Gaël (

Gallo Gallo may refer to: *Related to Gaul: ** Gallo-Roman culture **Gallo language, a regional language of France **Gallo-Romance, a branch of Romance languages **Gallo-Italic or Gallo-Italian language, a branch spoken in Northern Italy of the Romance ...

: ''Gaèu'') is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; br, Il-ha-Gwilen) is a department of France, located in the region of Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named after the two rivers of the Ille and the Vilaine. It had a population of 1,079,498 in 2019.

department in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

in northwestern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. It lies southwest of Rennes between

Saint-Méen-le-Grand Saint-Méen-le-Grand (; ; Gallo: ''Saent-Men'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is located west of Rennes between Montauban-de-Bretagne and Gaël. At the 2006 Tour de France, Saint-Méen-l ...

and

Mauron Mauron (; br, Maoron) is a commune in the Morbihan department and Brittany region of north-western France. It lies close to the borders of both Côtes d'Armor and Ille-et-Vilaine. Mauron's location make it a crossroads on the routes connectin ...

. In the 18th century, a fair was held twice a year in August and October.

Toponymy

Old versions of the place-name include ''Guadel'' in 799, ''Wadel'' in 816, ''Vadel'' in 851, ''Wael'' in 1096, ''Gael'' as soon as 1112. Its Breton name is ''Gwazel'', that comes directly from ''Wadel > Gwadel > Gwazel'', in Breton intervocalic becomes like in ''mezo'' ″drunk″, Welsh ''meddw'' ″drunk″. In French intervocalic disappears totally : ''Wadel > Wael'' (Latin ''cadena'' > French ''chaine'' > English ''chain'') and initial Germanic ''w-'' became ''gu-'' ʷ(+ ''-a'') before becoming simply : ''Guadel > Gael'' (cf. Old French ''guarder'' > French ''garder'', English ''guard''). The symbol ''ë'' means in Modern French that the preceding ''a'' has to be pronounced : ''Ga-el'' aɛl(not ɛʲl Nevertherless the place-name is not from Breton but from Gallo-Romance ''Wadellu(m)'', derived of

Old Low Franconian In linguistics, Old Dutch (Dutch: Oudnederlands) or Old Low Franconian (Dutch: Oudnederfrankisch) is the set of Franconian dialects (i.e. dialects that evolved from Frankish) spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from arou ...

''*wad'' ″ford″ > French ''gué'' ″ford″ (Old Norman ''wei'' > Norman ''vey'', Picard, Walloon ''wez''). There were always Gallo-Romance speaking communities east of Saint-Brieuc and the Breton languages disappears totally around ''Gaël'' in the Middle Ages to be replaced by Gallo. A main ford allowed to cross the Meu stream.

History

It is best known to English historians as being the ancestral seat of

Ralph de Guader Ralph de Gaël (otherwise Ralph de Guader, Ralph Wader or Radulf Waders or Ralf Waiet or Rodulfo de Waiet; before 1042c. 1100) was the Earl of East Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk) and Lord of Gaël and Montfort (''Seigneur de Gaël et Montfort'') ...

the first earl of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

and Suffolk in post-Conquest England circa 1070 A.D. This is an ancient Breton parish to the west of Rennes, whose boundaries formerly stretched to include the territories of Bran, Muel,

Saint-Onen Saint-Onen-la-Chapelle (; ) is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Saint-Onen-la-Chapelle are called ''onenais'' in French. See also *Communes of the Ille-et-Vilaine depar ...

, Crouais,

, Concoret and

Loscouët-sur-Meu Loscouët-sur-Meu (, literally ''Loscouët on Meu''; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany in northwestern France. Geography The River Meu flows southeast through the middle of the commune. Population Inhabitants of Lo ...

. The parish of Gaël (Guadel) was a dependency of the

Archbishopric of Saint-Malo The former Breton and French Catholic Diocese of Saint-Malo ( la, Dioecesis Alethensis, then la, Dioecesis Macloviensis, label=none) existed from at least the 7th century until the French Revolution. Its seat was at Aleth up to some point in th ...

. In the 6th and 7th centuries, Gaël was a major town in the kingdom of Domnonia. The name is alleged to derive from the word for a ford, river-crossing or river (see Guad- and Guadal-). In local myths there was a 6th-century king Hoël (possible link to King Coel) known as the forest king or "Rex Arboretanus". It is a fact that the town is situated amidst the vast forests of Poutrecouët. A royal castle from this era was sited at Meu, not far from Gaël. This later became the seat of the De Montfort family. The emplacement was captured and dismantled by De Guesclin in 1372. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the German

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

occupied an airfield near Gaël in 1941. The Allied Air Forces based in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

attacked the airfield on several occasions in 1943 and 1944 before it was seized by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

in June 1944. Known as Advanced Landing Ground " A-31", the

354th Fighter Group The 354th Fighter Group was an element of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Ninth Air Force during World War II. The unit was known as the Pioneer Mustang Group and was the first to fly the P-51B Mustang in combat. The group served as bombe ...

based P-51 Mustang fighters at the airfield from 13 August through 17 September 1944 before moving east to

Orconte Orconte () is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. Second World War Captain Antoine de Saint Exupery (1900- 1944) stayed in the commune during winter 1939, with the Groupe de Grande Reconnaissance 2/33 (Reconnaissance Gro ...

in the

Marne Marne can refer to: Places France *Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine *Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river * La Marne, a commune in western France *Marne, a legislative constituency (France) Nethe ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

along with the advancing Allied armies. After the war, the airfield was dismantled and the land returned to agricultural use.Air Force History Index retrieval of USAFHRA documents relating to Gael, France (1940-1945)
/ref>

Geography

The village lies on the left bank of the

Meu The Meu () is an long river in the Côtes-d'Armor and Ille-et-Vilaine '' départements'', north western France. Its source is at Saint-Vran, west of the village. It flows generally southeast. It is a right tributary of the Vilaine into which i ...

, which flows southeastward through the commune.

Population

Inhabitants of Gaël are called ''Gaëlites''.