^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Evran (Municipality, Côtes-d'Armor, France)

Evrann

Flag of Evran - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 9 October 2005

Presentation of Evran
Flags of Evran

See also:

Presentation of Evran

The municipality of Evran (in Breton, Evrann) is located in northern central Britanny, some 10 km south of Dinan and 10 km north of Bécherel. Evran is located on the confluency of the rivers Rance (watering Dinan and flowing into the Channel by a wide estuary separating Dinard and Saint-Malo) and Linon and of the canal linking the Ille and the Rance (linking Saint-Malo to Rennes and allowing in the past the north-south crossing of Brittany).

The name of Evran might come either from Gaulish equo, water, or from Gaulish eburo, the yew. The early parish of Evran was made with parts of the even earlier parishes of Plouasne (south of Linon) and Plesder (north of Linon).
Evran was first mentioned in 1156, whenthe Bishop of Saint-Malo confirmed the possession of the St. Peter church in "Ivran" to the monastery of Léhon, located near Dinan. A chart dated 1182 mentions "Ewram" on the list of the goods of the Knight Templars, who owned in the past a hamlet called L'Hôpital in the south of the village. In 1196, yet another chart mentions the lord Hugues de Ewram, father of Geffroy (mentioned himself as Gaufridus de Ewran in 1213). In 1198, there was a big dispute between the Prior of Léhon and Robert de Broons, both of them claiming the tithe collected in Evran. The prior won the case.

The powerful family of Beaumanoir built the eponymic castle in Evran in 1212. The castle was destroyed during the Religious Wars in the beginning of the XVIth century and rebuilt in style Louis XIII in 1628 by François Peschart, Councillor in the Parliament of Brittany. In the beginning of the XIIIth century, Hervé de Beaumanoir and his fellows Guy de Thouars, Alain de Penthièvre, Payen de Malestroit, Josselin de Rohan, Pierre de Lohéac, Guillaume de Montfort, Olivier de Dinan, André de Vitré, Geoffroy and Guillaume de Fougères, Hervé de Beaumortier, Alain de Châteaugiron, Harsculphe de Raiz, Eudon du Pont, Guillaume du Plessis, Bernard de Machecou, as well as several Breton knights, revolted against John Lackland after he had murdered his nephew Arthur, the young Duke of Brittany.
Near 1350, the owner of the castle was Jean III de Beaumanoir, lord of Beaumanoir, Merdrignac and La Hardouinaye and Marshal of Brittany, Governor of Josselin for Charles de Blois, one of the two pretenders to the throne of Brittany and fighter of the so-called War of Succession of Brittany. On 27 March 1351, Beaumanoir was among the winners of the famous Combat des Trentes. The last Beaumanoir, Emmanuel-Henri, Marquis de Lavardin, was killed during the battle of Speyer (Germany) in 1703.
In 1359, Constable Bertrand Du Guesclin was attacked and captured near Evran by English troops commanded by Robin Adar.
On 24 July 1363, Charles de Blois and Jean de Montfort signed the treaty of the Moors of Evran, supposed to end the War of Succession of Brittany. However, the war ended only in 1365 with the death of Charles de Blois during the battle of Auray.

The municipality of Evran was formed in 1790. The village of Saint-Judoce was incorporated to the new municipality but seceded to form an independent municipality in 1803. The municipal territory was further modified by Order of 7 September 1840 (exchange of enclaves with Saint-André-des-Eaux); by Law of 2 June 1844 (exchange of enclaves with Saint-Judoce); and by Law of 6 April 1934 (secession of the northern part of the municipality to form the municipality of Les Champs-Géraux).

Source: InfoBretagne website

Ivan Sache, 9 October 2005

Flag of Evran

The flag of Evran, as reported by Hervé Prat, is a vertical blue banner with ten white rectangles (billets) placed 4 + 3 + 2 + 1.
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms (Brian Timms):
D'azur à dix billettes d'argent posées 4,3,2,1. (Azure ten billets argent).
GASO gives a similar blazon:
D'azur aux dix billettes d'argent ordonnées 4, 3, 2 et 1.
These are, as expected, the arms of Beaumanoir, as shown on a seal dated 1379. The municipalities of Langolay-sur-Rance and Plaintel use the same arms.
Timms reports more complicated arms used by the municipal administration of Evran (on a letterhead, although the very same administration informed Timms they used the arms described above!):
Ermine an escutcheon azure ten billets argent a chief per pale azure three fleurs-de-lis 2,1 or and gules three lions passant gardant or.

Arnaud Leroy & Ivan Sache, 13 October 2005