Marion du Faouët, a thief with a big heart?
Marion du Faouët, nicknamed 'Robin Hood in petticoats'... The comparison is nice, but what is it really like?
A popular and colourful heroine
Marion du Faouët turned a lot of heads and spilled a lot of ink. Her extraordinary destiny has earned her a place in history.
A pretty, mischievous little girl
Marie Tromel, her real name, was born in 1717 in the small hamlet of Porz-en-Haie in Le Faouët. At the beginning of this difficult century, epidemics and famine were never far away. Her father was a day labourer and her mother a travelling saleswoman at fairs and pardons. From an early age, she accompanied her mother to help her sell haberdashery and other trinkets, but she soon began begging and pilfering. No one was suspicious of this little girl with her freckled face and red hair. Her mischievous side endears her to everyone.
A beautiful and fascinating young woman
The little girl becomes a ravishing teenager and then a captivatingly beautiful young woman.
With her fiery hair and grey eyes, she bewitches rich and poor alike. She leaves no one indifferent. Henri Pezron fell under her spell as soon as he saw her bathing in Priziac lake. Love at first sight was mutual. They married in front of the Saint-Fiacre chapel in Le Faouët.
Soon, she could no longer bear the precariousness of her existence, and to escape poverty, she formed a gang of crooks and became their leader. With Henri as her right-hand man, she went on the rampage throughout the region for almost fifteen years. In Guémené, Persquen, Gourin, Meslan, Saint-Caradec-Trégomel, Lanvénégen, Le Croisty and Le Saint... Everyone knows the woman now known as Marie Finefond, otherwise known as Marie la Rusée.
A generous gang leader
The little gang, which gradually grew, spotted the rich merchants on the pardons and robbed them a little further afield, in inns or on the roads. Not only does the thief never attack the poor, but more importantly, she gives them part of her booty! Marion has a big heart, and that's how she endears herself to the poorest of the poor.
She wasarrested several times during her career as a bandit. In 1746, Marion and four men, including Henri Pezron, were arrested. When the verdict came down in 1747, they were sentenced to death. They appealed. Although the new trial condemned Marion to banishment from the region after being whipped and branded with the V of thieves, it confirmed that Henri was to be hanged. Marion was only 30 when she lost the love of her life.
Despite this, she continued her escapades before being arrested once again. This time there was no clemency, and she was hanged in Quimper in 1755. Many spectators came to see the end of Finefond. At the age of 38, Marion became a legend...
A slightly less flattering historical reality
Does this fictional story really correspond to reality? There seem to be a few differences.
A dual personality?
Marion was already seen as a cheeky youngster. After pilfering from market stalls, she began robbing passers-by and even holding children her own age to ransom. As she grew older, she began to use her charms and seduce others. As she grew older, so did her misdeeds. She took a wrong turn and ended up becoming a highwayman.
Marion du Faouët lived up to her nickname of Finefond. She was an intelligent, quick-witted woman. For some, she was illiterate; for others, she received an education superior to those of her condition. Taken in by high-ranking families, she learned good manners as well as how to read and write. As this seemed too complicated to her, she never really used her knowledge of writing.
However, she was also a woman who could feast in taverns with her companions and commit violent acts. She was rather authoritarian and could be brutal. She led her band of criminals by the scruff of the neck.
The redistribution of the stolen money seems like something out of a fairy tale. Marion may have occasionally helped the underprivileged, but she did not take from the rich to give to the poor. She did not amass wealth and spent it day by day.
A clever bandit who knew the risks
Her intelligence enabled her to know who to target. She only targeted wealthy merchants returning from fairs and markets with their pockets full, and foreigners from the region. They didn't stop stagecoaches or try to rob the bourgeoisie or the lords. Cautious, she feared those in power.
It is said that she never attacked the weakest and even protected them. But from whom? Her own troops? And why would she rob the poorest? They had nothing!
Today, the Finefond Company could be compared to a kind of local mafia. Marion felt powerful and ruled the roost in and around Le Faouët.
So who was Marion du Faouët really? A popular thief who defied authority and was therefore a friend of the common people, or a rough-edged gang leader who preferred to plunder rather than work? It's up to each of us to make up our own minds...
What is certain is that she left us an astonishing legend: under the covered market in Le Faouët, on the evenings of a full moon, it is said that her ghost can be seen, escorted by two dogs, rolling a barrel full of gold coins...
The "Marion's secret" investigation
In the riddle game "Marion's Secret", you set off in search of a mysterious chest that once belonged to the famous brigand Marion du Faouët. From one street to the next, the questions will keep you on your toes until you find the treasure locked in this famous chest.
The game box is available from the Tourist Office for €10. It is part of a collection of three fun boxes. The other two take you to Gourin and Kernascléden.
Watch carefully, be perceptive and have fun!
