Manoir de Boyac: A Medieval Seigneurial Residence in France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Duchy of Brittany
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Manor House
On this page5 sections
History
Early medieval estate
Manoir de Boyac is a historic manor house in France, located about three kilometres north of Ploërmel in Brittany. One of the oldest seigneuries in the Ploërmel area, it is first mentioned in the ninth century. The site is believed to correspond to Batalaoc, a villa and estate in the parish of Armaël that Catwaten, son of Drelawen, gave to the monks of Redon in 858.
The estate was later known as Buiac. After Count Matuédo granted it in usufruct, the legal right to use property and benefit from it while ownership remained elsewhere, to Bily, bishop of Vannes, Bily returned it to the monks of Redon in 913. The place-name appears as Boyat in 914, Bouyac in 1440, Bouiac in 1460, and Boyac from 1513 onward.
Formation of the manor
The construction of the manor was complete by the fifteenth century. The Thébaud family is identified as its initial owner, and the building served originally as a residence. By this period, the estate had developed from its earlier medieval associations into a seigneurial residence, the centre of a territorial lordship whose holder exercised rights over the surrounding estate and its dependencies.
A declaration dated 6 December 1676 described the Boyac seigneury as a noble house with its dependencies. The entire manor was listed as a French historic monument on 1 July 2011, a legal heritage-protection designation for historically significant sites and structures.
Remains
Buildings around the courtyard
Manoir de Boyac comprises a group of buildings arranged around an enclosed courtyard. The declaration of 1676 describes this courtyard as sixty feet square and entered through a gateway. These buildings formed the physical setting of the noble house and its dependencies, preserving the manor’s character as a residential and seigneurial complex at Boyac in Ploërmel, Morbihan.
