ORDRE DES CHEVALIERS BRETVINS

History

Founded in 1948, the Ordre des Chevaliers Bretvins has admitted some 3000 Chevaliers Bretvins to date. Exclusively masculine until 2009, the Order has since admitted ladies as “Dames de la Duchesse Anne”. They are currently around thirty.

The Order has also some fifteen Baillages (branches) abroad: in the UK, Germany, Belgium, Italy and in the USA.

Motto of the Order

« Bois le vin, sois bon comme lui » (“drink the wine, and be as good as it is”)

The goals

The goals of the the Ordre des Chevaliers Bretvins are as follows:

1- Promoting the products from the Pays Nantais, especially its great wines such as the Muscadet, and its local cuisine.

2- Maintaining and reinstating celebrations, customs and traditions of high-Breton folklore.

3- Developing tourism in the Pays Nantais and all events which can serve this aim.

Categories of members and grades

At its events, the Order may gather more than 400 Chevaliers and Dames de la Duchesse in costume. The costume consists of the gown, the hat, the necklace and white gloves. Collars, shirt fronts and the lower part of the sleeves differ according to the position in the hierarchy. The Chevaliers: the Chevaliers being admitted wear green collars. The Bell-ringers wear a blue collar. The Consuls (dignitaries bestowed with particular honors depending on services they provided to the Order) wear yellow collars. The members of the High Council (max. 40), decision makers of the Order, have a red velvet collar. In addition, dignitaries wear various ermines according to their ranks. The costume of the Dames de la Duchesse Anne consists of a cape and a more feminine head-dress than that of the Chevaliers.

NEWS

Four events mark the year for our Order:

the Sunday following the Saint-Vincent day: celebration of Saint-Vincent in a different parish each year;
the third week-end in March since 1949: participation in Expovall at Vallet (commercial exhibition);
mid-June since 1993: Celebration of the Flower of the Vine, each year in a different municipality, with a procession through the vinyards and a lunch in the countryside; end of October-beginning of November: presentation of the Golden Bottle to the municipality whose wine-growers have received most medals at the Paris and Nantes wine contests. The Muscadet-planted area is taken into account.
At each of these events, a grand Chapter allows for the admission in the Order of new Chevaliers and

Dames de la Duchesse Anne.

Other Chapters and events may be organized outside these four major events.

French Chevaliers (in particular the Ambassadors) travel regularly to our foreign Baillages (branches) to attend their events.

18 June 2016 : Claude NICOL becomes the 7th Grand Master of the Order of the Chevaliers Bretvins

There were many Dames of the Duchess Anne and Chevaliers Bretvins, from France and from overseas, gathered in the court of honor of the Château of Goulaine for a very important event indeed for the Order of the Chevaliers Bretvins. Many friends of the Order and members of the new Grand Master’s family were also in attendance for this sunny evening.

Our Order, created in 1948, welcomed that day its 7th Grand Master: after 13 years of a dedicated tenure, Jean-Marie LORE, appointed in 2003, passed the position over to Claude NICOL,

Click here for the speeches of Jean-Marie LORE and Claude NICOL