In this remote country, in this ancient duchy of Bretagne, which was not France at that period, and is not so even now, the people knew nothing of the king of France.

They not only did not know him, but were unwilling to know him.

One face--a single one--floated visibly for them upon the political current.

Their ancient dukes no longer ruled them; government was a void--nothing more.

In place of the sovereign duke, the seigneurs of parishes reigned without control; and, above these seigneurs, God, who has never been forgotten in Bretagne.