Camille Le Mercier d'Erm

Who was Camille Le Mercier d'Erm?

Camille Le Mercier d'Erm was a French poet, historian and Breton nationalist. He later adopted the neo-Bardic name Kammermor. He is also known as Kamil Ar Merser 'Erm, the Breton language form of his name. His work as a poet and historian is marked by nationalist claims and calls to rebellion against the French state on the model of Irish nationalism.

He was the grandson of a Chouan officer. He was based in Paris when in 1909 he published his first collections of poetry. The same year, in the Revue de l’Ouest, he wrote "Traditionalism and separatism", an article advocating separatist politics in defence of cultural tradition. His proposals caused a sensation. He was the principal founder of the Breton Nationalist Party in 1911, and was arrested when the party launched a protest in the same year at the official opening of a monument to the unity of Brittany and France. Le Mercier d'Erm also founded the activist journal Breiz Dishual.

The party and journal folded in 1914 on the outbreak of World War I. Immediately after the war, Le Mercier d'Erm helped to found a replacement journal, Breiz Atao, which was created in 1919. He also continued to play a leading role among young Breton nationalist activists between the wars. He launched the newspaper La Bretagne libertaire in 1921, with the article "La Nation bretonne et l’Internationale". In 1941 on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the Breton Nationalist Party, the newly formed Breton National Party organised a heartfelt tribute to Le Mercier d'Erm, as a pioneer of Breton nationalism.