The building was originally designed by Germain Gaultier, with modifications introduced by Salomon de Brosse who was supposedly inspired by the Place Vendôme (Vendôme Square)in Paris. The building was separated into two halves: the top half, housing the nobles and the courtrooms, made of the light-colored tuffeau stone (a local limestone), and the bottom half, housing the servants and made of dark granite. The different colors between the two stones gives a stark contrast between the two floors.
Although the building itself has always remained in Rennes, the parliament, in the sense of a governing body, moved between Vannes, Nantes and Rennes over a period of two hundred years, until it finally settled in Rennes at the end of the 17th century.
Functioning of the Parliament During the Ancien Régime
The tour guide explained that the Brittany Parliament was one of several which existed during the Ancien Régime. Each parliament had jurisdiction over a distinct region of France. For example, the Parlement de Paris (Paris Parliament), the oldest and largest of the parliaments, governed most of central and northern France while the Parlement de Bretagne (Brittany Parliament) governed the northwestern region of France. Under the Ancien Régime, the parliaments sat au troisième degrès, or at the “third rank”, within the judicial system, sitting above the bailliages (local courts) and présidieux (district courts) but underneath the “fourth rank” of the Roi/Reine de France (the King/Queen of France).
