author
René Pocard du Cosquer de Kerviler
1842–1907
A 19th-century French engineer who brought the same patience to scholarship that he did to public works, he became best known for an ambitious bio-bibliographical survey of Brittany. His work still stands out for its deep curiosity about Breton history, archaeology, and learned culture.
1 Audiobook
J. Ogier de Gombauld, 1570-1666 étude biographique et littéraire sur sa vie et ses ouvrages
by René Pocard du Cosquer de Kerviler
About the author
Born in Vannes on November 13, 1842, and later known simply as René Kerviler, he was trained at the École Polytechnique and the École des ponts et chaussées. He worked as an engineer in several posts, including Tarbes, Saint-Brieuc, and Saint-Nazaire, while steadily building a parallel life as a historian, archaeologist, and bibliographer.
Kerviler is especially remembered for the vast, unfinished Répertoire général de bio-bibliographie bretonne, a major reference work devoted to Breton writers and historical figures. He also wrote on Brittany's history and archaeology, bringing together a technical mind, archival discipline, and a lasting attachment to the region.
He died in Lorient on May 12, 1907. Even though some of his grandest projects were left incomplete, his scholarship helped preserve a huge amount of material on Breton intellectual and cultural life.