Mottes féodales dites Les Bourgs Heusas
FortressHidden Treasure
Mottes féodales dites Les Bourgs Heusas, located in Pléven (Département 22), is a medieval landmark built in the Middle Ages. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Fort
- Period
- Medieval (11th-15th century)
- Location
- Pléven, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.4850, -2.3136
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089446
Remnants of feudal mounds from the early Middle Ages, the Bourgs Heusas in Pléven bear witness to the early military organisation of Brittany: two earthen mounds overlooking the Armorican countryside, listed as Historic Monuments since 1961.
History
In the heart of the Côtes-d'Armor region, in the commune of Pléven, stand the discreet Bourgs Heusas, one of the best-preserved groups of feudal mottes in Upper Brittany. These artificial mounds, fashioned by human hands in the High Middle Ages, bear striking witness to the art of warfare and lordly domination that structured the Breton landscape long before the rise of the great stone fortresses. What distinguishes the Bourgs Heusas from a simple accident of terrain is precisely their intentional nature and their remarkable state of preservation. The mottes, masses of compacted, raised earth, reach a significant height, which in the past enabled a wooden tower to be erected on top of them, then used to keep watch over the roads and surrounding farmland. Their configuration as a double site - two distinct eminences - suggests a complex defensive and administrative organisation, typical of early Breton feudal systems. The visitor experience here is that of open-air archaeology: as they wander across these grassy reliefs, visitors let their imaginations run wild to centuries of local lords, peasants on drudgery and watchmen keeping watch over a disputed territory. The silence of the place, the quality of the Armorican light and the sparse vegetation that covers the mounds give the whole a melancholy and deeply evocative atmosphere. The surrounding countryside, with its hedged farmland and sunken lanes, is the ideal natural setting for these earthen structures, which erosion and the passing centuries have not been enough to erase. For lovers of medieval heritage or budding archaeologists, the Bourgs Heusas are an essential stop-off on the route of Brittany's castles and fortifications.
Architecture
The Heusas burghs belong to the category of mottes castrales with double eminence, a form of earthen military architecture characteristic of the High Middle Ages. Each motte takes the form of a truncated cone-shaped mound, built by accumulating and compacting clay and local materials by hand. The typical height of such structures in Brittany varies between four and eight metres above the surrounding level, giving the summit sentinel a circular field of vision over several kilometres of open countryside. The profile of each mound forms a steep slope, made deliberately steep to discourage direct assault. At its base runs a ditch - probably supplied with water in its original configuration - from which some of the earth extracted was used to raise the mound itself. The flattened and consolidated summit platform supported a palisade of oak stakes and a quadrangular timber tower, a light but effective defensive structure in the military context of the 9th-11th centuries. No stone masonry has been found on the site, which is consistent with the chronology of the early Middle Ages in Brittany and with the building tradition of primitive mottes. The materials used - earth, clay and wood - have naturally disappeared, leaving only the recessed negative of the ditches and the raised positive of the eminences as tangible evidence of the castral engineering of this period. Paradoxically, the herbaceous and shrubby vegetation that colonises the slopes today helps to stabilise the structures, while giving them their characteristic appearance of natural hills.
Related Figures
Seigneurs du Penthièvre (XIe-XIIe siècle) — dynasties comtales contrôlant la région de PlévenEudon Ier de Penthièvre (mort v. 1079) — comte du Penthièvre, probable suzerain du territoireArchéologues de la Société d'Émulation des Côtes-du-Nord (XIXe siècle) — premiers inventoriants des mottes bretonnesAndré Chédeville — historien médiéviste spécialiste de la Bretagne féodaleMinistère des Affaires culturelles — autorité ayant prononcé le classement MH en 1961
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Mottes féodales dites Les Bourgs Heusas located?
Mottes féodales dites Les Bourgs Heusas is located in Pléven, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Mottes féodales dites Les Bourgs Heusas built?
Mottes féodales dites Les Bourgs Heusas dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Mottes féodales dites Les Bourgs Heusas open to visitors?
Mottes féodales dites Les Bourgs Heusas is currently closed to visitors.