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Theix (Municipality, Morbihan, France)

by Arnaud Leroy

Presentation of Theix
Description of the flag of Theix

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Presentation of Theix

Theix is a city located near Vannes. The name of the city seems to have appeared in the XIIth century as Theys, then Teis, and eventually Theix. The origin of the name might be the Celtic word tesser, weaver. The weavers from Theix were indeed famous for the quality of their products. There are several brooks in Theix, whose pure water was used for retting.

The first church of Theix was built in the XIIth century. The parish of Theix then belonged to the bishopric of Vannes. The limits of the current municipality of Theix, adopted in 1791, strictly match the limits of the original parish.

The castle of Plessis-Josso, located on the municipal territory of Theix, was built in 1330 by a member of the Josso family who was squire of duke of Brittany Jean II. The castle was later increased and modified. In 1681, the castle and its 600-ha domain was ceded to the powerful Rosmadec family. In the XVIIth century, the Rosmadec added to the medieval castle a pavilion in Louis XIII style. The barns, the watermill and the baker's oven have been preserved. After the Revolution, the castle was used as a residence by the bishops of Vannes and purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Salmon-Legagneur at the end of the XIXth century.

Another interesting building in Theix is the chapel Notre-Dame-la-Blanche, built in 1239 for Sevestre de Salarum, and later dramatically modified. The chapel shows a stone pieta dated from XVIth century, of most probable Rhenisch origin, and an ex-voto dated 1690 recalling how Jean Pichon was saved from a watermill wheel.

The Breton beer Mor Braz, brewed with sea water, is produced in Theix. In 2001, the brewer was fined because more than 50% of the production was brewed out of Brittany and a powder of oligo-elements was used instead of sea water. Since then, the whole production has been relocated in Theix and the beer is indeed brewed with sea water pumped at a depth of 20 m off the island of Groix.

Ivan Sache, 24 January 2004

Description of the flag of Theix

The city of Theix is twinned with the city of Thônes. The flags of the two municipalities are displayed on a roundabout in Thônes.
The flag of Theix is white with the municipal coat of arms.

Olivier Touzeau, 12 January 2004

The municipal coat of arms of Theix is shown on the municipal website. The arms are divided by a white diagonal charged with five ermine spots. The upper part of the shield is red, the lower part is white with four blue vertical stripes.
A similar shield can be seen on a frieze decorating the string-piece of the skeleton of the aforementioned chapel Notre-Dame-la-Blanche. The frieze was decorated by the woodcarver Jeahn Nicolazo in 1536. The most interesting element of the frieze is a wildboar playing bagpipe, but there is also a man holding a shield red with a white diagonal stripe charged with three ermine spot. This shield matches the upper part of the municipal shield of Theix. I suppose that the shield shown on the frieze represents the arms of a local donor, since this use was very common in religious and civil decoration.

Ivan Sache, 24 January 2004