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Origin and history

The Saint-Guillaume Stone is a neolithic megalith located in Montenay, in the department of Mayenne, used as a fixed polisher. This block of Armenian sandstone, extracted from an outcrop at 3 km in the Mayenne forest, is 224 cm long with an estimated weight between 2.5 and 3 tonnes (3.15 tonnes initially). Its upper face features eleven bowls and seven polishing grooves, typical of Neolithic techniques. Scraps, detached over the millennia, give it today a form evoking a sarcophagus.

Since the Middle Ages, this monument has been associated with magico-religious practices and the legend of Saint Guillaume Firmat, hermit of Tours who lived in Lower Maine and Brittany. According to tradition, he was executed on this stone, leaving the imprint of his body and reddish spots interpreted as traces of his blood. The dust of the stone, collected by friction, was considered to cure the fever. The rituals included the cleaning of the stone with a broom broom and the burial of a room at the foot of a cross, including remains (a wooden cross and a medieval cross) were still visible at the end of the 19th century.

The polisher was first described in 1880 by Émile Moreau, who reported unsuccessful archaeological excavations that same year. Thanks to its publication, the Historic and Archaeological Commission of Mayenne obtained its classification as historical monuments by the list of 1889. In 1899, the teacher L. Fléchard mentioned in his monograph the persistent magic practices and the presence of two crosses on the site. Archaeological excavations carried out in 2012 confirmed the location of a medieval cross north of the stone and studied the shrapnel associated with rituals, as well as the surrounding plots.

The 2015 study by G. Kerdivel and E. Mens (published in La Mayenne, archaeology, history) highlights the Christianization of this prehistoric monument, whose name and legends reflect a tradition of local devotion. The stone, still in situ 50 m south of the hamlet of the Berthellière, is accessible by an arrow road and equipped with an explanatory sign. Its altitude of 155 m and its orientation parallel to the path suggest that it has not been moved from Neolithic, or only in a minor way.

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