Our spectacle is constructed around a much celebrated event which occurred at the height of the Middle Ages in Brittany - the Battle of the Thirty - in March, 1351. At this time, the Hundred Years War between England and France was at a stalemate as Edward III had returned to England to raise money for the war. However, there was a conflict raging in Brittany which concerned the fight for the succession to the dukedom as Jean III, duc de Bretagne had died in 1341 without any direct descendants. Two claimants to the dukedom had presented themselves : Charles de Blois, nephew by marriage to Jean III, and Jean de Montfort, half brother of Jean III. Jean de Montfort was supported by Edward III, king of England and Charles de Blois by the king of France, Philippe de Valois, whose son succeeded him in 1350. Conflict between the two armies was at a standstill, so a truce, the Treaty of la Chapelle de la Madelein, had been negotiated and signed by the two kings in 1343, leaving thousands of unemployed English and French soldiers and knights-at-arms, roaming the countryside of Brittany. All the large and important towns were held by one or other of the parties; Ploermel was in the hands of the Anglo Bretons and Josselin, a few kilometres to the west was a Franco Breton stronghold, which the English had failed to capture. Despite the truce, both parties became involved in minor skirmishes with each other and, in one of these, the representative and cousin by marriage of Edward III, Thomas of Dagwood, was killed. The English garrison of Ploermel took this as a pretext for attacking the undefended villages in the region and of extracting reprisals. The Franco Bretons of Josselin, commanded by the Maréchal de Bretagne, Jean de Beaumanoir decided to try to stop this pillaging of the land (and relieve their boredom!) by challenging the English of Ploermel to a battle between thirty knights on each side, the battle to be staged mid-way between the two towns and to be fought from sunrise to sunset. The site of the battleground was to be clearly marked out and knights would be able to fight with whatever weapons they chose on condition that they stayed within the designated area. The challenge was given and accepted and the date fixed for the 26th March, 1351. Guillaume de Montauban was one of the thirty knights chosen from the camp of Charles de Blois. At that time, the family of de Montauban owned le Seigneurie de Maugremien (the ancient name for the Manoir de Mongrenier) from 1248 to 1360 and we have imagined him, in his armour, riding out from le Manoir de Mongrenier to join the battle field. History states that Guillaume de Montauban, our hero, played a major role in the Battle. From the start, the French were unable to break through the English formation, known as the « hedgehog » and, despite many individual battles during many hours of combat, were beginning to give up hope. At the height of the battle, Guillaume made as if to leave the field, but at the last moment he mounted his horse, as described in the ancient poem above, and drove towards the mélee, knocking down enough English to enable a breach in the formation and allowing the French chevaliers to penetrate the « hedgehog ». Before sunset, the French were able to claim victory, with more French knights still standing and able to fight : Bemborough, the English captain, had been killed. The project has been organised under the auspices of the Association “ MUSIQUE à MONGRENIER”, registered in Paris in 2005, which has as its objective the conception and organisation of musical and artistic events to be held at le Manoir de Mongrenier. The financial responsibilities for the project rest with the Association. Le Manoir was purchased in 1996 by Chris and Carol Sealy, who have restored the buildings and the grounds of this beautiful manor house, which dates back to the 13th century and which now provides an ideal site for these productions. Since the summer of 2001, le Manoir de Mongrenier has played host to six Celtic concerts with Breton dancing, chantes marines, etc. and, in addition to the concerts, has presented a number of smaller “apéro concerts” and drama productions. The choice of July/August 2008 as the time at which to present the Son et Lumière is significant as this is the year in which the local medieval town of Josselin will celebrate its 1,000th anniversary.

 
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