Breton identity and commemoration: Remembering the 1488 battle Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier (16th to 20th centuries)

The fighting of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier took place in 1488 on the border of Brittany. Its story led to the creation of a memorial site closely linked t o Breton identity. It helps to trace back the long process of the rebuildin g of a story. Two main steps focus that evolution. Till the end of the long 19(th) century the memory is based on a learned restitution of historical events which helps to locate for sure the site of the battle and on the oth er hand on the taking back by local and popular culture through folklore an d legends. Then in the XXth century, the event takes a political dimension and is a meeting point for the nationalist movement on the verge of structu ration. The celebration of the fighting becomes essential to that rebuilt i dentity, so a first memorial building is set up in 1926. Then a militarist and demanding commemoration takes place every year. After World War II, the celebration is more moderate without dwindling the faith around the event yet. In 1988, the edification of a second monument, whose erection shows th e evolution of nationalist conceptions, proves the accuracy of that event f or Breton identity.