Marie-Louise Tromel, better known as Marion du Faouët or Marie Finefont, born on , was the leader of a group of highwaymen who were active near Le Faouët, Morbihan, Brittany. She was arrested four times, and once hanged in effigy. She was finally executed . After her death, she was remembered as an infamous
Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
** Breton people
** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Ga ...
.
Biography
Marion was born to Félicien Tromel and Hélène Kerleau on May 6, 1717, in the hamlet of Porz-en-Haie, near Le Faouët, Morbihan. She was the third child of five, with two older brothers, François (1712) and Corentin, then a younger sister Louise (1719) and a younger brother René-Félicien (1721).
In 1737, at the age of twenty, Marion had her first child of four with Henri Pezron, a servant at Guéméné.
The first records of her criminal activity date from 1743. A master tailor, François Hellou, was attacked on the road to Priziac by a band of criminals, armed with sticks and pistols. He identified Henri Pezron and Marion's brother Corentin among his attackers. The same year, Marion was caught giving counterfeit coins to a man called Le Parlouer at the Croisty fair. This was when she was given the nicknames Marion du Faouët and Marie Finefont ("Finefont" meaning, in
Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
** Breton people
** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Ga ...
, very cunning). It was not long after this that Marion became the leader of the emerging group of bandits: the latest year attested for her leadership therein is 1745.
Brice Evain describes the group as pragmatically targeting craftsmen, merchants, and well-to-do peasants, but not the nobility, whose victimisation was more likely to bring more serious consequences. The official website for tourism in Brittany, however, describes her as "a kind of Breton Robin Hood who robbed from the rich to give to the poor."
In 1746, Marion du Faouët, Henri Pezron, and their associates were arrested. Henri Pezron was hanged. Marion du Faouët was beaten, branded with a V (for ''voleur'', "thief"), and banned from Rennes. Nonetheless, she returned to Faouët and assembled a new bandit troupe. Arrested again in 1748, she was again banished, this time from the whole province. Again, nonetheless, she returned to Faouët, and raised a new troupe.
Brice Evain calls the years 1748-1752 "the golden age of the troupe" (''l’âge d’or de la troupe''): they refined their skills as highwaymen, specializing in attacking traders returning from fairs, especially foreign traders.
In 1752, Marion was arrested in
Poullaouen
Poullaouen (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. On 1 January 2019, the former commune Locmaria-Berrien was merged into Poullaouen.Quimper, from which she escaped. In 1753, she was hanged in effigy. In October 1754, she was arrested in
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
, and taken to the prison in Bouffay. During questioning, she gave her name as Marion du Faouët; recognizing her, the judges transferred her to the prison in Quimper. This time, she did not escape: she was sentenced to hanging, and was executed August 2, 1755, at the age of thirty-eight.
In popular culture
Marion became a legendary figure in Breton oral traditions after her death. Over time, she came to function as a bogeyman used by parents to frighten children into good behavior.
These were first recorded by the historian Julien Trévédy in 1884, in ''Breton Studies: Marion du Faouët, leader of thieves'' (''Etudes Bretonnes: Marion du Faouët, chef de voleurs (1715-1755)''). He says that he was going through the papers of the Quimper prison, researching something else, when he saw Marion's name and was vividly reminded of the legendary figure he had heard of growing up, thus prompting a new line of research into her life. The next work on Marion was Jean Lorédan's ''Poverty and thieves in the 18th century: Marion du Faouët and her "associates"'' (''La grande misère et les voleurs au XVIIIe siècle : Marion du Faouët et ses «associés»''), published in 1910.
In 1975, Colette Cosnier ( fr) wrote a play casting Marion as a feminist hero, presenting an idea of Breton womanhood that was the opposite of the famously silent, obedient figure of
Bécassine
''Bécassine'' is a French comic strip and the name of its heroine, appearing for the first time in the first issue of ''La Semaine de Suzette'' on February 2, 1905. She is considered one of the first female protagonists in the history of French ...
. The play was titled "Marion du Faouët/The strumpet with red hair" (''"Marion du Faouët/La catin aux cheveux rouges"'').
In 1997, a two-part TV movie of her life was made in France, ''Marion du Faouët: Chef des Voleurs'' (Marion du Faouët: Leader of Thieves), starring
Carole Richert
Carole Richert (born 28 September 1967) is a French actress. She studied at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Paris. She played Marie-France in the series '' Clem
Clem may refer to:
Places
*Clem, Oregon, United States, an unincorp ...
as Marion.
In 2009, Marion was the subject of the song "Marionig" on
Alan Stivell
Alan Stivell (; born Alan Cochevelou on 6 January 1944) is a French, Breton and Celtic musician and singer, songwriter, recording artist, and master of the Celtic harp. From the early 1970s, he revived global interest in the Celtic (specifically ...
's album
Emerald
Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p ...
.
In 2013, Marion du Faouët was one of nine women featured in a campaign in
Rennes
Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...
with the slogan "Too few streets are named after women" (''Trop peu de rues portent un nom de femmes''): Marion was proposed as a notable Breton who deserved to be memorialized. The ''Coeur de Bretagne'' ("Heart of Brittany") travel listing for Le Faouët names Marion as the area's major historical figure.