Brittany

[Akrotatos]

I read a bit about it recently and then played CK2 as Duke of Brittany and had an epiphany: How on earth did the Bretons manage to keep the Franks and later the French away for so long? It's not like Brittany is protected by high mountains like the early Spanish kingdoms or the Welsh.

[Mangalore]

I read a bit about it recently and then played CK2 as Duke of Brittany and had an epiphany: How on earth did the Bretons manage to keep the Franks and later the French away for so long? It's not like Brittany is protected by high mountains like the early Spanish kingdoms or the Welsh.

They were vasalls to the Franks since around 500 and again under Charlesmagne from 800 onwards. They had a kingdom in between and you see the pattern: They were autonomous vasalls when the Franks were strong and independant when they were weak. With the conflict between England and France they also played those two powers to keep any foreign control at a minimum.

Overall they were smart enough to plainly not fight and simply renew their oaths of vasallship to France when they had no chance thus keeping a good deal as a big vasall with pretty big level of autonomy. Given the shambles France was in with Burgundy and England and other French high nobles they usually had the advantage of being the least big problem the French had until the conclusion of the Hundred Year war.

[Mulattothrasher]

I read a bit about it recently and then played CK2 as Duke of Brittany and had an epiphany: How on earth did the Bretons manage to keep the Franks and later the French away for so long? It's not like Brittany is protected by high mountains like the early Spanish kingdoms or the Welsh.

Around 300 A.D. Brittany suffered with the crisis of the Roman Empire at the time, which resulted in the economy collapsing, population decline, etc. But at around this same time the British Celts started settling the area, based on the pottery that is found. The thing is no contemporary writers recorded this, which is weird I guess. Much later in the 1100's A.D. Geoffery of Monmouth mentioned a Conan Meridac that started a dynasty in Gaul in the late 300's A.D. Gildas wrote in the 500's that the Britons that settled there were fleeing from the Anglo-Saxon invaders. So basically the earliest writings of this are around 250 years later than when it happened.

There are traditions of the early Breton saints having been born in Cornwall and Wales, like Mawes, Winwaloe, Sampson, etc. I have always thought that was cool. Not sure why though. Anyway, one of the other indications are the tried and true place names. Breton, Cornish, and Welsh at this time was similar. Add into the mix Latin.

ker (Welsh caer - town, hamlet)
Plou- (Latin plebs; Welsh plyfl - people)
gui, guic (Latin vicus - settlement)
Lan (Welsh Llan - church)
-acum (Gallo-Roman - place)

Early one we do not know what the political situation was, although it was likely a tribal association. Riothamus is described as an early king. The Roman rule lasted into the 460's A.D., but soon the Franks came into control the region, and around this time 3 kingdoms emerged:

Domnonee (Dumnonia) - in the 600's a royal line emerged and formed a dynasty.
Cornouaille (Cornovia) - Not much is known about them.
Browaroch - Founded by a chief from Vannes named Waroc c.650 A.D.

In 635 a king of Dumnonee became a type of vassal or sub king under Dagobert I of the Franks for a while but by 691 A.D. the Bretons were free again due to the declining fortunes of the Mergovians.

Up until the c.750's A.D. not much is know about development in the Breton political world. around 778 the Franks and Bretons created the Breton March around the counties of Nantes, Rennes, and Vannes. The Breton hero, Roland, a great Celtic figure, was killed in Roncevalles, and under Charlemagne and his son Louis the Franks tried do bring the Bretons to heel, but failed each time between 768-814 A.D. due to the guerrilla warfare the Bretons used.

Nemonoe was rewarded with Vanes, by Louis in 831, to become a missus imperatoris, and thus the premier Breton leader. This enabled Louis to gain lands that he did not actually control. With this, Brittany was a united political entity. With a dispute about Nantes, Nomenoe stood against King Charles the Bald of the Franks. A great Breton victory over the Franks occurred in 845 near Redon, and this was followed by the expulsion of the Frankish bishops of St. Pol-de-Leon, Dol, Alet Quimper, and Vannes, and these he replaced with those that spoke Breton. Further campaigns extended his Breton territory all the way to the River Mayenne.

Charles the Bald invaded Brittany when Nomenoe died in 851. Nomenoe's son, Erispoe, defeated Charles at Jengland-Besele. This was a disastrous defeat suffered by the Franks, and Erispoe was given the titles as a vassal king within the Frankish empire. Thus, Brittany became a kingdom. Erispoe was murdered by Salomon (857-874) and Salomon became the most successful Breton ruler.

The Vikings unknowingly contributed to Brittany's overall bid for recognition. The Vikings raided Brittany, but they found the Frankish lands a much tempting region to raid. Charles the Bald, and the various dynastic disputes kept his attention on other things, and not Brittany. In 866, the Bretons and the Vikings allied together, and defeated the Franks in 866 at Brissarthe. Charles was forced to give the Cotentin peninsula to Salomon in 867, in addition to making a symbolic gift of a crown.

In 911, Rollo the Viking closes off the Seine River to the Bretons. In 913 Landevennec was sacked and this started a general flight of monks to Francia. By 919 Breton resistance was all but gone, and by 921 Nantes was a capitol of a Viking Kingdom. Between 936-939 A.D. Alain Barbetorte (twistbeard) was successful in reconquering Brittany, but this took it's toll on the Breton Kingdom and he was only able to rule as a Duke, not a King, as he could not impose his authority on the aristocracy.

Two centuries after the expulsion of the Vikings, Brittany became a land with a decentralized feudal society, and this owed little to the long Celtic roots of the region. Ducal authority was hard to impose itself, and only Alain Barbetorte's successor was there any revival of monastic life. From the 990's Brittany found itslef attacked to the sphere of the Normans and Anjou, and then when Henry of Anjou became King of England, Brittany was a satellite. By 1204, Brittany came under the influence of the Capetian France. Pope Innocent III ended the Breton church's independence by suppressing the archbishopric of Dol. After c.1050, emigration hit the region, the poorer classes heading for Paris and other areas of France, where they were mocked for not being able to speak French. Careers for the nobles and warriors were found in Normandy, England and the Norman principalities in Sicily. After 1066, around 20% of land in England was held be Bretons that joined William the Bastard on his campaign.

With a secession dispute in 1314, Brittany was slowly dragged in the Hundred Years War. Siding with the English for most of the war, Frances defeat of the English in 1454 changed Brittany's fortunes. Crushed in 1487 at St. Aubin-du-Cormeir, France finally gained control. The heiress of Brittany, Anne, was married to King Charles VIII and the Duchy of Brittany was incorporated into France in 1532. The Breton parliament survived until the French Revolution although it's powers were eroded over the course of the 18th century.

With this Breton became a literary language, and plays, books, drama and prose for ordinary people became popular. Eventually, with the active discrimination by the French government, the decline of the Breton language had begun.

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I had much of this already written up for other uses. Hope this helps!

[Petrucci]

Amazing read Mulattothrasher. Too bad mine hypothesis of Panoramix's magic potion receipt being preserved falls in water

[Akrotatos]

Thanks for the answers everybody, especially Mulattothrasher!!!

[Cyclops]

As for why a hilly portion of France or Britain retains Gallo-Roman culture, my guess is they were more Gallic and less Roman. These were the poorer fringes of the Roman Empire so I guess there were less villas and Romanising going on.

When the Empire fell the invading Germanic hordes took over the collapsed "headless" Roman political structures. In the "Celtic fringe" of Brittany, Cornwall and Wales there were still (IIRC) persisting pre-Roman tribal associations, strong enough to form petty kingdoms and retain their culture. Where the Romans wiped away local culture, they were in turn wiped away by Franks and "Saxons".

[Boogie Knight]

Wow, that was fascinating, Mulattothrasher. Only thing I'd add is to say that Gildas wasn't Anglo-Saxon (at least, to the best of my knowledge). He was British. He never had anything good to say about the Anglo-Saxons, but with that said he never seemed to have anything good to say about anyone. I think he later emigrated to Brittany along with a lot of other people about that time. The kingdom of Dumnonia is thought to have existed on both sides of the English Channel and to have included parts of Brittany, so the emigrations were probably facilitated by that, I imagine.

[Cyclops]

...Gildas ...never had anything good to say about the Anglo-Saxons, but with that said he never seemed to have anything good to say about anyone. ...

...aside from Ambrosius Aurelianus.

[Mulattothrasher]

Wow, that was fascinating, Mulattothrasher. Only thing I'd add is to say that Gildas wasn't Anglo-Saxon (at least, to the best of my knowledge). He was British. He never had anything good to say about the Anglo-Saxons, but with that said he never seemed to have anything good to say about anyone. I think he later emigrated to Brittany along with a lot of other people about that time. The kingdom of Dumnonia is thought to have existed on both sides of the English Channel and to have included parts of Brittany, so the emigrations were probably facilitated by that, I imagine.

Okay, thanks for that info - I thought he was an Anglo-Saxon for some reason

[Boogie Knight]

Well, yeah, but everyone loved that guy. Can't really blame them either, he rocked. I was exaggerating to make a point: Gildas was the sub-Roman period's Daily Mail. He blasted everyone and everything (yes, except for Ambrosius) and is largely responsible for the fact that we've believed the myth of the Anglo-Saxon invasions for the last thousand years - a myth that is only now being revised. I'll be more specific next time for the nit-pickers.