Chamberlain of Duke Francis I, grand master of the artillery of Brittany: around 1444, Jean Labbé acquired Briord and had its right of high justice confirmed.
Between the Rezay and Pierre Landais comes a figure too often forgotten: Jean Labbé, a man of war and a man of the court, who held Briord for a quarter of a century.
Around 1444, the seigneury of Briord was acquired by Jean Labbé. His titles say his position well enough: chamberlain of Duke Francis I of Brittany, grand master of the artillery, lord of La Rochefordière.
The chamberlain was an intimate of the prince, admitted to his private circle. The grand master of the artillery commanded the most modern and costly arm of his time — the one that, in this mid-fifteenth century, was rendering the old fortresses obsolete. Jean Labbé was therefore a man of power, placed at the heart of the Breton ducal apparatus.
By letters patent of 20 July 1445, the right of high justice of Briord was confirmed — precisely "in what pertains to the seigneury of Loyaux", a member of the ducal domain.
This formula reveals a complex legal situation, characteristic of Breton feudalism. Briord was a fief born of the dismemberment of the ducal domain in the fifteenth century; but part of the domain nevertheless depended on the seigneury of Les Huguetières — the "house of Briord" properly speaking. Two overlordships intersected on the same land.
Jean Labbé died without the sources telling us when. What we do know is that in February 1469, his widow Jeanne Mauffras ceded the seigneury to a man whose name would mark Briord forever: Pierre Landais, treasurer general of Brittany.
Thus Briord passed from the hands of a great ducal officer to those of the most powerful — and most hated — man in the duchy.
Jean Labbé's passage may seem brief against the span of the centuries. It was not without consequence: it was under him that the legal status of Briord was confirmed at the highest level, by ducal letters patent. The seigneury of high justice obtained by Martin de Rezay was now enshrined in law.
Pierre Landais would inherit a solid land. He would make of it a fortress.