Duguesclin, from his statue in the Abbey of St. Denis.
He was born at Motte-Broons, near Dinan, toward 1320. “He had a sunburned face, with a snub nose, and green eyes, an awkward gait, and a rough and untractable nature,” one reads in the words of Simeon Luce; and from the existing portraits of him, all this is true.
He was a warrior, from his earliest days, of the most thoroughgoing type. He was the sort of small boy whom mothers find looking for trouble. He would lead on the village lads to fight, and, when victory had all but appeared, on one side or the other, he would throw himself into the breach to start the fight again, just like a wolf, after which he would lead both sides to a tavern to drink, and heal old sores.
On the ninth of July, 1812, the heart of the redoubtable Duguesclin was brought to Dinan and placed in the north transept of the Church of St. Sauveur amid an imposing assemblage.
The sarcophagus bears the following inscription, which shows that the warrior who really was responsible for the banishment of the English from France “ranked in company with kings,” as his French admirers put it.
GY : GIST : LE CUEUR : DE
MESSIRE : BERTRAN : DU GUEAQUI
EN : SON VIVAT CONETITABLE DE
FRACE : QUI : TRESPASSA : LE XIIIe
JOUR : DE : JULLET : L’AN : MIL IIIe
IIIIxx : DONT : SON : CORPS : REPOS
AVECQUES : CEULX : DES : ROIS
A SAINCT : DENIS EN FRANCE.