Saturday, 3 October 2026

The heart of Anne of Brittany in its reliquary and its fate during the Revolution

Besides her political testament, Anne of Brittany left a worldly one: the Duchess asked that her heart be carried home to her native land and buried where her parents lay.
The heart was placed in a golden reliquary measuring 15*12 cm, crowned with a coronet of clover leaves and lilies, and solemnly conveyed to Brittany, where it was received by people kneeling and with tears in their eyes. The reliquary with the heart was set up in the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul between the tombs of Francis II of Brittany and Marguerite de Foix of Navarre.
In the years of the Revolution, the coffins of the Dukes of Brittany were, by order of the Convention, melted down into bullets, while the golden reliquary was confiscated and the heart thrown away.

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