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Carhaix-Plouguer (Municipality, Finistère, France)

by Arnaud Leroy

Presentation of Carhaix-Plouguer
Municipal flag of Carhaix-Plouguer
Cercle Celtique d'Ahès

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Presentation of Carhaix-Plouguer

The municipality of Carhaix-Plouguer (Breton, Karaez-Plouger, 7,648 inhabitants) is the main city of the traditional district of Poher, in interior Brittany.
Carhaix is located in the eastern part of the department of Finistère, very close to the departments of Côtes-d'Armor and Morbihan. The name of Carhaix (known as Caer Ahes in 1082) comes from the Celtic words kaer (city) and ahes, the name of the tribe known in Latin as the Osismes. According to the local tradition, King of Cornouaille Gradlon gave the city to his daughter Ahès, and the city was named Karaez, literally Ahès' city.

The city was created de novo by the Romans in 50 BC as Vorgium, the administrative capital city of the Osisme country. Vorgium was an important crossroads of ways serving western Brittany. Several remains of Vorgium have been found in Carhaix, including an 25-km long aqueduct linking Glomel and Carhaix. There is a big project of archeological excavations in order to make of Vorgium the first archeological site in Brittany. The project is sponsored by the municipality of Carhaix and the General Council of Finistère, and handled by the Institut National pour la Recherche Archéologique Préventive (INRAP, National Institute for Preventive Archeological Research).

In the IVth century, Brest (then called Osismis), located on the coast of Brittany, supplanted Vorgium as the main administrative center of western Brittany, and the decline of Vorgium started. The city was burned down by the Alans and rebuilt in the VIth century by the Breton lord Conmor, who was the first Lord of Poher. The princes of Poher played an important role in the history of Brittany in the IXth-Xth centuries. Until the XVth century, the city was besieged and trashed several times, during the Hundred Years' War, the War of Succession of Brittany, and the long periods of anarchy characteristic of the Duchy of Brittany at that time.

In the XVIth century, Carhaix was the seat of a Royal Court of Justice and a known place of trade, especially for cattle. The city increased in size, out of the medieval city walls.
In 1675, the city was involved in the révolte des Bonnets Rouges (Red Caps' uprising) against the taxes imposed by Colbert for funding Louis XIV's war in Holland.

In 1800, the opening of the canal between Nantes and Brest (canal de Nantes à Brest) triggered