Professor Heather WILLIAMS, research fellow (CAWCS)
Cet article est une traduction en anglais de l’article publié le 20 février.
Mayor of Cardiff, founder of Cardiff Cymrodorion, business man, temperance campaigner, education enthusiast, journalist; Edward Thomas was many things, and according to François Jaffrennou (also known by his bardic name Taldir) he was also the Bretons’ first friend1.

So who were his friends in Brittany? He came into contact with many Bretons in 1899 through his role as organizer of the Cardiff ‘pan-Celtic’ Eisteddfod, which welcomed a delegation of some twenty-five Bretons, and also as keeper of the ceremonial sword. After this Eisteddfod he made many trips to Brittany Cochfarf a’i argraffiadau o Lydaw | DreAM-CollEx and corresponded with several Bretons during pan-Celticism’s heyday, to arrange visits and exchanges and to share news about the linguistic situations and cultural revivals. The following Bretons are among the correspondents found in the Cochfarf papers in Cardiff Central Library:
François Jaffrennou (Taldir; 1879-1956)

François Jaffrennou was a prolific author in Breton, French and Welsh. He met the artist John Kelt Edwards (Pwyntil Meirion; 1875–1934) in Paris in June 1899 and the two began to discuss the Cardiff Eisteddfod at which Jaffrennou was accepted into the Gorsedd. He then went to stay with Kelt’s parents in Blaenau Ffestiniog, writing about his experiences in Cymru (1899), La Genèse d’un mouvement (1912) and Eur wech e oa (1944). Jaffrennou was one of the founders of the Breton Goursez and became its Drouiz-Meur. He translated the Welsh national anthem ‘Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’ into Breton in 1897, and ‘Bro Gozh ma Zadoù’ was chosen as Brittany’s anthem in 1903, following its adoption by the Union Régionaliste Bretonne. There are 18 letters from him in Welsh in Cardiff Central Library, and 10 letters from Cochfarf to Jaffrennou in the Archives départementales du Finistère [Dechrau darganfod archifau’r Cymry yn Llydaw | DreAM-CollEx] Travel arrangements are the main topic of Jaffrennou’s letters, especially regarding the visit to Saint-Brieuc in 1906.
François Vallée (Abhervé; 1860-1949)

François Vallée (Abhervé; 1860–1949) from Saint-Brieuc was François Jaffrennou’s Welsh teacher. He also attended the Cardiff Eisteddfod with the Breton delegation in 1899, and was accepted into the Gorsedd there. Following their visit to Wales, the pair published a bilingual collection of poetry, with Welsh and Breton in parallel text. Many of the poems in Gwerziou gant Abhervé ha Taldir describe or are dedicated to Welsh people who played a prominent role in the Cardiff festivities, including Edward Thomas (Cochfarf)2. Vallée was editor of the weekly Kroaz ar Vretoned, and an issue of the periodical often accompanies his letters to Cochfarf. There are 12 letters by him in Welsh in the collection.
Yves Le Moal (1874-1957) was a school teacher in Saint-Brieuc, who was accepted into the Breton Gorsedd in 1900. Le Moal assisted François Vallée with the periodical Kroaz ar Vretoned from 1898, becoming its editor in 1907. There is a Christmas greetings card from him in the collection.

Renan (or René) Saïb, i.e. M. André Degoul (1870-1946), was a journalist from Lorient. Secretary to the literary section of the Union Régionaliste Bretonne in 1898, he was accepted into the Breton Gorsedd under the bardic name ‘An Hader’. He co-edited the bilingual monthly periodical Kloc’hdi Breiz/ Le Clocher breton with his wife Florentine Monier (1873-1939) (nom-de-plume: Mme Madeleine Desroseaux). Edward Thomas dined with the couple during his first visit to Brittany in 1899. It was Saïb who invited Thomas to play a prominent role in the centenary celebrations for the Breton poet Auguste Brizeux in Lorient in1903. In the collection there is a letter of invitation by him in French as well as a copy of the answer.
Octave-Louis Aubert (1870-1950) was a journalist, editor and writer from Saint-Brieuc, who had a huge influence on the development of tourism in Brittany, editing La Bretagne touristique from 1922 to 1939, and becoming President of the Tourist Information Centre of the town3. He was secretary to the Saint-Brieuc Festival in 1906 that welcomed a delegation from Wales. The collection contains an invitation to the festival for twenty people as well as two letter from him in French, asking Edward Thomas to bring the Welsh half of the cleft sword with him, and a harpist if possible.
Théodore Botrel (1868–1925) was a popular singer from Brittany who attended the second Celtic Congress in Caernarfon in 1904. There are picture postcards from him in the collection.
Nathalie de Volz-Kerhoënt (Gwenfrewi; 1871-1964) was born in Baden and learnt the Breton language as an adult. She is the author of a collection of prose and poetry Er Bleù Keltiek: Sorbienneu ha Guerzenneu (Keraez: Armorica, 1930) that contains a foreword by François Jaffrennou. She was accepted into the Breton Gorsedd at Riec-sur-Belon in August 1927. There are 4 items from her in the collection, in French and in English.
Maurice Le Dault (Leorlenner; 1871-1956) was the director of the literary periodical Spered ar Vro, and founder of Ar Furcher brezonek/ Le Fureteur breton in 1905. He was accepted into the Breton Gorsedd in 1901. He was one of the Breton-speaking students in Paris who belonged to the group ‘Jabado’. He opened a Breton book shop in Paris in 1902, and returned to Quimper with his book shop during the First World War. There is a letter from him in French in the collection, suggesting an exchange of periodicals.
Alfred Lajat (1873-1956) was a journalist and printer who worked on the periodical Ar Vro with François Jaffrennou from 1904. He was accepted into the Breton Gorsedd in 1900 under the bardic name ‘Mab ân Argoat’. He was one of the founders of Ti Kaniri Breiz (House of Breton Singers) in 1900, which was a precursor to the Breton Gorsedd. He attended the Merthyr Tydfil Eisteddfod in 1901. The collection contains a letter by him that discusses the possibility of starting a steam boat service between South Wales and Brittany.
Leon Le Berr (1874-1946) was a journalist and writer, and one of the founders of Ti Kaniri Breiz (House of Breton Singers) in 1900. His bardic name was ‘Ab Alor’ or ‘Abalor’. He spoke fluent English and learnt Breton as an adult. He wrote much in French and in Breton for the Emsav. He attended the Swansea Eisteddfod in 1907.
Jean/Yann Rumengol from Nantes was Vice-president of the history and literature section of the Union Régionaliste Bretonne until 1908. He sent a copy of the periodical Le Terroir Breton to Edward Thomas in 1903, that contains a report of the Brizeux centenary celebrations.
Francis Éven (Karevro; 1877-1959) was a solicitor and one of the founders of the Union Régionaliste Bretonne in 1898 and of the Breton Gorsedd. He sent Edward Thomas a photograph of the ceremonial banner that the Welsh Gorsedd gave to the Bretons. His papers are kept in the CRBC.
Pol Diverres (1880-1946) was a linguist and Celtic scholar born in Lorient, who received his university education in Rennes and Paris, where he was a pupil of Joseph Loth. He learnt Welsh and married a Welsh woman (Elizabeth Jones) in 1913, and was keeper of manuscripts at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth from 1919-1923, before finishing his career in the French Department of the University of Wales College, Swanesa. His papers are kept at the National Library of Wales. In the Cochfarf collection in Cardiff there is a letter from Diverres to J. Austin Jenkins in English from Paris in 1906 in which he expresses his wish to visit Wales and to arrange Welsh lessons in Paris.

lessons in Paris. He would like help in advertising the lessons to Welsh people living
in Paris. (3 sides, printed). Courtesy of Cardiff Libraries.
Théophile Janvrais (1865?-1949?) wrote under the pseudonym René d’Ys, and is the author of ‘Souvenirs de Bretagne, L’ex-voto’, Société des bibliophiles bretons et de l’histoire de Bretagne, 10 (1893), 314-18, Les Sinistres d’Islande, leurs causes et les moyens de les prévenir (1901), Nos marins-pêcheurs: leur alcoolisme (1902), Ernest Renan: les étapes de sa vie bretonne (1903), Le Berceau des Villiers de L’Isle-Adam (1913). There are two letters from him in the collection, asking Edward Thomas for detailed information and photographs of the Welsh Archdruid Rowland Williams (Hwfa Môn; 1823 –1905) and for an explanation of the procedure for electing a new Archdruid.
- Taldir, letter to Cochfarf, Gorffennaf 1912, Casgliad Caerdydd. Cardiff MS 4.1322, courtesy of Cardiff Libraries. [↩]
- For a discussion of this text see Heather Williams, ‘Are the Bretons French? The case of François Jaffrennou/ Taldir ab Hernin’, Nottingham French Studies, 60:2, (2021), 192-205. Are the Bretons French? The Case of François Jaffrennou/Taldir ab Hernin | Nottingham French Studies [↩]
- Patrick Young, Enacting Brittany: Tourism and Culture in Provincial France, 1871-1939 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2012), pp. 94, 121. [↩]
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
heatherwilliams (11 mars 2025). Edward Thomas (Cochfarf; 1853-1912) and his Breton network. DreAM-CollEx. Consulté le 12 janvier 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/13gb8