Barzaz Breiz

It achieved a wide distribution, as the Romantic generation in France that "discovered" the Basque language was beginning to be curious about all the submerged cultures of Europe and the pagan survivals just under the surface of folk Catholicism.

Until this publication the so-called Matter of Britain was known only from references to some legends in French language Romances of the 12th to 14th centuries, in which much of the culture was also transformed to suit Gallic hearers.

The first part collects ballads about historical legends and heroic deeds of Breton leaders, including Nominoe, Erispoe and the warriors of the Combat of the Thirty.

[1] Laurent concluded that Villemarqué had rearranged the material he had collected in order to enliven and clean up the texts and music, but that this was common practice at the time, comparable to work of the Brothers Grimm.

The 1867 edition was subsequently reprinted many times to the present day by the academic library Perrin, not counting the many English translations (Taylor, Fleay ... ), German (Keller-Seckendorf.

In 1989 Mouladurioù Hor Yezh issued a Barzhaz Breizh with only the Breton text, but changed into modern orthography and including the musical score.

A compact disc accompanies the book provides a performance of twelve of the songs by Yann Fanch Kemener and "Maîtrise de Bretagne", solo and duo.