Gwenc'hlan Le Scouëzec
Encyclopedia
Plouescat
Plouescat is a commune in the Finistère department in Bretagne in northwestern France. It is a seaside resort, complete with a casino and a large camping and caravanning site, adjacent to its beautiful extensive beach of fine, powdery sand...
, Finistère
Finistère
Finistère is a département of France, in the extreme west of Brittany.-History:The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, meaning end of the earth, and may be compared with Land's End on the opposite side of the English Channel...
– February 6, 2008) was a Breton
Breton people
The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The...
writer and Grand Druid
Druid
A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
.
Gwenc’hlan was born in Brittany. His father was Maurice Le Scouëzec, a painter. Gwenc’hlan spent most of his childhood in Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Landivisiau
Landivisiau
Landivisiau is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.-International relations:It is twinned with Bideford in the southwest of the United Kingdom.-Population:...
and Douarnenez, before doing his secondary studies in Saint-Vincent de Pont-Croix, Saint-Yves de Quimper and Saint-Grégoire de Tours, in 1942. There, he took part in the Breton Scouts movement Bleimor. He followed higher studies in history at La Sorbonne in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
He did military service between 1951 and 1953 in the French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
at Sidi-bel-Abbès and Daya in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. He was recalled to the French Foreign Legion at the 5th Foreign Regiment of 1957–1958.
He was a teacher of French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
in Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
and Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
from 1953 until 1957. After his military service, he became a professor at the French Institute of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, once back in France in Saint-Didier-en-Velay
Saint-Didier-en-Velay
Saint-Didier-en-Velay is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France.-References:*...
and in Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
.
As of 1960, he started to study medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, and completed this with distinction in the Faculty of Medicine of Paris. He became a doctor at Quimper (from 1969 until 1985. He also initiated Skoazell Vreizh, the Breton emergency service, together with Xavier Grall
Xavier Grall
Xavier Grall was a journalist and poet from Brittany, France who was a strong advocate of Breton nationalism during the Third Emsav. His work glorifies a mystical Brittany.-Early career:...
and Yann Choucq in the 1970s. He was a participant of the "colloque Bretagne" and self-government, in 1973. He wrote the preface in Morvan Lebesque
Morvan Lebesque
Morvan Lebesque , was the Breton language name of Maurice Lebesque, a Breton nationalist activist and French journalist....
's book: "peut-on être breton ? Essai sur la démocratie française" (How to be a Breton? An essay about French democracy). in 1985, he founded the publishing business Beltan. He promoted the work of his father, the painter Maurice Le Scouëzec.
Neo-Druidism
He became Deputy Grand Druid within the"Poellgor" (executive committee of the Gorsedd) on April 1, 1979, and then he became the Grand Druid of BrittanyBrittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, succeeding Per Loisel on November 1, 1980. The association Goursez Vreizh
Goursez Vreizh
Goursez Vreizh is the national gorsedd of Brittany . It often has delegates from the Welsh gorsedd and Gorsedh Kernow in Cornwall.-History:...
(Gorsedd of Brittany) also known as " Breudeuriezh Drouized, Barzhed hag Ovizion Breizh" in Breton or "Fraternité des druides, bardes et ovates de Bretagne" in French(Fraternity
Fraternal and service organizations
A "fraternal organization" or "fraternity" is a brotherhood, though the term usually connotes a distinct or formal organization. Please list college fraternities and sororities at List of social fraternities and sororities.-International:...
of the Druids, Bards and Ovates of Brittany), represents Neo-druidism
Neo-Druidism
Neo-Druidism or Neo-Druidry, commonly referred to as Druidism or Druidry by its adherents, is a form of modern spirituality or religion that generally promotes harmony and worship of nature, and respect for all beings, including the environment...
most regularly.
Gwenc’hlan is the fifth Grand Druid of our time, according to the Gorsedd de Bretagne. In November 1993, he united a group of freemasons, forming "loge maçonnique de la pierre pour ensuite y instaurer le rite maçonnique forestier" (a freemason lodge of the stone, to preserve the masonic forest rites).
In collaboration with Jean-Robert Masson
- Pierres sacrées de Bretagne : calvaires et enclos paroissiaux (1982)
- Pierres sacrées de Bretagne: croix et sanctuaires (1983)
- Bretagne mégalithique (1987)
- Enez Eusa, Ouessant mystérieux (avec Maï-Sous Robert-Dantec). Quimper : Élisart Éditeur, 2001.
- Entretiens avec un druide nommé Gwenc'hlan (de Régis Blanchet aux Editions Du Prieuré) (1993).