Charles de La Monneraye

Charles-Ange, Count of La Monneraye (February 3, 1812 in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine 1–March 12, 1904 in Vannes, Morbihan) was a 19th-century French soldier, historian and politician, who was deputy for Morbihan at the end of the Second Empire and under the nascent Third Republic, then senator  of the same department from 1876.

Biography
Son of Admiral Pierre Bruno Jean de La Monneraye and Marie Perrine Jeanne de La Grandière (daughter of Admiral Charles-Marie de La Grandière ). In 1821 he entered the Royal College of Rennes, now the Lycée Émile Zola, then in 1823 he joined the Jesuit College of Sainte-Anne-d'Auray. In September 1828, he brilliantly obtained his admission to the Royal Military School of Saint-Cyr. It will be integrated in November of the same year. During his second year of military training, Charles de la Monneraye was assigned to the Château de Saint-Cloud, then to Rambouillet, in the custody of King Charles X. There he will meet the young Henri d'Artois, Duke of Bordeaux, future Count of Chambord, then 10 years old, whose accession to the throne of France he will later defend. His ranking on leaving Saint-Cyr, in the boot of the top twenty, allowed him to enter the school of the staff, to which he entered theJanuary 1, 1831. He will come out of it ranked 3rd and will begin his military career as a topographer in the army geography service. He will be ranked captain in 1836, only 24 years old.

He had to resign from the army for family reasons in 1839.

Archéologue et historien
Returning to live with his mother at the Château du Clyo, in Caro in Morbihan, Charles de la Monneraye devoted himself to the management of the family agricultural estate and to the study of the dolmens which dot the department and the Breton region. An archaeologist, he was one of the first scholars to be fascinated by these mysterious stacks of stones, of which we still knew nothing or very little. For several years, he will list them carefully, comparing them, describing them, measuring them and drawing them.

He also embarked on the study of the religious heritage of Brittany from the 11th and 12th centuries. He published his first essay devoted to this subject in 1849: “Essay on the history of the religious architecture of Brittany during the duration of the 11th and 12th centuries”. This work was rewarded with a gold medal from the Institut de France.

In 1883, he published another historical essay noticed by his contemporaries: "The ancient and historical geography of the Armorican peninsula". This work, as well as these following scientific works on "the origins of the French population", will earn him access to the vice-presidency of the Société Polymathique de Morbihan in 1888 11. He will refuse the presidency for lack of time to devote to it.

Works

 * Charles de la Monneraye, Essai sur l'histoire de l'architecture religieuse en Bretagne pendant la durée des xie et xiie siècles, Rennes, Imprimerie de Mme de Caila, 1849
 * Charles de la Monneraye, Mémoires sur l'étude des villes et voies romaines en Bretagne, Bulletin archéologique de l'Association bretonne, Rennes, Verdier, 1849, p. 230 à 243