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Landerneau (Municipality, Finistère, France)

Landerne

Flag of Landerneau - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 3 December 2021

Presentation of Landerneau
Flag of Landerneau

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Presentation of Landerneau

Landerneau, in Breton Landerne, (16,025 inhabitants in 2020; 1,319 ha) is a commune in the Finistère department.

The Landerneau site undoubtedly housed an agglomeration from the Roman period. The name of Landerneau appears in 1206, at a time when the agglomeration was in full development. The establishment is then the main town of the seigneury of Léon, a stronghold born from the dismemberment of the viscounty of the same name. After the death of Hervé VIII of Léon in 1363, the city entered the domain of the Viscounts of Rohan, a family which would only strengthen its influence. At the end of the Middle Ages, Landerneau was an active agglomeration which housed a bourgeoisie enriched by the development of maritime trade.
Landerneau is located where the maritime navigation up the Elorn estuary (also known as Rivière de Landerneau) traditionally ended, which allowed the port to flourish; it is also a city-bridge, located at the site of the last bridge allowing the crossing of the coastal river and going from Léon to Cornouaille or vice versa: the Rohan bridge. This place of passage for land traffic caused the commercial development of the city, including on the bridge itself, a bridge inhabited by houses on stilts, with many shops. The city experienced a period of strong prosperity in the 16th and 17th centuries thanks to the flax trade.

Landerneau is the hometown of Édouard Leclerc, a businessman and entrepreneur who founded the French supermarket chain E.Leclerc in 1948. His first store applies a hard competition with other supermarket chains with local made products and lower prices. Leclerc's new methods of sales are still applied in all supermarkets and hypermarkets and marks an evolution in the market's history. The town is actually the heart of the agricultural market in northwest Brittany with several agribusiness companies headquarters located in Landerneau.

The town is also known for its "moon", La Lune de Landerneau (the Moon of Landerneau). This nickname is supposed from a noble visiting Versailles court and was not impressed by the luxury of the Château de Versailles. He was contemplating the moon with others in the Versailles gardens when he said "the Landerneau's moon is bigger", that made the assembly laugh. The Breton noble made reference to a big silver metal disc on top of the Saint Houardon Church, well known in the surroundings as "the moon of Landerneau".

The proverbial expression in French "This will make some noise in Landerneau" is used when an event causes a great stir in a closed environment, and by extension we call “Landerneau” an environment considered as a high-level closed club (the “Cultural Landerneau”, the “Economic Landerneau”). An often reported origin of this expression is on Sunday November 27, 1796, when the French Theater premiered the play by Alexandre Duval, Les Héritiers: the character named Alain declaims, scene I, “His death has made noise in Landerneau”, referring to a naval officer given for dead and who returns to his hometown of Landerneau, to the chagrin of his heirs.

Olivier Touzeau, 3 December 2021

Flag of Landerneau

The flag of Landerneau is a banner of arms (photo, 2008; photo, 2016).

The arms of Landerneau are blazonned: Azure a three masts Or sailed of the same, the stern ensign of Rohan (Gules nine mascles or), the mainmast ensign of Brittany (plain ermine), and the foremast ensign of Léon (Or a lion morné Sable).

Olivier Touzeau, 3 December 2021