanythe stud farms created by Colbert in 1665 for the army and transport, beard horses from the island of Houat, Breton bidet or tiny ponies in Ouessant, three extinct breeds, up to the only equine breed Breton that still exists: the Breton postman.
With industrial agriculture in the 1950s, animals were kept away from humans. However, this proximity, this cohabitation was not always a sign of poverty.
The notion of race itself appeared in the 19th century with the entry of zootechnics into agriculture under the effect of the dominant classes, competitions, the standardization of “official” races and the transformation of a society with a subsistence economy towards an agriculture that shaves biodiversity and became intensive after the Second World War. And it is only thanks to a few enthusiasts – castellans for the Ouessant sheep, ecomuseums for the Coucou de Rennes hen found in Maine-et-Loire – that the Breton breeds which have almost disappeared have been reborn, especially for 50 years. There are still 4 breeds of cattle in Brittany (Pie noir, Nantaise, Froment du Léon and Armoricaine), 3 breeds of sheep (Landes de Bretagne, Belle-Île and Ouessant), the goat breed from the ditches, the white pig from the West and 3 breeds of poultry (Coucou de Rennes grise, Janzé and Courte-pattes).
François de Beaulieu’s favorite place: Île-aux-Moines
It is Île-aux-Moines in the Gulf of Morbihan which turns out to be the favorite place of the Morlaisien, where he spent all his summer holidays in the 60s, at the time 3 months a year! At the age of 16, François de Beaulieu interviewed islanders born in the 1870s who entrusted him with memories of their grandmothers at the time of the French Revolution., memories of meadows, paths, beaches inhabited by these ghosts of the past. He made it into a book published in the spring of 2021 “My two centuries in Île-aux-Moines”, published by Dialogues, with illustrations by Paul Perraudin.
The musical choice of the defender of living heritage: Hélène Martin
Singer Hélène Martin, who died in 2021 at the age of 92, is François de Beaulieu’s musical choice. One of the great unknown talents of French song, 3 times record prize from the Académie Charles-Cros and whose voice is no stranger to Barbara. “Tribute to life” is one of his songs, adapted from a poem by Jules Superviellewhich the historian and writer made listen to all these students of literature, to discover in these verses each time something new.