Anatole le Braz, the "Bard of Brittany" (1859–1926) was a Breton folklore collector, translator and author. Le Braz was born in Saint-Servais (Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany in France) and raised amongst woodcutters and charcoal burners, speaking the Breton language; his parents did not speak French. He studied a degree at La Sorbonne in Paris. He then returned to Brittany, where for 14 years he taught at the Lycée at Quimper and gradually translated old Breton songs into modern French. He also studied and collected tales and légendes from Brittany writing extensively about the rural soul and landscape of the region. During most of Anatole le Braz's adult life, from the period 1880 to 1950, the Breton language was banned by the French government from being taught in schools, and children were punished or humiliated for speaking it. Le Braz was a member of the Breton Regionalist Union (Union Régionaliste Bretonne or URB), a Breton cultural and political organisation created August 16 1898 and dedicated to preserving Breton cultural identity and regional independence.