Duke of Brittany
Encyclopedia
The Duchy of Brittany was a medieval tribal and feudal state covering the northwestern peninsula of Europe,bordered by the Alantic Ocean on the west and the English Channel to the north with less definitive borders of the Loire River to the south and Normandy to the east. The geographic area was known as the Armorica
n peninsula by the Romans (Armorica
or Aremorica) and was marked as the area west of Mont-Saint-Michel and north of Nantes
/Naoned, including Rennes
/Roazhon and Vannes
/Gwened. Armorica corresponded largely to the historic Duchy of Brittany
, a region with strong traditions of independence, including a distinctive culture and the Breton language
. The Duchy was at times larger than the French region
now called Brittany (Bretagne
).
The Duchy's earliest origins can be traced to the settlement of its northern regions along the English Channel by tribes that emigrated from the British Isles, starting presumably during the time of earliest Trojan settlement of the British Isles. Later, during the Roman occupation of Britain, the Roman Empire established a government center in what is modern day Carhaix in central Brittany. Migration from Cornwall
and Devon
shire occurred across many centuries and the Cornish emigration to Brittany accelerated with the advance of Anglo-Saxons invading the British Isles (for related folklore, see "Brittany during the Arthurian period" below. Early Christian missionaries including the seven founder saints of Brittany appear to have come principally from Wales
and Cornwall around the 6th Century. There were frequent interactions with Ireland
; and the royal Scottish House of Stuart claims its origins from a Breton Banneret knight from the region of Mont St. Michel.
The emergence of royal rulers throughout Britain, and Brittany, coincided with the withdrawal of direct Roman rule from the region. The history of the earliest Breton rulers and the rise of a separate Breton Duchy are tied to the early history of the Duchy of Cornwall, and later the early history of Great Britain after the Norman Conquest.
Brittany,Cornwall, and Wales (where other celtic peoples settled and also fled to safety during this period) share many cultural attributes including the shared religious tradition of patron saints; the Breton
, Welsh
and Cornish
languages share many similarities. A fourth celtic region, Britonia
within Spanish Galicia was settled by Britonic settlers during the 5th and 6th centuries much in the manner of Brittany; this settlement's leader was a Bishop named Mailoc
, or Maglacos.
While the history of Brittany is rich with a series of land based military and "blue water" based martime battles, the history of the Dukes of Brittany is most closely associated with land battles, and wars fought over the geographic boundaries of the Duchy.
The Ducal title of Brittany is sovereign and independent from other kingly realms although it had vassalage relationships at various times with the crowns of France and England (in this period it was not uncommon for European Kings to have a vassalage relation with another King). Once established, parts or all of the Duchy of Brittany was occupied at various times by Viking invaders, England, the autonomous pre-Conquest Dukes of Normandy, France,and Spain. The Duchy was an object of contention in the Spanish rivalries with France, the French rivarly with England, the conquest of England by Normandy, and a series of Viking invasions.
The Dukes of Brittany were sovereign rulers before the title was joined to the crown of France and frequently acted to defend their independence and autonomy. Ducal Brittany was eventually merged into the crown of France through the marriage of the Duchess Anne of Brittany
to the French King. In the earliest days of organized royal rule over regions such as Brittany the title of King was sometimes bestowed as a description used to chronicle the visit of the ruler to another regional sovereign, such as the Holy Roman Emperor or the Breton ruler was not required to adopt a posture of homage to that Imperial ruler, as was the case during the reign of Charlemagne. The subsequent disappearance of the title King and the emergence of the title Duke is not meant to indicate a sovereign subservience to any other crown. (see also "The effect of Medieval Customs and Laws on the Duchy of Brittany" below.)
region included the British Isles and Brittany. There were some individuals who may have established hegemony over all Brythonic
populations in the whole area, notably Riothamus
, who is described as King of the Britons
by the chronicler Jordanes
. However there are no clear rulers of Brittany as a whole, which was divided between fiefdoms dominated by local Counts. One of the earliest kingdoms on the Armorican or Breton Peninsula was that of the Vannetais. The entire Armorican peninsula and the Vannetais fell under Frankish suzerainty during the time of Clovis I
.
Vannetais was split to create Cornouaille
and Domnonia
; an eastern region of the peninsula abuting modern day Normandy constitued a third kingdom named Bro Erech (or Broërec
). This kingdom had been established by Welsh settlers. The emergence of the Duchy of Brittany resulted from the unification of these three kingdoms. The kingdoms were established by Romano-British
migrants to, and within, the Armorica
n peninsula. The earliest Breton rulers of these three kingdoms within larger Roman Gaul
were styled "kings."
As emigrants continued to settled Brittany from the British Isles the pre-Duchy region of Domnonée was created. This region should not be mistaken for the British region of Dumnonia which is similar to modern Devon. The rulers of Domnonée held the title if Prince and some became Kings of Brittany. The rulers of Domnonée emerged later as the Breton House of Penthievre which sought, but failed, to re-establish itself as the Duke of Brittany. A similar history exists between the Kingdom of Cornwall
and the Cornouaille
region in southwestern Brittany. These historical links also appeared in the region of Anjou
which contains an area named Cornuaille. The region around the Breton city of Vannes
known as the "Gwened" in south Brittany (named after its iron-age inhabitants, the Veneti
, or the "Weneted") also bears this relation with the Welsh area "Gwynedd."
The development of the Duchy is linked to the Breton region's ancient tribes, their cities and the regions they dominated which became the major cities and regions within the Duchy. The Breton people were organized in tribes including the Osismii
, the Veneti, the Redones
, the Coriosolites, and the Namnetes
, among others. The cities associated with these tribes were Carhaix, Vannes
, Rennes
, St. Malo, and Nantes
, respectively, each of which served at various times as the capital of the Duchy. These tribes and their cities eventually produced the modern French departments of the Breton peninsula, the Finistère
, Morbihan
, Ile-et-Vilaine, and the Cotes-d'Armor
; in the modern departmental system Nantes is held outside Brittany in the department of Loire Atlantique. The Breton tribes each produced leaders whose power and importance over time rose to the title of Count and over whom the King of Brittany, and subsequently the Duke of Brittany, would act as overlord. The Breton Counts of Vannes, Nantes and Rennes at various times served the Breton Duke and even served as Regent during the Breton Duke's minority, sometimes rising to become Duke themselves.
Other bordering regions of France that were never permanent members of Brittany evolved the same way, including Anjou
and Poitou
to the south and the Seine-et-Marne
regions to the east. The development of Normandy
followed a different path under Viking invaders led by Rollo
. The Viking invaders were sometimes military allies of the Bretons. Whether as military allies or as worthy opponents the Vikings also figured decisively in the creation of the Duchy. The eventual defeat of the Vikings by the Bretons marks a formal start to the Duchy. The nature of the Breton victory over the Vikings which depended on England as a military ally played into the relations of the Breton Duchy with, and the important Breton theme of autonomy and independence from, the King Edward the Elder
of England and his grandson, King Louis IV of France
.
As the Roman Empire withdrew from Britain and Brittany, and as the Anglo-Saxon
s moved westward through the British Isles from East Anglia
, the emigration of Celtic people to Brittany increased and the Duchy emerged in its own right. The folkloric wars between the Anglo-Saxons and the legendary Hi King Arthur (King of the Britons) figure prominently in the establishment of the Breton Duchy.
The Duchy of Brittany began to emerge upon the death of the Roman Emperor Gratian
during an uprising from the western Frankish regions of the Roman Empire. The general who led the rebellion was Magnus Maximus
who is thought to be the legendary Breton leader Conan Meriadoc
. The general becomes the usurping Western Roman Emperor.
It is at this time in the 4th century that the legendary leader Cynan, or Conan Meriadoc
, is credited with founding Brittany and in these written legends holds the title King of Brittany. He is not the only Breton leader to lay claim to be the first King of Brittany (see Morman
below). Conan, or Cynan, established a kingdom in which the towns of Nantes
and Vannes
dominated over what had been the central Breton region ruled by the Romans from Carhaix, which was known to the Romans as Vorgium. His wife was Darerca of Ireland
, the sainted sister of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.
The future history of Ducal Brittany is one of how much land the Duchy encompasses, how the land is acquired or lost, the degree to which the Ducal lands are united under one ruler, and the contest between the ruling nobles of the major Breton cities Rennes, Nantes, and Vannes to rule the entire Ducal territory. In this history the relation of the Breton ruler to the Kings of England and France sometimes figure decisively, as does their ability to repel invaders such as the Vikings. Throughout the history the themes of independence and autonomy from other realms are repeated.
In the 6th century, the semi-folkloric Conomor
ruled as a local King and tried to extend his rule overall all of Armorica. He claimed overall leadership as representative of the Frankish empire, but was ousted when abandoned by Chlothar I. The rejection of Conomor and Clothar establishes the Breton precedent of autonomy. In this century, Waroch
ruled the Vannetais kingdom and gave his name to its third and smallest subdivision Broweroch. His rule was important to the tradition of Ducal Brittany in asserting and maintaining its independence from outside rulers. Waroch fought two major wars against Clothar II and Chilperic I
which he lost but maintained the region's independent spirit in the process. Waroch was succeeded by Judicael ap Hoel
who was King of Domononee. His rule is notable in that he becomes High King of the Bretons and begins to reunite Cornouaille, Domnonee and Broweroch.
From this period Brittany clung to its independence and autonomy whether ruled by a King or a sovereign Duke, or whether the province was administered by a provincial governor imposed by another monarch. Over time, Ducal Brittany's principal relations with other kingdoms was with England or France although the Duchy and its armies figured prominently in the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 under William I Duke of Normandy
. During an early period the Duke of Brittany
was also the English Duke of Richmond
. Later when Brittany lost its independence on becoming part of the Kingdom of France it retained some elements of its autonomy and traditions. The modern politics of Brittany continue to reflect this preference for autonomy.
The Breton region's major cities were associated with the various Dukes that emerged to rule Brittany until it was merged into the Kingdom of France. Thus at various times the holder of the title Duke of Brittany attained the title after first being the Duke of Nantes
, Rennes
, or Vannes
. While Carhaix was a capital city occupied by the Romans its influence declined during the time of the Duchy, and the towns of Nantes, Rennes and Vannes also served as the Breton capital at various times. In later periods the title Duke of Brittany was often associated with the principal heir to the King of France.
ensured that its political and social institutions were similar to those prevailing elsewhere in western Francia. In some histories the region of Brittany is shown outside of the direct rule of Charlemagne. The sequence of rebellions by Breton Chieftains after Charlemagne's death contributed to the setting of the territorial boundaries of the Duchy.
Charlemagne
ruled through a system of Counts each of whom was administratively responsible for a geographic territory, or County. Local rulers claimed authority over the Bretons as a whole from the early 9th century. After the death of Charlemagne
in 814, the Breton chieftain Morman
rebelled against Frankish domination and was named King by his fellow Breton chieftains. In some histories he is identified as the first Breton King to honor the independence he gained from outside rule. He was followed by the Breton Chieftain Wihomarc
.
Wihomarc
(or Wiomarc'h) (French: Guyomard) (died 825) was a Breton chieftain "who seemed to have greater authority than the other Breton leaders"[1] and who revolted against Frankish overlordship in 822 and held on to his power until his death. His rebellion may have been incited by the creation of a Frankish county in Poutrocoet sometime between 818 and 820.[2] His rule is notable because he mounted the first rebellion in Brittany against outside rule since Louis the Pious
pacified the region after the usurpation of Morman in 818. Wihomarc was succeeded by Nominoe, the first Breton overlord to successfully confront the Franks. Nominoe defeated Charles the Bald
at the Battle of Ballon
in 845.
After the victory of Nominoe's son Erispoe in the Battle of Jengland
(851), the territory of Brittany was legally defined to include the towns of Rennes
and Nantes
, along with the Pays de Retz
south of the Loire
. This later became the official territory of the Duchy of Brittany. Erispoe was granted a royal seal by Charles the Bald, who himself used an Imperial seal and from this royal dignity was considered a king; because of his wars with Charles the Bald Erispoe was known as rex tyrannicus and at Charles' court was identified as Duke of Brittany. Erispoe continued to pay tribute to Charles the Bald during their peace.
The most notable member of Erispoe's court was Salomon,the Count of Rennes and Nantes, who succeeded him as Salomon, King of Brittany. Salomon continued the peace with Charles the Bald, was granted a seal, paid tribute to Charles and acknowledged his suzereinity but not the expected rule of Louis the Stammerer
as heir to Charles. Saolomon's successful wars to expand Brittany included a grant of Anjou
, and it is from this period that the Dukes of Anjou can trace their association with Ducal Brittany. Salomon was assasinated in a conspiracy between Pascweten, Gurvand, and Wigo. Gurvand seizes power.
.
Gurvand, Duke of Brittany
grants a sizeable portion of Brittany to his co-conspirator Pascweten, but rules with declining legitimacy and himself is quickly assasinated. His son Judicael, by Erispoe's daugher, becomes King. Judicael, Duke of Brittany
fights a series of battles that secure the independence of the kingdom from invading Vikings, but dies in battles. He is succeeded by his ally Alan.
Alan I, King of Brittany completes the defense of the dukedom from the invading Vikings, and becomes the first Breton ruler to be officially recognized as King by the Carolingian Emperor. Alan I reunites the Brittany that Gurvand had allowed to be divided, and expands the kingdom of Brittany and it reaches its largest territorial expanse. At his death Brittany if overrun once again by Vikings. From the death of Alan I in 907 to 937 Brittany is by Viking Normans. In 938 Alan I's son returns to establish himself as Alan II, Duke of Brittany
.
Alan I's son Alan II flees to England where for a time he lives in exile under Edward the Elder
His fellow exile is Louis IV of France
, Edward's grandson, whose French kingdom is also overrun by Vikings. Alan II returns to Brittany to defeat the Vikings and is elected Alan II, Duke of Brittany. Alan II's other great success was to establish independence from the French kingdom when his friend Louis IV states that Brittany "was never part of his kingdom." Alan II's reign begins the Ducal rule of the House of Nantes. It is from Alan II's election that the title King of Brittany is no longer used and the title of Duke of Brittany replaces it.
Alan II's rule marks the beginning of a period of unique relationships between the independent realms of Brittany, England and France. While Brittany defeats the Vikings, and expels them, France arrives at a peace that grants neighboring Normandy to the Viking ruler,Rollo
who becomes a French Duke. Border disputes between Normandy and Brittany dominate their relations for the remainder of this century until a common military goal is agreed under William the Conqueror. Alan II and his successors rule a smaller Ducal state than Alan I and without his authority. Alan II's election as Duke also indicates a form of shared power with other Breton nobles and the Roman Catholic church and the presence of powerful external forces withint the dukedom. Having defeated the Vikings, Alan II and his Ducal heirs face expansionist threats from Normandy, which is ruled by the descendents of former invaders.
Upon his death Alan II is succeeded by his son Drogo, Duke of Brittany
. Drogo's rule is important in demonstrating the relative importance of the major Breton cities and containing the precedent for the role of Regency during the minority of a Ducal heir. Drogo is Count of Vannes
and Nantes
before becoming Duke of Brittany. There are other counts, including the Count of Renne. Throughout his reign, he was under the shared regency of his uncle the Count of Blois
, Theobald I
(who entrusted the administration to Wicohen, Archbishop of Dol, and the Count of Rennes
, Juhel Berengar) and of his stepfather the Count of Anjou, Fulk II, who married ALan II's widow. THe Duchy continues to experience political instability.
Drogo is succeeded by Juhel Berengar's son Conan I, Duke of Brittany and the Ducal throne passes to the House of Rennes
. Ducal Brittany experiences instability through the remainder of the 10th century until the House of Nantes is replaced by the House of Rennes as Dukes, through Conan I, Duke of Brittany. It is his successor, Geoffrey I, that formulates an alliance with Normandy that restores a more long lasting stability.
The origins of the Duchy of Brittany lie in the Battle of Trans-la-Forêt
, on or about 1 August 939, after which Brittany came to be referred to as a Duchy and its rulers as Dukes. From this time the Duke of Brittany maintained various links to the Kings of France and separately the Kings of England, sometimes serving actively as a vassal of one or the other. Even after the Duchy was merged into the Kingdom of France by the marriage of the Duchess Anne to the French King, the Duke retained direct regnal authority, the French King acknowledged and preserved the independence and autonomy of the Duchy, and did so even as the title of Duke frequently passed to an heir of the French King.
, Richard II's sister; and Richard II marrying Judith, Geoffrey I's sister. However, the death of Geoffrey I in 1008 allowed for Richard II to intervene directly in Brittany during the minority of his nephew, Alan III, Duke of Brittany
, against rebellious counts who would take advantage of a youthful duke. The guardianship would be reciprocated later when Alan III was named as one of the primary guardians of William of Normandy
, when William's father Robert I, Duke of Normandy went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and died while returning in 1035. By designating Alan III as a guardian of William, Robert I was "involving a close family member who would not compete with his heir".
In his guardianship of Duke William, Alan III, Duke of Brittany
was allied with Count Gilbert and Robert, Archbisop of Normandy, William's uncles. However, when Archbishop Robert died in 1037 instability surfaced. Alan III countered the instability by reinforcing the power of the Norman ducal house by providing Robert I's two youngest brothers with land and title. However, by October 1, 1040, Alan III was poisoned to death while besieging a rebel castle in Vimoutiers
. Tension increased in Normandy following Alan III's death, with Count Gilbert dying shortly thereafter. A rival faction in the guardianship emerged, one that would intervene in Brittany, suppressing Alan III's heir from claiming his inheritance.
At around eight years of age, Conan II
succeeded his father as Duke of Brittany, with the ducal regency entrusted to Alan's brother Odo, Count of Penthièvre. However, by the time Conan reached his majority at age sixteen, around 1048, Odo of Penthièvre refused to relinquish his power. During the dynastic conflict between uncle and nephew, Count Hoèl V of Cornwall and Nantes
supported Odo in suppressing Conan's inheritance. Odo was Hoèl's brother-in-law as he was married to Hoel's sister Agnes of Cornwall. By 1057 Conan captured and imprisoned Odo of Penthièvre, with Conan coming to terms with Hoèl of Cornwall later that year.
Conan faced numerous threats posed by the pro-Norman faction in Brittany, including revolts sponsored by William, Duke of Normandy
. William supported challengers to Conan's authority, encouraging them to rebel against the Breton duke, his cousin. William continued courting the family of Odo of Penthièvre, who was imprisoned. In response, Conan promoted his own legitimate claim as Duke of Normandy, as the Catholic Church began preferring legitimate heirs born in church-sanctioned marriage over out-of-wedlock issue.
The 1064–1065 War between Brittany and Normandy was sparked after Duke William supported Rivallon I of Dol's
rebellion against Conan II. In 1065, Before his invasion of Anglo-Saxon
England, William of Normandy warned his rivals in Brittany and Anjou to abstain from any attacks on his duchy, on the grounds that his mission bore the papal banner. However, Conan II rebuffed the warning and declared that he would press any advantage against William.
While William plotted to take the English crown, Conan consolidated his authority in Brittany and planned to take advantage of William's absence and invade Normandy. First, however, he needed to neutralize Anjou, another historic rival. Once Anjou was pacified he would advance into Maine and then into Normandy. However, during his 1066 siege of Angers, Conan was found dead after donning poisoned riding gloves. Duke William was widely suspected of the assassination.
Hawise
succeeded her brother as hereditary Duchess of Brittany in 1066, and her marriage that year to Hoèl of Cornwall was designed to bring stability by consolidating authority in upper and lower Brittany.
With a nominal pro-Norman faction, represented by the duke-consort Hoèl of Cornwall and the count Odo of Penthièvre among others, now in control of Brittany, Duke William of Normandy was able to attract Bretons into his expeditionary army for the upcoming campaign to claim the English crown. Most Breton commanders in Duke William's army were the second-sons of Breton lords, such as Alain Le Roux
(son of Eudas of Penthièvre). As much as a third of William's non-Norman soldiers were of Breton extraction.
However, the historic rivalry between Brittany and Normandy resurfaced at the close of the 11th century. By 1075 Hoèl returned to the traditional Breton policy of opposing Norman expansion with an alliance with the young king Philip I of France
. Ralph de Gael, in exile in Brittany after the unsuccessful 1075 rebellion in England, led incursions into Normandy from his base in Dol. By 1076 King William of England retaliated by leading an army into Brittany to eject Ralph, but was met with a rare defeat by an allied army of Bretons and French forces. In the peace negotiations which followed William offered Hoèl his second daughter Constance in marriage to the Breton heir Alan, though nothing came of the betrothal at the time.
By 1086 Alan IV was forced to abandon his duchy after an invasion launched by William I of England.
However, a peace settlement was reached that same year and in the negotiations that followed Alan IV was forced into marriage with King William I's second daughter Constance of England. The marriage ceremonies may have taken place in Bayeux
in Normandy. William of Malmesbury
wrote that Constance was unpopular at the Breton court because of her 'sever and conservative' manner. William of Malmesbury also alleged that Alan VI had Constance poisoned to death, but this remained unverified
However, Orderic Vitalis
wrote that as duchess Constance did all she could to further the welfare of the Bretons, who grieved deeply at her death in 1090.
In 1092 Alan IV donated property to Redon Abbey
by charter, and by 1093 married Ermengarde of Anjou
as a political alliance with Fulk IV of Anjou
to counter Anglo-Norman influence. With Ermengarde he had a son Geoffrey, who died young, Conan III
, and a daughter Hawise (married to count Baldwin VII of Flanders), possibly named after his mother Hawise, Duchess of Brittany.
In 1098 Alan IV joined the First Crusade
, leaving Brittany under the regency of his wife Ermegarde of Anjou. Ermengarde ruled from Nantes, rather than Rennes, as it was closer to her home county of Anjou. Alan IV returned from Crusade in 1101.
in 1112. By 1113 Conan III married Maude, an illegitimate daughter of King Henry I of England
. With Maude he had three children, Hoel, Bertha
, and Constance (married Alan la Zouche). During his reign he strengthened the rule of the duchy.
In the dynastic struggle
between Stephen of England
and the dispossessed Empress Matilda
, Conan III allied himself with Stephen de Blois. Empress Matilda's forced and unpopular marriage with Geoffrey V of Anjou by her father Henry I
, represented the historic rivalry between Brittany, Normandy, and Anjou. Conan III was countering Angevin influence
and preserving Breton independence. In his alliance with Stephen, Conan III looked for greater influence with Stephen, who needed allies on the continent to out-flank Matilda. Matilda was able to consolidate power in Normandy and Anjou. Brittany's position to the west of Angevin controlled territory exposed a wide frontier for Stephan to exploit against Matilda. In 1138 Bertha was married to Alan of Penthièvre, a supporter of Stephen de Blois. For his support, Stephan created Conan's son-in-law Alan as 1st Earl of Richmond
in the second creation, a title previously held by Alan's uncle Alain Le Roux
.
Later, when Alan, Earl of Richmond, died in 1146, Conan's daughter Bertha returned home from England. On his death-bed in 1148, Conan III disinherited Hoel from succession to the duchy, stating that he was illegitimage and no son of his. With this surprise move Bertha
became his heiress and successor as hereditary Duchess of Brittany. However, Hoel was to retain the county of Nantes
.
Duchess Bertha, as dowager countess of Richmond, continued to represent Brittany's alliance with Stephen's England against the Angevins. However this strategy became untenable after 1153, when Stephen's son Eustace died suddenly. Eustace's death provided an opportunity for Henry FitzEmpress
to land an invasion army in England and press for his mother's claims. In the Treaty of Wallingford
, Stephen was forced to recognize Henry FitzEmpress as his heir with Matilda abdicating her claim in her son's favour. The treaty exposed Brittany to retaliatory incursions from Henry FitzEmpress and his brother Geoffery FitzEmpress
with impunity.
With the death of his mother Bertha, Duchess of Brittany, in early 1156, Conan IV expected to inherit the ducal throne. However, he was denied his inheritance by his stepfather Viscount Eudas, who refused to relinquish his authority in Brittany. To consolidate his hold on power, Eudas entered into a pact with dispossessed Hoel, Count of Nantes, to divide Brittany between them. But Hoel was under threat of rebellion in Nantes, sponsored by Geoffrey FitzEmpress of Anjou, and he could not send Eudas any aid. Conan IV landed in Brittany and took Rennes, while his ally Raoul de Fougères captured and imprisoned Eudas. Conan IV was formally crowned Duke of Brittany in a ceremony held in Rennes.
While Conan IV was consolidating his inheritance in 1156, Geoffrey FitzEmpress successfully took Nantes from Hoel, and on his death in 1158 Conan IV seized Nantes, reuniting the Duchy once again. However, Henry II of England
, now King of England, seized the Earldom of Richmond
, Conan's paternal inheritance. Henry demanded the return of Nantes.
Henry II continued to stoke revolts and rebellions in Brittany against Conan IV. In response, Conan IV took the Breton counties of Tréguier and Guingamp from his uncle Count Henri, a supporter of Henry II. Richmond was returned to Conan IV later that year in an agreement reached with Henry II.
By 1160 Conan was forced to yield to Henry. In the peace negotiations which followed Conan was obliged to marry Henry's cousin, Margaret of Scotland, in 1160. Margaret was daughter of Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon
and Ada de Warenne
, a daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey
and Elizabeth de Vermandois.
It is also in the 12th Century that the romantic notions of Ducal Brittany and its ally Ducal Cornwall are evoked in the romance Tristan and Iseult
. Tristan
is a Breton noble, and the Duke of Cornwall again figures prominently through his role as the orphaned Tristan's guardian.
to Henry's son Geoffrey Plantagenet
, continuing the policy of interweaving the Breton succession with the Plantagenet
succession. It was this move and succeeding intermarriages that invited more interference in Brittany, with direct influence over succeeding Breton dukes.
Constance succeeded her father as duchess in 1171, however from the start Geoffrey, as jure uxoris
duke, excluded Constance from exercising authority in government. However, by 1186, in a riding accident in Paris Geoffrey was stamped to death during a tournament
. Constance thereafter became the effective ruler of Brittany.
Henry II of England arranged for Constance to marry Ranulph de Meschines, 4th Earl of Chester on 3 February 1188. In 1191 King Richard I of England
officially proclaimed his nephew, Constance's son Arthur I of Brittany, as his heir presumptive in a treaty signed with Philip II of France
. To promote her son's position and inheritance, Constance abdicated in his favour in 1194.
Constance's marriage with Ranulph deteriorated, with Ranulph imprisoning Constance in 1196. Her imprisonment sparked rebellion across Brittany on her behalf. Ranulph bowed to growing pressure and had the Duchess released in 1198. Back in Brittany, Constance had her marriage annulled. Later in 1198 at Angers
, Constance took Guy of Thouars
as her 'second' husband. Through-out these years, Constance advised her son towards a French alliance, pursuing the policy of her late husband Geoffrey II. In 1201, at age 40, Constance bore her third husband twin daughters. First Alix of Thouars, and Katherine of Thouars (1201-c. 1240). Constance died due to complications during the delivery.
, Maine, and Poitou
, in exchange for Arthur swearing fealty to Phillip II, becoming a direct vassal of France. However 13-year-old Arthur was captured by the English while besieging Mirebeau
. By 1202 the imprisoned Arthur of Brittany was transferred to Rouen
, under the charge of William de Braose
, and then vanished mysteriously in April 1203. Scandal surrounding Arthur's disappearance led many to believe that he was murdered on John of England
's orders.
With Arthur's death, the succession of Brittany remained in question. Arthur's legal successor was Eleanor of Brittany
. However John of England had Eleanor captured and imprisoned at Corfe Castle
in Dorset
. Recognizing that John of England could have Eleanor married to a vassal loyal to England, who would rule Brittany through her, Philip II of France
formally recognized Constance's infant daughter Alix as hereditary Duchess of Brittany. Initially Alix's father Guy of Thouars acted as regent. Phillip II of France was maneuvering to keep Brittany within his sphere of influence.
The marriage of the infant Alix to Capetian cadet Peter of Dreux in 1213 began the new House of Dreux. This allowed Brittany a measure of autonomy again, while continuing to give lip service to Capetian sovereignty. After her father's regency over the Duchy, Alix ruled as nominal Duchess with her husband Peter of Dreux serving as Co-Ruler or as "Duke jure uxoris
."
In 1214 when John set an expedition into France, he wanted to establish Eleanor as his puppet duchess. After his defeat he recognized Alix and Peter as rulers of the Duchy. Eleanor was kept captive in England till her death in 1241, ending the line of Geoffrey II.
The Ducal alliance with the House of Dreux also represented a progression in the influence of the French King in Brittany. French nobleman who fought with Charles II of Francein wars which included the Albigensian Crusdade settled in Brittany with varying degrees of success. The French king established royal courts in various parts of Brittany, but the western most regions of the duchy remained fiercely independent. Histories recount the attempted visit of Charles II to Carhaix, which was rebuffed when the king's courtege was beset upon in a forest by Breton warriors and had to return to the Norman border. Many of the oldest remaining Breton noble families represent fusions of the earliest Breton noble families with French nobles of this period. It is through their histories that we can document the travails of the Duchy to remain independent, maintain relations with both England and France, and eventually merge into France.
In 1235 the stage is set for the next century's Breton War of Succession when the Duke of Brittany Pierre Mauclerc disposes the heir of the Penthievre Dynasty in order to give the countship of Penthievre to his daughter Yolande of Brittany. On her death, John I, Duke of Brittany
ceases the countship for himself.
In 1337 Joan, Duchess of Penthievre married Charles de Chatillon-Blois but war ensues upon their proclamation as Duke and Duchess of Brittany. The Breton War of Succession was fought from 1341 to 1364 between the House of Blois and the House of Montfort. John of Montfort emerged victorious with substantial help from English allies and became John IV, Duke of Brittany
reigning for a short period. Joan and Charles were allowed to keep Penthievre. This line of the Blois-Penthievre family maintained close ties to the successive Kings of France and through the French crown were often present in Brittany in some oversight capacity. Under the treaty of peace semi-Salic succession was agreed under which, if Francis II died without legitimate male issue, the eldest direct legitimate male descendant of Joanna of Penthievre would inherit the Ducal crown of Brittany. The victory of the House of Montfort strengthened the position of England in Brittany. The conflicts between the House of Montfort and the House of Penthievre continued into the 15th Century. One of the effects of the War of Succession was to intensify the rivalries between England and France with Brittany as the contested prize.
John V, Duke of Brittany
ruled with difficulty before being forced into exile in England in 1373. The French king sent the Constable of France
Bertrand de Guesclin into Brittany with the goal of uniting it to the French crown. When the Breton nobles rebelled against this proposed unification John the V was able to return, again assisted by a strong English ally, and re-established his rule. The difficulties of the House of Montfort would continue when john VI, Duke of Brittany
succeeded his father.
This period of war is also notable for the founding of the Estates of Brittany
which under Duke Francis II would work with the Parlement of Brittany. After the Breton War of Succession
, Brittany still had links with the English Crown through the Earldom of Richmond
, until the Wars of the Roses
. A disoriented and isolated Brittany became royally subsumed into France, during a tapering reign of the Montfort house
.
, was kidnapped by the son of Joan, the Count of Penthievre. He was freed through the efforts of his wife the Duchess of Brittany, Joan of France, who confiscated the remaining wealth of the Penthievre family. Their later descendants, the Brosse line of the House of Penthievre through Jean de Brosse
were denied their claims to the Ducal Crown in the 15th Century possibly as an alteration of the rules of inheritance by the then Duke of Brittany, Francis II. John VI was succeeded first by his son Francis I, Duke of Brittany
, and leaving no male heir was followed by a younger son of john VI, Peter II, Duke of Brittany
. When Peter II died without issue the Ducal Crown passed to his uncle Arthur III, Duke of Brittany
. He was succeeded by Francis II, Duke of Brittany.
The string of Ducal inheritance, from John VI through two sons and back to his brother, illustrates the mode of royal inheritance under Semi-Salic law described as "a la mode de la Bretagne" (in the Breton fashion). The characterization of a noble inheritance "a la mode de la Bretagne" was used in modern times by King Juan Carlos of Spain to explain his preferences with regards to the embarrassing claim to the title Duke of Anjou by both a Spanish member of the House of Bourbon and a member of the French House of Orleans.
The reign of Francis II, Duke of Brittany is notable in many respects including two wars against Charles VIII of France
, both of which were lost, the establishment of the Parlement of Brittany, and the death of all his children save for his daughter Anne. The wars with France eventually cost Ducal Brittany is independence, while the Parlement ensured a degree of autonomy that would continue through the reign of Louis XIV of France
. That Francis II's sole heir was a Duchess assured an inheritance contest on his death that would pit the power of the House of Montfort against conflicting treaty obligations to the House of Penthievre in Brittany and the House of Valois in France, and finally a test of the Breton tradition of semi-Salic law in which a daughter could be the principal inheritor. The position of the King of France dominated these events which ended with the marriage of Anne to King Charles VIII. Nearly a century later, Francis II, Duke of Brittany, fought the Mad War
against Charles VIII of France
and lost. Under the Treaty of Verger the marriage of Francis II's sole surviving issue, Anne, would need to be approved by the King of France. At his death, his daughter Anne of Brittany became Duchesse as well as one of the most sought after royal brides in Europe. She would follow the work of Francis II to seek a husband for Anne who would be strong enough to defend Brittany from further influence from the French Crown.
Duchesse Anne of Brittany
was initially betrothed to Edward, Prince of Wales
, the son of Edward IV of England
, but upon the king's death his son disappeared and the English thrown passed to the notorious Richard III of England
. Anne was then married to Maximillian I of Austria. However, the relations between Brittany and France deteriorated and France II was forced into the last Franco-Breton war, which he lost. As a result of this war, the French King was able to have Anne's marriage to Maximillian declared illegal, because he had not approved it under the Treaty of Verger. He married Anne in a marriage that was validated by Pope Innocent III
. Charles would not allow Anne to use the title Duchess of Brittany. However, upon his death, Anne returned to Brittany and took steps to return the Duchy to independent rule under herself as Duchess. The children of Charles and Anne did not reach adulthood and this presented a new succession problem for the Kingdom of France. The French succession issues we solved and Anne's efforts to reassert Breton independence were halted upon her marriage to Louis XII of France
.
The birth of Anne of Brittany's sole heir with Louis XII of France, her daughter Claude of France
, introduced a new succession issue in France under strict Salic law, which was solved upon Claude's marriage to Francis I of France
. It is notable that the French inheritance solution under Salic law would not yield identical inheritance solutions under the Semi-Salic tradition of Ducal Brittany. The birth of Claude's sons Frances and Henry II of France
represented a resolution to these contrasting issues that accelerated the loss of independence of Brittany and the disappearance of the Ducal title.
was invested as duke of Brittany. But this act meant next to nothing for Breton independence. Some members of the Penthievre-Blois-Brosse family were appointed as royal governors of Brittany by the French. Their failure to reassert their Ducal rights hastened the merger of the Ducal crown into the Kingdom of France. At this time the title Duke of Brittany begins to lose independent sovereign status and begins to become only titular in character; the Breton region loses independence and becomes a province of France.
Duke Francis III dies, never becoming King of France. Francis III's death made his brother Henry II of France
the last titular duke of Brittany. When Henry II of France
ascended the French throne, Brittany was regarded as having merged into the French crown. He is not crowned separately as Duke of Brittany, and from this time the title of Duke of Brittany falls into disuse until it is returns as a titular title when the House of Bourbon
gains the French crown. However Henry attempted to create a separate legal status for Brittany vis-a-vis the Kingdom of France similar to the position of the Duchy of Cornwall to the Kingdom of Great Britain. In some histories it is meant to be a ducal territory he would attempt to preserve for himself and his heirs if he was to lose the French Crown. This attempt at legal separation did not survive his reign. The French view that Brittany had merged into France did not enjoy universal support, as many Bretons would have liked a return to greater traditional autonomy and other European royal houses would have liked to see France weaken her own borders. When Henry III of France
, the last male-line descendant of Claude died in 1589 in the House of Valois, his heirs in Brittany and Auvergne were Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, the later Spanish ruler of Low Countries, and Henry I, Duke of Lorraine.
While technically Henry's heirs, there were problems with both claimants. Infanta Isabella was the eldest daughter of the late eldest sister of Henry III but being female weakened her status. Henry, Duke of Lorraine was at least male, but as son of a younger sister, his claim was also weakened. Brittany had a tradition of giving some -but not all- precedence to male heirs even in cases where the male heir was descended through the female line. In addition to sovereign claims of rule over Brittany by the King of France as Duke were never in doubt whether during the French reign of the House of Valois or the House of Bourbon.
Philip II of Spain
, France' main foe at the time, challenged either heir to divide as much of France between them as could be taken. Brittany did not figure in this challenge and remained the property of the King of France. Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercœur, a leader of Catholic League
, whom king Henry III had in 1582 made royal governor of Brittany
, ruled Brittany in the name of his own underage son Philippe Louis de Lorraine-Mercœur who through maternal ancestry was the direct primogenitural heir of Duchess Joanna the Lame, of the Penthièvre branch, wife of Charles the Lame of Blois. Mercœur organized a government at Nantes
, supported by the Spaniard
s. It took several years until in 1598 the Mercœur government surrendered in 1598 to Henry IV of France
who had one of his own bastards marry the young daughter of the Mercœurs, and confirmed the direct French control of the province.
The title Duke of Brittany reappears in during the reign of the House of Bourbon when a grandson of Louis XIV of France
is named Louis, duc de Bretagne and is the last holder of the title prior to the French Revolution. Louis, duc de Bretagne, suffers the fate of several descendants of Louis XIV of France
and Louis XV of France
and does not live to inherit the French throne and at his death the title is effectively defunct. The use of the title by Louis XIV further evidences that claims on the titular Ducal title by Spanish nobles at various times were not to be considered legitimatized with the subtle additional point that as the title had merged into the crown of France only the King could assert the title himself or bestow it on another. Louis XIV's actions with regard to the Ducal title also underscore that the Spanish or cadet House of Bourbon had relinquished all French claims and inheritance rights as a condition of gaining the crown of Spain.
culture that flourished prior to the Roman times. The alignments of Carnac
are the largest Druidic ruin outside of Ireland and the British Isles. There are numerous burial mounds such as the Tumultus St. Michel and the Breton landscape is contains many Druidic Menhirs. The lines of the Druidic lords and priests had evaporated by the time of the Roman invasions and did not figure in the development of Ducal Brittany.
The Roman occupation had little success in transporting the pre-Christian Roman gods to the Breton people, although Roman temples can still be found, for example north of St-Brieuc on the road to Guingamp
. The earliest rulers of the Breton Region were likely former Roman military officers and leaders who filled the void of the withdrawal of the Roman occupation. The earliest infuence of the Christian Church was seen in the reign of Conan Meriadoc
whose wife, Darerca of Ireland
, was the sister of St. Patrick. Darerca was both a Queen of Brittany and a Christian saint. Later rulers of Brittany also achieved sainthood, such as Salomon, but often this was more a matter of local tradition in the eyes of the Breton people than a formal sainthood bestowed by Rome. The list of Breton saints contains many names not recognized by the modern Roman Catholic Church. Queen Darerca was descended from St Martin of Tours and this relationship is the foundation for Christian Brittany's relation with the Bishop of Tours during the Ducal period.
The Breton peninsula was the focus of a substantial missionary effort by clergy from the British Isles. The leading missionaries become the original seven founding saints of Brittany. As Brittany evolved from a waring kingdom to an established post-Viking invasion Duchy, the Dukes often attempted to strengthen their position by advancing the career of Chrisitan Bishops, but were frequently rebuffed by Rome. The Duke's attempt to raise the Bishop of Dol to the position of Archbishop by asking the Pope to grant the Bishop the symbolic pallium
failed. The Duke wanted so as to give Brittany her own Christian patriarch, which would have reinforced his power over the region, or so he thought; instead, Rome reinforced the obligation of Breton Bishops to report to the Archbishop of Tours, outside of the Breton Duchy. In this period Rome continued to support a Holy Roman Emperor and while Brittany's Dukes achieved secular independence from England, France and the Vikings, her Bishops remained obligated to the external Church imbedded in the Empire's structure.
In the middle ages Bishops were also frequently secular Lords in their own right. This complicated the central authority of the Roman Church. In Brittany, the Bishop and Lord of Quimper
was tremendously popular until his son, on inheriting the Bishops ring, was admonished by the Church. Future Bishops would no longer be permitted to hand their Bishop's mitre and ring to their heirs, and shortly thereafter Rome moved to a system of complete celibacy for all ranks of clergy above Deacon, meaning the Bishops could no longer marry or have legitimate children. This coincided with the strong movement within the church to centralize its authority in Rome and diminish the independence of regional churches, including those of each of the celtic regions.
Once Ducal Brittany was joined to the French Crown through the marriage of Anne of Brittany
, there was an effort to bring a unified form of Christianity to the Breton people, and this was done by creating Catholic catechisms in the Breton language. The first such catechism is thought to have been written by a Benedictine monk, the Comte de Saisy et de Kerampuil. The most successful effort in this regard was the efforts of the Jesuit priest Julian Maunoir
from the town of Plevin
, near Carhaix; Pere Maunoir was beatified by Rome in 1951. His efforts had the dramatic effect of unifying the Breton people around the Catholic faith in a way that the Dukes of Brittany had not been able to accomplish. The Calvaires and the annual "pardons" of Brittany
which date from this period reflect this effect. This unity, based in religion, assisted the French King to both rule and control the Duchy and was consistent with the King's excellent relations with Rome as reflected in the descriptor "most Christian King" given to most French kings by the Pope since the time of Louis XI of France
, a saint of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.
Unfortunately this religious movement served to eliminate any vestige of autonomy from the French crown as the independent nature of the Duchy was lost to the French kings. After the French Revolution and to the modern day, Brittany has adopted as secular a posture as other parts of the 5th Republic of France, and many of the Christian churches are little used or have been transformed for use for other purposes,mostly as museums maintained either by the Church or by the the towns in which they are located. While the average Breton resident of Breton background will claim to be Christian, however inactive or lapsed, the modern state of the Church in Brittany is neutral in its impact on any future emergence of a Ducal Brittany.
The efforts of Pere Maunoir within Brittany coincided with the missionary work of[Louis-Marie de Grignion, also known as Saint Louis de Montfort
. Louis de Grignon was a Catholic priest and founder of the Montfort order; this order had much success as a missionary order spreading the Roman Catholic form of Christianity throughout the world. Saint Louis de Montfort's esteem in the Church was enhanced through the acknowledgements his order received from Pope John Paul II
. The efforts of the Montfort missionaries was purely religious and have had little if any impact on modern Brittany and no effect on Ducal Brittany.
The celtic tradition of granting each son part of a kingdom reflected the manner in which Charlemagne passed his own empire to his sons. In Brittany, the custom as abandoned as early as the time of Conan Meriadoc
most likely because the new rulers' incentives were to control and expand the Duchy, not divide it. What remained, however, through the merger of the Duchy into France was the frequent contests and rivalry between the great houses of Brittany for the Ducal crown.
Following the celtic norms for royalty, as compared with the French royalty's application of Salic law
, the role of Sovereign Duke would sometimes be held by a woman, typically when the oldest heir of a Breton Duke was his daughter or no direct male heir existed. Inheritance of the ducal title could pass to a female heir if she was the only direct heir of a Duke. Duchesses ruled Brittany in their own right at several points during the Duchy's history and at others their consorts either served as Co-ruler, or claimed direct control of the Duchy as a right in marriage. See the histories of Duchesse Alix, the ducal claimant Joan of Penthievre, Duchesse Anne, and Claude of France as Duchesse.
The Duke of Brittany was forced to live in exile or seek protection and allies outside the Duchy several times in the Duchy's history. Alan II lived in exile in England and returned to claim the Duchy with the help of an English army. The claimant Joan of Penthievre was exiled after losing the War of Succession and never reclaimed the Ducal crown. During the first part of the 10th century Brittany was ruled as an occupied land by Viking invaders, who were eventually repulsed.
The decline of sovereign ducal power was accompanied by the increasing influence of the French crown who named military governors of Brittany during Ducal rule, and emergence of democratic forces as a result of the War of Succession which saw first the founding of the Estates of Brittany, followed by the founding of the Parlement of Brittany.
The relation of the Duke and Breton nobles reflected ancient celtic customs unique to celtic lands and distinct from the relations of Kings to their nobles in post Conquest England and Capetian France. The Duke raised armies provided by the nobles who received concessions in return including exemption from taxes, and later, the right to sit in either the Breton Estates or Parlement.
In modern times the Duchy of Brittany does not exist as a state nor does the sovereign form of the Ducal title. The only active use of the title Duke of Brittany is as a courtesy title sometimes claimed by the Spanish Legitimist Pretender to the French Throne. The Spanish use of the courtesy title is self-bestowed and thus controversial; its use is part of the greater concerns about Legitimist Pretenders to the French crown expressed by Juan Carlos of Spain . Orleanist Pretenders to the French throne have not used the courtesy title. In the abscence of the sovereign Ducal title, the most frequently observed senior noble title in use in modern Brittany, is that of Comte
.
Modern French royalty do, however, carry Breton noble titles that had been linked to the title Duke of Brittany. There are two nobles who use the title Duke of Anjou (see Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou
, the Spanish Legitimist pretender to the French throne and Prince Charles Philippe, Duke of Anjou, a Member of the House of Orleans
, and an Orleanist pretender to the French throne.
The history of the Duchy reflects the various efforts expended by its Dukes to preserve its independence. Some French kings sought to maintain the autonomy of the Duchy for the benefit of their heirs much in the style of the relation between the modern Duchy of Cornwall to the modern Crown of Great Britain. The modern political era continues the Breton tradition of independence whether at the level of the Duchy or the cultural region known as Brittany, with various movements for the independence and autonomy of the Breton region becoming more active and successful in recent times.
The Breton Parlement no longer meets. Its seat was in Rennes where the Parliament building remains in use. It was disbanded by Louis XIV but the Parlement voted to ignore the King's order of dissolution upon the claim it it all alone had the authority to dissolve this legislative and judicial body. The Breton Parlement has no modern analogous body and the Parlement has not met in any form since the French Revolution. The return of an active Breton Parlement remains a cultural possibility, even if the legal preconditions for its reactivation have only a remote chance of being aligned within the current Constitution of the 5th French Republic.
In the modern 5th Republic of France, the lands of the Duchy have been divided into several French departements. There is no single regional governing or representative body for the lands that would comprise the Duchy, were it to re-emerge. In addition in most modern French federal assessments the former Breton capital city of Nantes is placed in the departement of Loire-Atlantique
rather than one of the four clearly Breton departements. Modern French law allows a local area to hold a referendum that would have the effect of re-locating it within the Departemental system of the French Republic. Thus the legal mechanics exist to re-unite Nantes with the rest of the Duchy's region.
The independent spirit of the Duchy is sometimes expressed culturally. In recent years there has been a resurgence in the use of the Breton language and the emergence of so-called Diwan
schools where instruction is in Breton rather than French. Annual Breton cultural festivals and their celebration of Breton's celtic culture have become increasingly linked with other Celtic and Gaelic festivals throughout the world. While the Breton Departements remain firmly anchored in a Republican France that is a member of the new European Common Union, there have been occasional efforts to amend the French Constitution to provide for autonomy for the Breton Region.
in England was often held by Breton dukes themselves or their secundogeniture
during the Middle Ages. Further complicating the political landscape were the competing ambitions played out in both Brittany and Richmondshire; Plantagenet Richmondshire under John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford
supported English claims to the French throne
, whilst Capet Brittany opposed this. During the Wars of the Roses
, Richmond allied itself with the House of Lancaster
under the Tudor earls
, themselves supported by the Duke of Brittany.
Control of Richmondshire reflected the shifting of power between Britain and Brittany.
Arthur III (in Breton Arzhur III) (August 24, 1393 – December 26, 1458), known as the Justicier and as Arthur de Richemont, was Lord of Parthenay and titular Count (Earl) of Richmond in England and, for eleven months at the very end of his life, Duke of Brittany and Count of Montfort after inheriting those titles upon the death of his nephew. Brittany's tenure in Richmond passed to Britain through Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset
(15 June 1519–18 June 1536) the only illegitimate offspring that Henry VIII acknowledged. FitzRoy was created Earl of Nottingham and Duke of Richmond and Somerset on 16 June 1525. Henry FitzRoy
advertised his royal connection with quartered ermine
in his coat of arms. Upon his death without children in 1536 it became extinct. The British title to Richmond was next gifted to Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox, 1st Earl of Richmond (September 29, 1574 – February 16, 1624) a Scottish nobleman and politician.
The titles Duke of Richmond and Duke of Brittany ceased to be held by the same individual and were separated as Brittany became more closely associated with France. Richmond became a dukedom
in its own right; the Duchy of Brittany and Kingdom of Navarre
were united in France in the same time frame as the Principality of Wales
and Kingdom of Scotland
were formed in Britain. Ties with Scotland and France, forged in the 16th century further influenced the pedigree of the Dukedom of Richmond. The British title Duke of Richmond was bestowed on Charles Lennox
, the son of English King Charles II
and the Breton noblewoman Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth
. Their modern British descendants include the late Diana, Princess of Wales
, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and Sarah, Duchess of York
and their children.
The Dukes of Richmond also owe their honorific title Duke of Aubigny
(after Aubigny-sur-Nère
in Berry
), to the Bretonne Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth
. This relationship connected Richmond to the Auld Alliance
, through Breton roots in the House of Stuart
. Richmond, with its French and Scottish connections was identified as a region where reactionary
recusancy
flourished, finding sympathies in the Lennox
district near Glasgow
. Catholic
connections further distinguished Richmond during England's Civil War and the English Reformation
. The Dukes of Richmond were also associated with the Jacobite
Clan Gordon
which has property in the Scottish Highlands
. The present Duke of Richmond is also Duke of Gordon
.
and his son Arthur
coincide roughly with the 5th Century early emigrations from the Cornish region to Brittany which later became a determined emigration of Cornish and other Brythonic settlers escaping the expansion of the Anglo-Saxons through Great Britain.
While Uther is not directly active in Amorica
, his son's emergence involves a number of Breton figures, ranging from Merlin
, and Gorlois
the Duke of Cornwall at the castle Tintagel
, to members of the Round Table. including Hoel
King of Brittany and Leodegrance
.
Arhurian Brittany is identified as a territory linked to the Dukes of Cornwall and the knights of the Round Table
. King Leodegrance
's kingdom was located in Carhaix or alternatively in Southwestern Great Britain. He served Arthur's father Uther Pendragon
, and his daughter Guinevere
became both Queen of Brittany, in her own right, and the wife of Arthur. French Arthurian legends describe Arthur's first major battle in the fields outside of Carhaix in defense of Leodegrance. These fields to the southeast of Carhaix are thought to be in an area known as Bresiliande. At Carhaix Arthur met and fell in love with Guinevere. Leodegrance is among the first of the Brythonic kings to accept Arthur as "Hi King", and the Uther's Round Table is his wedding gift to Arthur and Guinivere. The Round Table also includes Hoel
, the King of Brittany as another Arthurian knight.
When Arthur suffered a significant wound in his last battle he was transported to the folkloric city of Avalon
, thought to be located in Brittany, a region under the protection of the Duke of Cornwall. It is after the Arthurian period that a Ducal Brittany emerges.
Titles as rendered into the Breton language
:
Counts (Comtes)
Viscounts
Saints and other Holy Persons
Bishops and Dioceses
The succession was interrupted by the Norman
occupation (907–937)
Nantes
Rennes
Cornouaille
Plantagenet
Thouars
Breton War of Succession (1341–1364)
Montfort
The cadet branch of the House of Dreux
claim, that of Joanna of Penthièvre and of the Dukes of Mercœur, went through Bourbon-Vendôme
(the illegitimate branch started by Cesar, bastard of Henry IV, and his Briton wife) to Marie-Jeanne de Savoie-Nemours
, the mother of Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia
and after her death in 1724, the Savoy kings of Sardinia, until Victor Emmanuel I was inherited by Dukes of Modena, and then subsequently inherited by Dukes of Bavaria, whose heir now is Franz, Duke of Bavaria
.
The junior or Montfort
claim, that of Isabella Clara Eugenia (who died in 1633), went to her nephew the duke of Savoy, whose descendant Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia inherited it from his father in 1675. Since Victor Amadeus subsequently in 1727 succeeded in his mother's rights too, the succession thus continued as explained above together with the senior claim all way down to Franz, Duke of Bavaria.
's heir François de Bourbon held "Duke of Brittany" as a courtesy title
(1973–1984) but the title had been self-bestowed rather than granted by the King of France as was his right since the time of the Franco-Breton war and subject to other claims prior to the Treaty of Verger .
Armorica
Armorica or Aremorica is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul that includes the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic coast...
n peninsula by the Romans (Armorica
Armorica
Armorica or Aremorica is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul that includes the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic coast...
or Aremorica) and was marked as the area west of Mont-Saint-Michel and north of Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
/Naoned, including Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
/Roazhon and Vannes
Vannes
Vannes is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2000 years ago.-Geography:Vannes is located on the Gulf of Morbihan at the mouth of two rivers, the Marle and the Vincin. It is around 100 km northwest of Nantes and 450 km south west...
/Gwened. Armorica corresponded largely to the historic Duchy of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, a region with strong traditions of independence, including a distinctive culture and the Breton language
Breton language
Breton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
. The Duchy was at times larger than the French region
Régions of France
France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...
now called Brittany (Bretagne
Bretagne
Brittany ; is one of the 27 regions of France. It occupies a large peninsula in the northwest of the country, lying between the English Channel to the north and the Bay of Biscay to the south. Its capital is Rennes.-Territory:...
).
Origins
The Ducal rulers of Brittany emerged from the various Breton Chieftains and Nobles of the immediate post-Roman era. The Duchy eventually came under the control of the royal crown of France. The Duchy of Brittany and the title and role of sovereign Duke no longer exist in the modern 5th Republic of France.The Duchy's earliest origins can be traced to the settlement of its northern regions along the English Channel by tribes that emigrated from the British Isles, starting presumably during the time of earliest Trojan settlement of the British Isles. Later, during the Roman occupation of Britain, the Roman Empire established a government center in what is modern day Carhaix in central Brittany. Migration from Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
and Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
shire occurred across many centuries and the Cornish emigration to Brittany accelerated with the advance of Anglo-Saxons invading the British Isles (for related folklore, see "Brittany during the Arthurian period" below. Early Christian missionaries including the seven founder saints of Brittany appear to have come principally from Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and Cornwall around the 6th Century. There were frequent interactions with Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
; and the royal Scottish House of Stuart claims its origins from a Breton Banneret knight from the region of Mont St. Michel.
The emergence of royal rulers throughout Britain, and Brittany, coincided with the withdrawal of direct Roman rule from the region. The history of the earliest Breton rulers and the rise of a separate Breton Duchy are tied to the early history of the Duchy of Cornwall, and later the early history of Great Britain after the Norman Conquest.
Brittany,Cornwall, and Wales (where other celtic peoples settled and also fled to safety during this period) share many cultural attributes including the shared religious tradition of patron saints; the Breton
Breton language
Breton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
, Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
and Cornish
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
languages share many similarities. A fourth celtic region, Britonia
Britonia
Britonia is the historical name of a settlement in Galicia which was settled in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD by Romano-Britons escaping the advancing Anglo-Saxons who were conquering Britain at the time...
within Spanish Galicia was settled by Britonic settlers during the 5th and 6th centuries much in the manner of Brittany; this settlement's leader was a Bishop named Mailoc
Mailoc
Mailoc or Maeloc was a 6th-century bishop of Britonia, a settlement founded by expatriate Britons in Galicia, Spain. He represented his diocese, referred to as the Britonensis ecclesia or "British church", at the Second Council of Braga in 572...
, or Maglacos.
While the history of Brittany is rich with a series of land based military and "blue water" based martime battles, the history of the Dukes of Brittany is most closely associated with land battles, and wars fought over the geographic boundaries of the Duchy.
The Ducal title of Brittany is sovereign and independent from other kingly realms although it had vassalage relationships at various times with the crowns of France and England (in this period it was not uncommon for European Kings to have a vassalage relation with another King). Once established, parts or all of the Duchy of Brittany was occupied at various times by Viking invaders, England, the autonomous pre-Conquest Dukes of Normandy, France,and Spain. The Duchy was an object of contention in the Spanish rivalries with France, the French rivarly with England, the conquest of England by Normandy, and a series of Viking invasions.
The Dukes of Brittany were sovereign rulers before the title was joined to the crown of France and frequently acted to defend their independence and autonomy. Ducal Brittany was eventually merged into the crown of France through the marriage of the Duchess Anne of Brittany
Anne of Brittany
Anne, Duchess of Brittany , also known as Anna of Brittany , was a Breton ruler, who was to become queen to two successive French kings. She was born in Nantes, Brittany, and was the daughter of Francis II, Duke of Brittany and Margaret of Foix. Her maternal grandparents were Queen Eleanor of...
to the French King. In the earliest days of organized royal rule over regions such as Brittany the title of King was sometimes bestowed as a description used to chronicle the visit of the ruler to another regional sovereign, such as the Holy Roman Emperor or the Breton ruler was not required to adopt a posture of homage to that Imperial ruler, as was the case during the reign of Charlemagne. The subsequent disappearance of the title King and the emergence of the title Duke is not meant to indicate a sovereign subservience to any other crown. (see also "The effect of Medieval Customs and Laws on the Duchy of Brittany" below.)
Brittany under the Brythonic Kings
The BrythonicBritons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
region included the British Isles and Brittany. There were some individuals who may have established hegemony over all Brythonic
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
populations in the whole area, notably Riothamus
Riothamus
Riothamus was a Romano-British military leader, who was active circa AD 470. He fought against the Goths in alliance with the declining Roman Empire. He is called "King of the Britons" by the 6th-Century historian Jordanes, but the extent of his realm is unclear...
, who is described as King of the Britons
King of the Britons
The Britons or Brythons were the Celtic-speaking people of what is now England, Wales and southern Scotland, whose ethnic identity is today maintained by the Welsh, Cornish and Bretons...
by the chronicler Jordanes
Jordanes
Jordanes, also written Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life....
. However there are no clear rulers of Brittany as a whole, which was divided between fiefdoms dominated by local Counts. One of the earliest kingdoms on the Armorican or Breton Peninsula was that of the Vannetais. The entire Armorican peninsula and the Vannetais fell under Frankish suzerainty during the time of Clovis I
Clovis I
Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
.
Vannetais was split to create Cornouaille
Cornouaille
Cornouaille is a historic region in Brittany, in northwest France. The name is identical to the French name for the Duchy of Cornwall, since the area was settled by migrant princes from Cornwall...
and Domnonia
Domnonia
Domnonée is the modern French version of the Latin name Dumnonia , which denoted a kingdom in northern Brittany founded by migrants from Dumnonia in Great Britain...
; an eastern region of the peninsula abuting modern day Normandy constitued a third kingdom named Bro Erech (or Broërec
Broërec
Broërec is a traditional French province in the south of Brittany. It derives its name from Waroch, a 6th century warlord who called the region Bro Waroch ....
). This kingdom had been established by Welsh settlers. The emergence of the Duchy of Brittany resulted from the unification of these three kingdoms. The kingdoms were established by Romano-British
Romano-British
Romano-British culture describes the culture that arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest of AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a people of Celtic language and...
migrants to, and within, the Armorica
Armorica
Armorica or Aremorica is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul that includes the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic coast...
n peninsula. The earliest Breton rulers of these three kingdoms within larger Roman Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
were styled "kings."
As emigrants continued to settled Brittany from the British Isles the pre-Duchy region of Domnonée was created. This region should not be mistaken for the British region of Dumnonia which is similar to modern Devon. The rulers of Domnonée held the title if Prince and some became Kings of Brittany. The rulers of Domnonée emerged later as the Breton House of Penthievre which sought, but failed, to re-establish itself as the Duke of Brittany. A similar history exists between the Kingdom of Cornwall
Kingdom of Cornwall
The Kingdom of Cornwall was an independent polity in southwest Britain during the Early Middle Ages, roughly coterminous with the modern English county of Cornwall. During the sub-Roman and early medieval periods Cornwall was evidently part of the kingdom of Dumnonia, which included most of the...
and the Cornouaille
Cornouaille
Cornouaille is a historic region in Brittany, in northwest France. The name is identical to the French name for the Duchy of Cornwall, since the area was settled by migrant princes from Cornwall...
region in southwestern Brittany. These historical links also appeared in the region of Anjou
Anjou
Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
which contains an area named Cornuaille. The region around the Breton city of Vannes
Vannes
Vannes is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2000 years ago.-Geography:Vannes is located on the Gulf of Morbihan at the mouth of two rivers, the Marle and the Vincin. It is around 100 km northwest of Nantes and 450 km south west...
known as the "Gwened" in south Brittany (named after its iron-age inhabitants, the Veneti
Veneti (Gaul)
The Veneti were a seafaring Celtic people who lived in the Brittany peninsula , which in Roman times formed part of an area called Armorica...
, or the "Weneted") also bears this relation with the Welsh area "Gwynedd."
The development of the Duchy is linked to the Breton region's ancient tribes, their cities and the regions they dominated which became the major cities and regions within the Duchy. The Breton people were organized in tribes including the Osismii
Osismii
The Osismii were a Gaulish tribe on the western Armorican peninsula. They were first described as the Ostimioi by the Greek geographer and traveller Pytheas in the fourth century BC. He situated them at the end of the peninsula of Kabaïon, which is not identifiable today. Their name means "the...
, the Veneti, the Redones
Redones
The Redones or Rhedones are an ancient tribe of Gaul, in the Celtogalatia Lugdunensis of Ptolemy , placed by him west of the Senones and along the Liger . Their capital was Condate . But other authors contend that the Redones were not on the Loire. Pliny The Redones or Rhedones are an ancient...
, the Coriosolites, and the Namnetes
Namnetes
The Namnetes were a tribe of ancient Gaul, living in the area of the modern city of Nantes near the river Liger .They were neighbours to the Veneti people , the Redones , the Andecavi and the Pictones ....
, among others. The cities associated with these tribes were Carhaix, Vannes
Vannes
Vannes is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2000 years ago.-Geography:Vannes is located on the Gulf of Morbihan at the mouth of two rivers, the Marle and the Vincin. It is around 100 km northwest of Nantes and 450 km south west...
, Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
, St. Malo, and Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
, respectively, each of which served at various times as the capital of the Duchy. These tribes and their cities eventually produced the modern French departments of the Breton peninsula, the Finistère
Finistère
Finistère is a département of France, in the extreme west of Brittany.-History:The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, meaning end of the earth, and may be compared with Land's End on the opposite side of the English Channel...
, Morbihan
Morbihan
Morbihan is a department in Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan , the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastline.-History:...
, Ile-et-Vilaine, and the Cotes-d'Armor
Côtes-d'Armor
Côtes-d'Armor is a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France.-History:Côtes-du-Nord was one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Brittany. Its name was changed in 1990 to...
; in the modern departmental system Nantes is held outside Brittany in the department of Loire Atlantique. The Breton tribes each produced leaders whose power and importance over time rose to the title of Count and over whom the King of Brittany, and subsequently the Duke of Brittany, would act as overlord. The Breton Counts of Vannes, Nantes and Rennes at various times served the Breton Duke and even served as Regent during the Breton Duke's minority, sometimes rising to become Duke themselves.
Other bordering regions of France that were never permanent members of Brittany evolved the same way, including Anjou
Anjou
Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
and Poitou
Poitou
Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
to the south and the Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne is a French department, named after the Seine and Marne rivers, and located in the Île-de-France region.- History:Seine-et-Marne is one of the original 83 departments, created on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution in application of the law of December 22, 1789...
regions to the east. The development of Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
followed a different path under Viking invaders led by Rollo
Rollo
Rollo has multiple meanings. It may mean:a first name*Rollo Armstrong, member of British dance act Faithless* Rollo May, American psychologist...
. The Viking invaders were sometimes military allies of the Bretons. Whether as military allies or as worthy opponents the Vikings also figured decisively in the creation of the Duchy. The eventual defeat of the Vikings by the Bretons marks a formal start to the Duchy. The nature of the Breton victory over the Vikings which depended on England as a military ally played into the relations of the Breton Duchy with, and the important Breton theme of autonomy and independence from, the King Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex...
of England and his grandson, King Louis IV of France
Louis IV of France
Louis IV , called d'Outremer or Transmarinus , reigned as King of Western Francia from 936 to 954...
.
As the Roman Empire withdrew from Britain and Brittany, and as the Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
s moved westward through the British Isles from East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, the emigration of Celtic people to Brittany increased and the Duchy emerged in its own right. The folkloric wars between the Anglo-Saxons and the legendary Hi King Arthur (King of the Britons) figure prominently in the establishment of the Breton Duchy.
The 4th thru 8th Centuries: The Kingdom of Brittany is Founded
(See the List of rulers of Brittany for the various Kings, Princes and Dukes of the Kingdom,and later, the Duchy of Brittany.)The Duchy of Brittany began to emerge upon the death of the Roman Emperor Gratian
Gratian
Gratian was Roman Emperor from 375 to 383.The eldest son of Valentinian I, during his youth Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers. Upon the death of Valentinian in 375, Gratian's brother Valentinian II was declared emperor by his father's soldiers...
during an uprising from the western Frankish regions of the Roman Empire. The general who led the rebellion was Magnus Maximus
Magnus Maximus
Magnus Maximus , also known as Maximianus and Macsen Wledig in Welsh, was Western Roman Emperor from 383 to 388. As commander of Britain, he usurped the throne against Emperor Gratian in 383...
who is thought to be the legendary Breton leader Conan Meriadoc
Conan Meriadoc
Conan Meriadoc is a legendary British leader credited with founding Brittany. Versions of his story circulated in both Brittany and Great Britain from at least the early 12th century, and supplanted earlier legends of Brittany's foundation...
. The general becomes the usurping Western Roman Emperor.
It is at this time in the 4th century that the legendary leader Cynan, or Conan Meriadoc
Conan Meriadoc
Conan Meriadoc is a legendary British leader credited with founding Brittany. Versions of his story circulated in both Brittany and Great Britain from at least the early 12th century, and supplanted earlier legends of Brittany's foundation...
, is credited with founding Brittany and in these written legends holds the title King of Brittany. He is not the only Breton leader to lay claim to be the first King of Brittany (see Morman
Morman
Morman was a Breton chieftain who was declared King after the death of the Bretons' Frankish overlord Charlemagne in 814. He is the first personage known by name to be described as a Breton "king" and he probably ruled a warband with members drawn from throughout Brittany...
below). Conan, or Cynan, established a kingdom in which the towns of Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
and Vannes
Vannes
Vannes is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2000 years ago.-Geography:Vannes is located on the Gulf of Morbihan at the mouth of two rivers, the Marle and the Vincin. It is around 100 km northwest of Nantes and 450 km south west...
dominated over what had been the central Breton region ruled by the Romans from Carhaix, which was known to the Romans as Vorgium. His wife was Darerca of Ireland
Darerca of Ireland
Saint Darerca of Ireland was a sister of Saint Patrick.Much obscurity is attached to her history, and it is not easy to disentangle the facts of her history from the network of legend which medieval writers interwove with her acts...
, the sainted sister of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.
The future history of Ducal Brittany is one of how much land the Duchy encompasses, how the land is acquired or lost, the degree to which the Ducal lands are united under one ruler, and the contest between the ruling nobles of the major Breton cities Rennes, Nantes, and Vannes to rule the entire Ducal territory. In this history the relation of the Breton ruler to the Kings of England and France sometimes figure decisively, as does their ability to repel invaders such as the Vikings. Throughout the history the themes of independence and autonomy from other realms are repeated.
In the 6th century, the semi-folkloric Conomor
Conomor
Conomor , also known as Conomerus or Conomor the Cursed, was an early medieval ruler of Brittany. His name, which has the Welsh cognate Cynfawr, means "Great Dog", but could also indicate "Sea Dog" in early Brythonic. Conomor was notorious for his cruelty, becoming a legendary villain in Breton...
ruled as a local King and tried to extend his rule overall all of Armorica. He claimed overall leadership as representative of the Frankish empire, but was ousted when abandoned by Chlothar I. The rejection of Conomor and Clothar establishes the Breton precedent of autonomy. In this century, Waroch
Waroch
Waroch was an early Breton ruler of the Vannetais. Waroch gave his name to the traditional Breton province of Broërec . However, it is possible that there were several successive local leaders with this name....
ruled the Vannetais kingdom and gave his name to its third and smallest subdivision Broweroch. His rule was important to the tradition of Ducal Brittany in asserting and maintaining its independence from outside rulers. Waroch fought two major wars against Clothar II and Chilperic I
Chilperic I
Chilperic I was the king of Neustria from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund....
which he lost but maintained the region's independent spirit in the process. Waroch was succeeded by Judicael ap Hoel
Judicael ap Hoel
Saint Judicael ap Hoel was the King of Domnonia and a Breton high king in the mid-seventh century.According to Gregory of Tours, the Bretons were divided into various regna during the sixth century, of which Domnonia, Cornouaille, and Broweroch are the best known; they had been under Frankish...
who was King of Domononee. His rule is notable in that he becomes High King of the Bretons and begins to reunite Cornouaille, Domnonee and Broweroch.
From this period Brittany clung to its independence and autonomy whether ruled by a King or a sovereign Duke, or whether the province was administered by a provincial governor imposed by another monarch. Over time, Ducal Brittany's principal relations with other kingdoms was with England or France although the Duchy and its armies figured prominently in the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 under William I Duke of Normandy
Duke of Normandy
The Duke of Normandy is the title of the reigning monarch of the British Crown Dependancies of the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey. The title traces its roots to the Duchy of Normandy . Whether the reigning sovereign is a male or female, they are always titled as the "Duke of...
. During an early period the Duke of Brittany
Duke of Brittany
The Duchy of Brittany was a medieval tribal and feudal state covering the northwestern peninsula of Europe,bordered by the Alantic Ocean on the west and the English Channel to the north with less definitive borders of the Loire River to the south and Normandy to the east...
was also the English Duke of Richmond
Duke of Richmond
The title Duke of Richmond is named after Richmond and its surrounding district of Richmondshire, and has been created several times in the Peerage of England for members of the royal Tudor and Stuart families...
. Later when Brittany lost its independence on becoming part of the Kingdom of France it retained some elements of its autonomy and traditions. The modern politics of Brittany continue to reflect this preference for autonomy.
The Breton region's major cities were associated with the various Dukes that emerged to rule Brittany until it was merged into the Kingdom of France. Thus at various times the holder of the title Duke of Brittany attained the title after first being the Duke of Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
, Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
, or Vannes
Vannes
Vannes is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2000 years ago.-Geography:Vannes is located on the Gulf of Morbihan at the mouth of two rivers, the Marle and the Vincin. It is around 100 km northwest of Nantes and 450 km south west...
. While Carhaix was a capital city occupied by the Romans its influence declined during the time of the Duchy, and the towns of Nantes, Rennes and Vannes also served as the Breton capital at various times. In later periods the title Duke of Brittany was often associated with the principal heir to the King of France.
The 9th Century: The Kings of Brittany achieve Independence from Carolingian Europe
The attempted incorporation of Brittany into the Carolingian empireCarolingian Empire
Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the...
ensured that its political and social institutions were similar to those prevailing elsewhere in western Francia. In some histories the region of Brittany is shown outside of the direct rule of Charlemagne. The sequence of rebellions by Breton Chieftains after Charlemagne's death contributed to the setting of the territorial boundaries of the Duchy.
Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
ruled through a system of Counts each of whom was administratively responsible for a geographic territory, or County. Local rulers claimed authority over the Bretons as a whole from the early 9th century. After the death of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
in 814, the Breton chieftain Morman
Morman
Morman was a Breton chieftain who was declared King after the death of the Bretons' Frankish overlord Charlemagne in 814. He is the first personage known by name to be described as a Breton "king" and he probably ruled a warband with members drawn from throughout Brittany...
rebelled against Frankish domination and was named King by his fellow Breton chieftains. In some histories he is identified as the first Breton King to honor the independence he gained from outside rule. He was followed by the Breton Chieftain Wihomarc
Wihomarc
Wihomarc was a Breton chieftain "who seemed to have greater authority than the other Breton leaders" and who revolted against Frankish overlordship in 822 and held on to his power until his death...
.
Wihomarc
Wihomarc
Wihomarc was a Breton chieftain "who seemed to have greater authority than the other Breton leaders" and who revolted against Frankish overlordship in 822 and held on to his power until his death...
(or Wiomarc'h) (French: Guyomard) (died 825) was a Breton chieftain "who seemed to have greater authority than the other Breton leaders"[1] and who revolted against Frankish overlordship in 822 and held on to his power until his death. His rebellion may have been incited by the creation of a Frankish county in Poutrocoet sometime between 818 and 820.[2] His rule is notable because he mounted the first rebellion in Brittany against outside rule since Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
pacified the region after the usurpation of Morman in 818. Wihomarc was succeeded by Nominoe, the first Breton overlord to successfully confront the Franks. Nominoe defeated Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
at the Battle of Ballon
Battle of Ballon
The Battle of Ballon took place on 22 November 845 between the forces of Charles the Bald, king of West Francia, and Nominoë Duke of Brittany. Nominoë was appropriating border territory and opposing Charles' attempt to impose Frankish authority...
in 845.
Battle of Jengland
The Battle of Jengland took place on 22 August 851, between the Frankish army of Charles the Bald and the Breton army of Erispoe, Duke of Brittany...
(851), the territory of Brittany was legally defined to include the towns of Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
and Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
, along with the Pays de Retz
Pays de Retz
The Pays de Retz is a historical region of France that currently forms part of the Loire-Atlantique department, but which previously formed part of the Duchy of Brittany....
south of the Loire
Loire
Loire is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the River Loire's upper reaches.-History:Loire was created in 1793 when after just 3½ years the young Rhône-et-Loire department was split into two. This was a response to counter-Revolutionary activities in Lyon...
. This later became the official territory of the Duchy of Brittany. Erispoe was granted a royal seal by Charles the Bald, who himself used an Imperial seal and from this royal dignity was considered a king; because of his wars with Charles the Bald Erispoe was known as rex tyrannicus and at Charles' court was identified as Duke of Brittany. Erispoe continued to pay tribute to Charles the Bald during their peace.
The most notable member of Erispoe's court was Salomon,the Count of Rennes and Nantes, who succeeded him as Salomon, King of Brittany. Salomon continued the peace with Charles the Bald, was granted a seal, paid tribute to Charles and acknowledged his suzereinity but not the expected rule of Louis the Stammerer
Louis the Stammerer
Louis the Stammerer was the King of Aquitaine and later King of West Francia. He was the eldest son of Charles the Bald and Ermentrude of Orléans. He succeeded his younger brother in Aquitaine in 866 and his father in West Francia in 877, though he was never crowned Emperor...
as heir to Charles. Saolomon's successful wars to expand Brittany included a grant of Anjou
Anjou
Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
, and it is from this period that the Dukes of Anjou can trace their association with Ducal Brittany. Salomon was assasinated in a conspiracy between Pascweten, Gurvand, and Wigo. Gurvand seizes power.
The 10th Century: The Duke of Brittany Expels the Viking Invaders
It is in the 10th centurty that the region becomes a more formally recognized Duchy and the title of King of Brittany gives way to the title Duke of Brittany. See the Dukes of Brittany family treeDukes of Brittany family tree
This is a family tree of the Dukes of Brittany from the 9th century, to the annexation of Brittany by France in 1532.See also: Brittany - List of family trees...
.
Gurvand, Duke of Brittany
Gurvand, Duke of Brittany
Wrhwant, Gurwant, Gurwent or Gurvand was a claimant to the Duchy of Brittany from 874 until his death in opposition to Pascweten, Count of Vannes.Wrhwant was complicit in the conspiracy which assassinated Salomon in 874...
grants a sizeable portion of Brittany to his co-conspirator Pascweten, but rules with declining legitimacy and himself is quickly assasinated. His son Judicael, by Erispoe's daugher, becomes King. Judicael, Duke of Brittany
Judicael, Duke of Brittany
Judicael was the Duke of Brittany from 876 to his death. He was a son of a daughter of Erispoe and claimed Brittany after the death of the pretenders Wrhwant and Pascweten in mid 876....
fights a series of battles that secure the independence of the kingdom from invading Vikings, but dies in battles. He is succeeded by his ally Alan.
Alan I, King of Brittany completes the defense of the dukedom from the invading Vikings, and becomes the first Breton ruler to be officially recognized as King by the Carolingian Emperor. Alan I reunites the Brittany that Gurvand had allowed to be divided, and expands the kingdom of Brittany and it reaches its largest territorial expanse. At his death Brittany if overrun once again by Vikings. From the death of Alan I in 907 to 937 Brittany is by Viking Normans. In 938 Alan I's son returns to establish himself as Alan II, Duke of Brittany
Alan II, Duke of Brittany
Alan II , nicknamed Wrybeard and also known as Le Renard "The Fox", was Count of Vannes, Poher, and Nantes, and Duke of Brittany from 938 to his death...
.
Alan I's son Alan II flees to England where for a time he lives in exile under Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex...
His fellow exile is Louis IV of France
Louis IV of France
Louis IV , called d'Outremer or Transmarinus , reigned as King of Western Francia from 936 to 954...
, Edward's grandson, whose French kingdom is also overrun by Vikings. Alan II returns to Brittany to defeat the Vikings and is elected Alan II, Duke of Brittany. Alan II's other great success was to establish independence from the French kingdom when his friend Louis IV states that Brittany "was never part of his kingdom." Alan II's reign begins the Ducal rule of the House of Nantes. It is from Alan II's election that the title King of Brittany is no longer used and the title of Duke of Brittany replaces it.
Alan II's rule marks the beginning of a period of unique relationships between the independent realms of Brittany, England and France. While Brittany defeats the Vikings, and expels them, France arrives at a peace that grants neighboring Normandy to the Viking ruler,Rollo
Rollo
Rollo has multiple meanings. It may mean:a first name*Rollo Armstrong, member of British dance act Faithless* Rollo May, American psychologist...
who becomes a French Duke. Border disputes between Normandy and Brittany dominate their relations for the remainder of this century until a common military goal is agreed under William the Conqueror. Alan II and his successors rule a smaller Ducal state than Alan I and without his authority. Alan II's election as Duke also indicates a form of shared power with other Breton nobles and the Roman Catholic church and the presence of powerful external forces withint the dukedom. Having defeated the Vikings, Alan II and his Ducal heirs face expansionist threats from Normandy, which is ruled by the descendents of former invaders.
Upon his death Alan II is succeeded by his son Drogo, Duke of Brittany
Drogo, Duke of Brittany
Drogo was the count of Vannes and Nantes and duke of Brittany from 952, when he succeeded his father, Alan Wrybeard, as a minor, until his death in 958...
. Drogo's rule is important in demonstrating the relative importance of the major Breton cities and containing the precedent for the role of Regency during the minority of a Ducal heir. Drogo is Count of Vannes
Count of Vannes
Count of Vannes was the title held the rulers of the County of Vannes....
and Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
before becoming Duke of Brittany. There are other counts, including the Count of Renne. Throughout his reign, he was under the shared regency of his uncle the Count of Blois
Count of Blois
The County of Blois was originally centred on Blois, south of Paris, France. One of the chief cities, along with Blois itself, was Chartres. Blois was associated with Champagne, Châtillon , and later with the French royal family, to whom the county passed in 1391...
, Theobald I
Theobald I of Blois
Theobald I , called the Cheat or the Trickster , was the first count of Blois, Chartres, and Châteaudun from 960, and Tours from 945....
(who entrusted the administration to Wicohen, Archbishop of Dol, and the Count of Rennes
Count of Rennes
The Count of Rennes was originally the ruler of the Romano-Frankish civitas of Rennes. From the middle of the ninth century these counts were Bretons with close ties to the Duchy of Brittany, which they often vied to rule. From 990 the Counts of Rennes were usually Dukes of Brittany...
, Juhel Berengar) and of his stepfather the Count of Anjou, Fulk II, who married ALan II's widow. THe Duchy continues to experience political instability.
Drogo is succeeded by Juhel Berengar's son Conan I, Duke of Brittany and the Ducal throne passes to the House of Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
. Ducal Brittany experiences instability through the remainder of the 10th century until the House of Nantes is replaced by the House of Rennes as Dukes, through Conan I, Duke of Brittany. It is his successor, Geoffrey I, that formulates an alliance with Normandy that restores a more long lasting stability.
The origins of the Duchy of Brittany lie in the Battle of Trans-la-Forêt
Trans-la-Forêt
Trans-la-Forêt is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in north-western France.-Demographics:-References:* ;* -External links:*...
, on or about 1 August 939, after which Brittany came to be referred to as a Duchy and its rulers as Dukes. From this time the Duke of Brittany maintained various links to the Kings of France and separately the Kings of England, sometimes serving actively as a vassal of one or the other. Even after the Duchy was merged into the Kingdom of France by the marriage of the Duchess Anne to the French King, the Duke retained direct regnal authority, the French King acknowledged and preserved the independence and autonomy of the Duchy, and did so even as the title of Duke frequently passed to an heir of the French King.
11th Century: Alliances with Normandy and William the Conqueror
Duke Geoffrey I of Brittany, a Ducal member of the House of Nantes, entered into a dynastic alliance with Duke Richard II of Normandy in a diplomatic double marriage between the two houses by 1003. The church-sanctioned marriage ceremonies were held at Mont St-Michel on the Breton-Norman border; with Geoffrey I marrying Hawise of NormandyHawise of Normandy
Hawise of Normandy was the daughter of Richard the Fearless and Gunnora. She was sister of:* Richard II "the Good", Duke of Normandy* Robert, Archbishop of Rouen, Count of Evreux, died 1037* Mauger, Earl of Corbeil...
, Richard II's sister; and Richard II marrying Judith, Geoffrey I's sister. However, the death of Geoffrey I in 1008 allowed for Richard II to intervene directly in Brittany during the minority of his nephew, Alan III, Duke of Brittany
Alan III, Duke of Brittany
Alan III of Rennes was duke of Brittany, from 1008 to his death. He was son of Duke Geoffrey I and Hawise of Normandy. Alan married Bertha, daughter of Odo II, Count of Blois and had at least two children: Conan II, his successor, and Hawise of Brittany, who married Hoel of Cornwall.Alan III was...
, against rebellious counts who would take advantage of a youthful duke. The guardianship would be reciprocated later when Alan III was named as one of the primary guardians of William of Normandy
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
, when William's father Robert I, Duke of Normandy went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and died while returning in 1035. By designating Alan III as a guardian of William, Robert I was "involving a close family member who would not compete with his heir".
In his guardianship of Duke William, Alan III, Duke of Brittany
Alan III, Duke of Brittany
Alan III of Rennes was duke of Brittany, from 1008 to his death. He was son of Duke Geoffrey I and Hawise of Normandy. Alan married Bertha, daughter of Odo II, Count of Blois and had at least two children: Conan II, his successor, and Hawise of Brittany, who married Hoel of Cornwall.Alan III was...
was allied with Count Gilbert and Robert, Archbisop of Normandy, William's uncles. However, when Archbishop Robert died in 1037 instability surfaced. Alan III countered the instability by reinforcing the power of the Norman ducal house by providing Robert I's two youngest brothers with land and title. However, by October 1, 1040, Alan III was poisoned to death while besieging a rebel castle in Vimoutiers
Vimoutiers
Vimoutiers is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France.The finish line of the Paris–Camembert bicycle race is Vimoutiers.-History:On 14 June 1944, during the Battle of Normandy, Vimoutiers was bombarded by Allied forces...
. Tension increased in Normandy following Alan III's death, with Count Gilbert dying shortly thereafter. A rival faction in the guardianship emerged, one that would intervene in Brittany, suppressing Alan III's heir from claiming his inheritance.
At around eight years of age, Conan II
Conan II, Duke of Brittany
Conan II of Rennes was Duke of Brittany, from 1040 to his death. Conan was the eldest child and heir of Alan III, Duke of Brittany by his wife Berthe de Blois, and member of the House of Rennes...
succeeded his father as Duke of Brittany, with the ducal regency entrusted to Alan's brother Odo, Count of Penthièvre. However, by the time Conan reached his majority at age sixteen, around 1048, Odo of Penthièvre refused to relinquish his power. During the dynastic conflict between uncle and nephew, Count Hoèl V of Cornwall and Nantes
Hoel II, Duke of Brittany
Hoel II of Cornwall was count of Kernev , from 1058 as Hoel V, and after his marriage to Hawise, Duchess of Brittany, in 1066, he became duke of Brittany...
supported Odo in suppressing Conan's inheritance. Odo was Hoèl's brother-in-law as he was married to Hoel's sister Agnes of Cornwall. By 1057 Conan captured and imprisoned Odo of Penthièvre, with Conan coming to terms with Hoèl of Cornwall later that year.
Conan faced numerous threats posed by the pro-Norman faction in Brittany, including revolts sponsored by William, Duke of Normandy
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
. William supported challengers to Conan's authority, encouraging them to rebel against the Breton duke, his cousin. William continued courting the family of Odo of Penthièvre, who was imprisoned. In response, Conan promoted his own legitimate claim as Duke of Normandy, as the Catholic Church began preferring legitimate heirs born in church-sanctioned marriage over out-of-wedlock issue.
The 1064–1065 War between Brittany and Normandy was sparked after Duke William supported Rivallon I of Dol's
Dol-de-Bretagne
Dol-de-Bretagne , cited in most historical records under its Breton name of Dol, is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine département in Brittany in north-western France.-History:...
rebellion against Conan II. In 1065, Before his invasion of Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
England, William of Normandy warned his rivals in Brittany and Anjou to abstain from any attacks on his duchy, on the grounds that his mission bore the papal banner. However, Conan II rebuffed the warning and declared that he would press any advantage against William.
While William plotted to take the English crown, Conan consolidated his authority in Brittany and planned to take advantage of William's absence and invade Normandy. First, however, he needed to neutralize Anjou, another historic rival. Once Anjou was pacified he would advance into Maine and then into Normandy. However, during his 1066 siege of Angers, Conan was found dead after donning poisoned riding gloves. Duke William was widely suspected of the assassination.
Hawise
Hawise, Duchess of Brittany
Hawise of Rennes was hereditary Duchess of Brittany from 1066 until her death.She was the second child and heiress of Alan III, Duke of Brittany by his wife Berthe de Blois, and as such, a member of the House of Rennes...
succeeded her brother as hereditary Duchess of Brittany in 1066, and her marriage that year to Hoèl of Cornwall was designed to bring stability by consolidating authority in upper and lower Brittany.
With a nominal pro-Norman faction, represented by the duke-consort Hoèl of Cornwall and the count Odo of Penthièvre among others, now in control of Brittany, Duke William of Normandy was able to attract Bretons into his expeditionary army for the upcoming campaign to claim the English crown. Most Breton commanders in Duke William's army were the second-sons of Breton lords, such as Alain Le Roux
Alain Le Roux
Alan Rufus was a probable companion of William the Conqueror during the Norman Conquest and especially during Harrying of the North, in which he built Richmond Castle. He was the second son of Odo, Count of Penthièvre, by Agnes, daughter of Alain Cagnart, Count of Cornouaille, and a cousin of...
(son of Eudas of Penthièvre). As much as a third of William's non-Norman soldiers were of Breton extraction.
However, the historic rivalry between Brittany and Normandy resurfaced at the close of the 11th century. By 1075 Hoèl returned to the traditional Breton policy of opposing Norman expansion with an alliance with the young king Philip I of France
Philip I of France
Philip I , called the Amorous, was King of France from 1060 to his death. His reign, like that of most of the early Direct Capetians, was extraordinarily long for the time...
. Ralph de Gael, in exile in Brittany after the unsuccessful 1075 rebellion in England, led incursions into Normandy from his base in Dol. By 1076 King William of England retaliated by leading an army into Brittany to eject Ralph, but was met with a rare defeat by an allied army of Bretons and French forces. In the peace negotiations which followed William offered Hoèl his second daughter Constance in marriage to the Breton heir Alan, though nothing came of the betrothal at the time.
By 1086 Alan IV was forced to abandon his duchy after an invasion launched by William I of England.
However, a peace settlement was reached that same year and in the negotiations that followed Alan IV was forced into marriage with King William I's second daughter Constance of England. The marriage ceremonies may have taken place in Bayeux
Bayeux
Bayeux is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France.Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England.-Administration:Bayeux is a sub-prefecture of Calvados...
in Normandy. William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
wrote that Constance was unpopular at the Breton court because of her 'sever and conservative' manner. William of Malmesbury also alleged that Alan VI had Constance poisoned to death, but this remained unverified
However, Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis was an English chronicler of Norman ancestry who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th and 12th century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. The modern biographer of Henry I of England, C...
wrote that as duchess Constance did all she could to further the welfare of the Bretons, who grieved deeply at her death in 1090.
In 1092 Alan IV donated property to Redon Abbey
Redon Abbey
Redon Abbey, or Abbey of Saint-Sauveur, Redon , in Redon in the present Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, France, is a former Benedictine abbey founded in 832 by Saint Conwoïon, at the point where the Oust flows into the Vilaine, on the border between Neustria and Brittany.-History:In 832 Ratwili, a local...
by charter, and by 1093 married Ermengarde of Anjou
Ermengarde of Anjou (d. 1146)
Ermengarde of Anjou was a member of the comital House of Anjou and by her two marriages was successively Duchess of Aquitaine and Brittany. Also, she was a patron of Fontevraud Abbey...
as a political alliance with Fulk IV of Anjou
Fulk IV of Anjou
Fulk IV , called le Réchin, was the Count of Anjou from 1068 until his death. The nickname by which he is usually referred has no certain translation...
to counter Anglo-Norman influence. With Ermengarde he had a son Geoffrey, who died young, Conan III
Conan III, Duke of Brittany
Conan III of Cornwall or the Fat , was duke of Brittany, from 1112 to his death. He was son of Duke Alan IV and Ermengarde of Anjou....
, and a daughter Hawise (married to count Baldwin VII of Flanders), possibly named after his mother Hawise, Duchess of Brittany.
In 1098 Alan IV joined the First Crusade
First Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
, leaving Brittany under the regency of his wife Ermegarde of Anjou. Ermengarde ruled from Nantes, rather than Rennes, as it was closer to her home county of Anjou. Alan IV returned from Crusade in 1101.
12th century: The Duchy Loses the Earldom of Richmond
Conan III inherited Brittany on the abdication of his father Alan IV, who retired to the monastery of RedonRedon Abbey
Redon Abbey, or Abbey of Saint-Sauveur, Redon , in Redon in the present Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, France, is a former Benedictine abbey founded in 832 by Saint Conwoïon, at the point where the Oust flows into the Vilaine, on the border between Neustria and Brittany.-History:In 832 Ratwili, a local...
in 1112. By 1113 Conan III married Maude, an illegitimate daughter of King Henry I of England
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
. With Maude he had three children, Hoel, Bertha
Bertha, Duchess of Brittany
Bertha of Cornwall , also known as Bertha of Brittany , was hereditary Duchess of Brittany between 1148 until her death. Bertha was the eldest daughter of Conan III of Brittany by Maude, the illegitimate daughter of King Henry I of England...
, and Constance (married Alan la Zouche). During his reign he strengthened the rule of the duchy.
In the dynastic struggle
The Anarchy
The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...
between Stephen of England
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
and the dispossessed Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...
, Conan III allied himself with Stephen de Blois. Empress Matilda's forced and unpopular marriage with Geoffrey V of Anjou by her father Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
, represented the historic rivalry between Brittany, Normandy, and Anjou. Conan III was countering Angevin influence
Angevin Empire
The term Angevin Empire is a modern term describing the collection of states once ruled by the Angevin Plantagenet dynasty.The Plantagenets ruled over an area stretching from the Pyrenees to Ireland during the 12th and early 13th centuries, located north of Moorish Iberia. This "empire" extended...
and preserving Breton independence. In his alliance with Stephen, Conan III looked for greater influence with Stephen, who needed allies on the continent to out-flank Matilda. Matilda was able to consolidate power in Normandy and Anjou. Brittany's position to the west of Angevin controlled territory exposed a wide frontier for Stephan to exploit against Matilda. In 1138 Bertha was married to Alan of Penthièvre, a supporter of Stephen de Blois. For his support, Stephan created Conan's son-in-law Alan as 1st Earl of Richmond
Earl of Richmond
The now-extinct title of Earl of Richmond was created many times in the Peerage of England. The earldom of Richmond was held by various Bretons, Normans, the royal families of Plantagenet, Capet, Savoy, Tudor and Stuart.-History:...
in the second creation, a title previously held by Alan's uncle Alain Le Roux
Alain Le Roux
Alan Rufus was a probable companion of William the Conqueror during the Norman Conquest and especially during Harrying of the North, in which he built Richmond Castle. He was the second son of Odo, Count of Penthièvre, by Agnes, daughter of Alain Cagnart, Count of Cornouaille, and a cousin of...
.
Later, when Alan, Earl of Richmond, died in 1146, Conan's daughter Bertha returned home from England. On his death-bed in 1148, Conan III disinherited Hoel from succession to the duchy, stating that he was illegitimage and no son of his. With this surprise move Bertha
Bertha, Duchess of Brittany
Bertha of Cornwall , also known as Bertha of Brittany , was hereditary Duchess of Brittany between 1148 until her death. Bertha was the eldest daughter of Conan III of Brittany by Maude, the illegitimate daughter of King Henry I of England...
became his heiress and successor as hereditary Duchess of Brittany. However, Hoel was to retain the county of Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
.
Duchess Bertha, as dowager countess of Richmond, continued to represent Brittany's alliance with Stephen's England against the Angevins. However this strategy became untenable after 1153, when Stephen's son Eustace died suddenly. Eustace's death provided an opportunity for Henry FitzEmpress
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
to land an invasion army in England and press for his mother's claims. In the Treaty of Wallingford
Treaty of Wallingford
The Treaty of Wallingford of 1153, aka Treaty of Winchester or as the Treaty of Westminster, was an agreement that effectively ended the civil war known as the Anarchy, caused by a dispute between Empress Matilda and her cousin King Stephen of England over the English crown...
, Stephen was forced to recognize Henry FitzEmpress as his heir with Matilda abdicating her claim in her son's favour. The treaty exposed Brittany to retaliatory incursions from Henry FitzEmpress and his brother Geoffery FitzEmpress
Geoffrey VI, Count of Anjou
Geoffrey VI was Count of Nantes from 1156 to 1158. He was also known as Geoffrey of Anjou and Geoffrey FitzEmpress. Born in Rouen, he was the second of the three sons of Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou and Empress Matilda...
with impunity.
With the death of his mother Bertha, Duchess of Brittany, in early 1156, Conan IV expected to inherit the ducal throne. However, he was denied his inheritance by his stepfather Viscount Eudas, who refused to relinquish his authority in Brittany. To consolidate his hold on power, Eudas entered into a pact with dispossessed Hoel, Count of Nantes, to divide Brittany between them. But Hoel was under threat of rebellion in Nantes, sponsored by Geoffrey FitzEmpress of Anjou, and he could not send Eudas any aid. Conan IV landed in Brittany and took Rennes, while his ally Raoul de Fougères captured and imprisoned Eudas. Conan IV was formally crowned Duke of Brittany in a ceremony held in Rennes.
While Conan IV was consolidating his inheritance in 1156, Geoffrey FitzEmpress successfully took Nantes from Hoel, and on his death in 1158 Conan IV seized Nantes, reuniting the Duchy once again. However, Henry II of England
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
, now King of England, seized the Earldom of Richmond
Earl of Richmond
The now-extinct title of Earl of Richmond was created many times in the Peerage of England. The earldom of Richmond was held by various Bretons, Normans, the royal families of Plantagenet, Capet, Savoy, Tudor and Stuart.-History:...
, Conan's paternal inheritance. Henry demanded the return of Nantes.
Henry II continued to stoke revolts and rebellions in Brittany against Conan IV. In response, Conan IV took the Breton counties of Tréguier and Guingamp from his uncle Count Henri, a supporter of Henry II. Richmond was returned to Conan IV later that year in an agreement reached with Henry II.
By 1160 Conan was forced to yield to Henry. In the peace negotiations which followed Conan was obliged to marry Henry's cousin, Margaret of Scotland, in 1160. Margaret was daughter of Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon
Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon
Henry of Scotland was a Prince of Scotland, heir-apparent to the Kingdom of Alba. He was also the 3rd Earl of Northumberland and the 3rd Earl of the Honour of Huntingdon and Northampton....
and Ada de Warenne
Ada de Warenne
Ada de Warenne was the Anglo-Norman wife of Henry of Scotland, Earl of Northumbria and Earl of Huntingdon. She was the daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey by Elizabeth of Vermandois, and a great-granddaughter of Henry I of France...
, a daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey
William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey
William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey was the son of William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey and his first wife Gundred. He is more often referred to as Earl Warenne or Earl of Warenne than as Earl of Surrey....
and Elizabeth de Vermandois.
It is also in the 12th Century that the romantic notions of Ducal Brittany and its ally Ducal Cornwall are evoked in the romance Tristan and Iseult
Tristan and Iseult
The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult...
. Tristan
Tristan
Tristan is one of the main characters of the Tristan and Iseult story, a Cornish hero and one of the Knights of the Round Table featuring in the Matter of Britain...
is a Breton noble, and the Duke of Cornwall again figures prominently through his role as the orphaned Tristan's guardian.
The Duke of Brittany as Presumptive Heir to the English Crown
Later, Conan IV was faced with additional revolts form barons, possibly sponsored by Henry II. Conan appealed to Henry II for aid to end the revolts. For his aid Henry II insisted on the betrothal of Conan's only daughter and heiress ConstanceConstance, Duchess of Brittany
Constance of Penthièvre was hereditary Duchess of Brittany between 1171 and 1196...
to Henry's son Geoffrey Plantagenet
Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany
Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond was Duke of Brittany between 1181 and 1186, through his marriage with the heiress Constance. Geoffrey was the fourth son of King Henry II of England and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine.-Family:He was a younger maternal half-brother of Marie de...
, continuing the policy of interweaving the Breton succession with the Plantagenet
House of Plantagenet
The House of Plantagenet , a branch of the Angevins, was a royal house founded by Geoffrey V of Anjou, father of Henry II of England. Plantagenet kings first ruled the Kingdom of England in the 12th century. Their paternal ancestors originated in the French province of Gâtinais and gained the...
succession. It was this move and succeeding intermarriages that invited more interference in Brittany, with direct influence over succeeding Breton dukes.
Constance succeeded her father as duchess in 1171, however from the start Geoffrey, as jure uxoris
Jure uxoris
Jure uxoris is a Latin term that means "by right of his wife" or "in right of a wife". It is commonly used to refer to a title held by a man whose wife holds it in her own right. In other words, he acquired the title simply by being her husband....
duke, excluded Constance from exercising authority in government. However, by 1186, in a riding accident in Paris Geoffrey was stamped to death during a tournament
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
. Constance thereafter became the effective ruler of Brittany.
Henry II of England arranged for Constance to marry Ranulph de Meschines, 4th Earl of Chester on 3 February 1188. In 1191 King Richard I of England
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
officially proclaimed his nephew, Constance's son Arthur I of Brittany, as his heir presumptive in a treaty signed with Philip II of France
Philip II of France
Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
. To promote her son's position and inheritance, Constance abdicated in his favour in 1194.
Constance's marriage with Ranulph deteriorated, with Ranulph imprisoning Constance in 1196. Her imprisonment sparked rebellion across Brittany on her behalf. Ranulph bowed to growing pressure and had the Duchess released in 1198. Back in Brittany, Constance had her marriage annulled. Later in 1198 at Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
, Constance took Guy of Thouars
Guy, Duke of Brittany
Guy of Thouars was the third husband of Constance, Duchess of Brittany. Guy served as regent of Brittany between 1203 and 1206 for his infant daughter Alix, Duchess of Brittany....
as her 'second' husband. Through-out these years, Constance advised her son towards a French alliance, pursuing the policy of her late husband Geoffrey II. In 1201, at age 40, Constance bore her third husband twin daughters. First Alix of Thouars, and Katherine of Thouars (1201-c. 1240). Constance died due to complications during the delivery.
13th Century: Presumptive Heir to the English Crown becomes a Vassal of France
When Richard I died in 1199, Phillip II agreed to recognize Arthur as count of AnjouAnjou
Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
, Maine, and Poitou
Poitou
Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
, in exchange for Arthur swearing fealty to Phillip II, becoming a direct vassal of France. However 13-year-old Arthur was captured by the English while besieging Mirebeau
Mirebeau
Mirebeau is a commune in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region in western France.-Demographics:-Twin towns:*Bassemyam, Burkina Faso*Membrilla, Spain*Regen, Germany*Saint-raymond, Quebec...
. By 1202 the imprisoned Arthur of Brittany was transferred to Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
, under the charge of William de Braose
William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber
William de Braose, , 4th Lord of Bramber , court favourite of King John of England, at the peak of his power, was also Lord of Gower, Abergavenny, Brecknock, Builth, Radnor, Kington, Limerick, Glamorgan, Skenfrith, Briouze in Normandy, Grosmont, and White Castle.-Lineage:William was the most...
, and then vanished mysteriously in April 1203. Scandal surrounding Arthur's disappearance led many to believe that he was murdered on John of England
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
's orders.
With Arthur's death, the succession of Brittany remained in question. Arthur's legal successor was Eleanor of Brittany
Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany
Eleanor the "Fair Maid of Brittany", 5th Countess of Richmond , also known as Damsel of Brittany or Pearl of Brittany for her peerless beauty, was the eldest daughter of Geoffrey Plantagenet and Constance, Duchess of Brittany...
. However John of England had Eleanor captured and imprisoned at Corfe Castle
Corfe Castle
Corfe Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is the site of a ruined castle of the same name. The village and castle stand over a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The village lies in the gap below the castle, and is some eight...
in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
. Recognizing that John of England could have Eleanor married to a vassal loyal to England, who would rule Brittany through her, Philip II of France
Philip II of France
Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
formally recognized Constance's infant daughter Alix as hereditary Duchess of Brittany. Initially Alix's father Guy of Thouars acted as regent. Phillip II of France was maneuvering to keep Brittany within his sphere of influence.
The marriage of the infant Alix to Capetian cadet Peter of Dreux in 1213 began the new House of Dreux. This allowed Brittany a measure of autonomy again, while continuing to give lip service to Capetian sovereignty. After her father's regency over the Duchy, Alix ruled as nominal Duchess with her husband Peter of Dreux serving as Co-Ruler or as "Duke jure uxoris
Jure uxoris
Jure uxoris is a Latin term that means "by right of his wife" or "in right of a wife". It is commonly used to refer to a title held by a man whose wife holds it in her own right. In other words, he acquired the title simply by being her husband....
."
In 1214 when John set an expedition into France, he wanted to establish Eleanor as his puppet duchess. After his defeat he recognized Alix and Peter as rulers of the Duchy. Eleanor was kept captive in England till her death in 1241, ending the line of Geoffrey II.
The Ducal alliance with the House of Dreux also represented a progression in the influence of the French King in Brittany. French nobleman who fought with Charles II of Francein wars which included the Albigensian Crusdade settled in Brittany with varying degrees of success. The French king established royal courts in various parts of Brittany, but the western most regions of the duchy remained fiercely independent. Histories recount the attempted visit of Charles II to Carhaix, which was rebuffed when the king's courtege was beset upon in a forest by Breton warriors and had to return to the Norman border. Many of the oldest remaining Breton noble families represent fusions of the earliest Breton noble families with French nobles of this period. It is through their histories that we can document the travails of the Duchy to remain independent, maintain relations with both England and France, and eventually merge into France.
In 1235 the stage is set for the next century's Breton War of Succession when the Duke of Brittany Pierre Mauclerc disposes the heir of the Penthievre Dynasty in order to give the countship of Penthievre to his daughter Yolande of Brittany. On her death, John I, Duke of Brittany
John I, Duke of Brittany
John I the Red , known as John the Red due to the colour of his beard, was Duke of Brittany, from 1237 to his death...
ceases the countship for himself.
The 14th: The Breton War of Succession and the House of Montfort
John IV, Duke of Brittany
John IV of Montfort , was duke of Brittany, from 1341 to his death. He was son of Duke Arthur II and Yolande de Dreux, countess of Montfort, his second wife.In 1322 he succeeded his mother as count of Montfort, and in 1329, he married Joanna of Flanders at Chartres...
reigning for a short period. Joan and Charles were allowed to keep Penthievre. This line of the Blois-Penthievre family maintained close ties to the successive Kings of France and through the French crown were often present in Brittany in some oversight capacity. Under the treaty of peace semi-Salic succession was agreed under which, if Francis II died without legitimate male issue, the eldest direct legitimate male descendant of Joanna of Penthievre would inherit the Ducal crown of Brittany. The victory of the House of Montfort strengthened the position of England in Brittany. The conflicts between the House of Montfort and the House of Penthievre continued into the 15th Century. One of the effects of the War of Succession was to intensify the rivalries between England and France with Brittany as the contested prize.
John V, Duke of Brittany
John V, Duke of Brittany
John V the Conqueror KG was Duke of Brittany and Count of Montfort, from 1345 until his death.-Numbering:...
ruled with difficulty before being forced into exile in England in 1373. The French king sent the Constable of France
Constable of France
The Constable of France , as the First Officer of the Crown, was one of the original five Great Officers of the Crown of France and Commander in Chief of the army. He, theoretically, as Lieutenant-general of the King, outranked all the nobles and was second-in-command only to the King...
Bertrand de Guesclin into Brittany with the goal of uniting it to the French crown. When the Breton nobles rebelled against this proposed unification John the V was able to return, again assisted by a strong English ally, and re-established his rule. The difficulties of the House of Montfort would continue when john VI, Duke of Brittany
John VI, Duke of Brittany
John VI the Wise , was duke of Brittany, count of Montfort, and titular earl of Richmond, from 1399 to his death...
succeeded his father.
This period of war is also notable for the founding of the Estates of Brittany
Estates of Brittany
The Estates of Brittany was the States Provincial for the province of Brittany in ancien regime France. It gathered members of the high clergy, a large number of nobles and delegates from the 42 towns and cities of Brittany...
which under Duke Francis II would work with the Parlement of Brittany. After the Breton War of Succession
Breton War of Succession
The Breton War of Succession was a conflict between the Houses of Blois and Montfort for control of the Duchy of Brittany. It was fought between 1341 and 1364. It formed an integral part of the early Hundred Years War due to the involvement of the French and English governments in the conflict; the...
, Brittany still had links with the English Crown through the Earldom of Richmond
Earl of Richmond
The now-extinct title of Earl of Richmond was created many times in the Peerage of England. The earldom of Richmond was held by various Bretons, Normans, the royal families of Plantagenet, Capet, Savoy, Tudor and Stuart.-History:...
, until the Wars of the Roses
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...
. A disoriented and isolated Brittany became royally subsumed into France, during a tapering reign of the Montfort house
Montfort of Brittany
The House of Montfort was a French noble family, who reigned in the Duchy of Brittany from 1365 to 1514. It was a cadet branch of the Breton House of Dreux, itself a branch of the House of Dreux; it was thus ultimately part of the Capetian dynasty...
.
The 15th Century: Ducal Brittany's Independence through marriages of Duchesse Anne
The intrigues and contests between the House of Montfort and the House of Penthievre continued well after the War of succession. The successor to John V, John VI, Duke of BrittanyJohn VI, Duke of Brittany
John VI the Wise , was duke of Brittany, count of Montfort, and titular earl of Richmond, from 1399 to his death...
, was kidnapped by the son of Joan, the Count of Penthievre. He was freed through the efforts of his wife the Duchess of Brittany, Joan of France, who confiscated the remaining wealth of the Penthievre family. Their later descendants, the Brosse line of the House of Penthievre through Jean de Brosse
Jean de Brosse
Jean de Brosse , Lord of Boussac, Sainte-Sévère, Huriel, and Perugia, was a councillor and chamberlain to Charles VII of France; he was made a Marshal of France in 1426.-Early life:...
were denied their claims to the Ducal Crown in the 15th Century possibly as an alteration of the rules of inheritance by the then Duke of Brittany, Francis II. John VI was succeeded first by his son Francis I, Duke of Brittany
Francis I, Duke of Brittany
Francis I , was duke of Brittany, count of Montfort and titular earl of Richmond, from 1442 to his death. He was son of Duke John VI and Joan of France.He first married, at Nantes in 1431, Yolande of Anjou Francis I (in Breton Fransez I, in French François I) (Vannes/Gwened, May 14, 1414 –...
, and leaving no male heir was followed by a younger son of john VI, Peter II, Duke of Brittany
Peter II, Duke of Brittany
Peter II , was duke of Brittany, count of Montfort and titular earl of Richmond, from 1450 to his death. He was son of Duke John VI and Joan of France, and thus was younger brother of Francis I.In 1442, he married Françoise d'Amboise Peter II (in Breton Pêr II, in French Pierre II) (1418 –...
. When Peter II died without issue the Ducal Crown passed to his uncle Arthur III, Duke of Brittany
Arthur III, Duke of Brittany
Arthur III , known as the Justicier and as Arthur de Richemont, was Lord of Parthenay and titular Count of Richmond in England and for eleven months at the very end of his life, Duke of Brittany and Count of Montfort after inheriting those titles upon the death of his nephew.-Biography:Belonging...
. He was succeeded by Francis II, Duke of Brittany.
The string of Ducal inheritance, from John VI through two sons and back to his brother, illustrates the mode of royal inheritance under Semi-Salic law described as "a la mode de la Bretagne" (in the Breton fashion). The characterization of a noble inheritance "a la mode de la Bretagne" was used in modern times by King Juan Carlos of Spain to explain his preferences with regards to the embarrassing claim to the title Duke of Anjou by both a Spanish member of the House of Bourbon and a member of the French House of Orleans.
The reign of Francis II, Duke of Brittany is notable in many respects including two wars against Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...
, both of which were lost, the establishment of the Parlement of Brittany, and the death of all his children save for his daughter Anne. The wars with France eventually cost Ducal Brittany is independence, while the Parlement ensured a degree of autonomy that would continue through the reign of Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
. That Francis II's sole heir was a Duchess assured an inheritance contest on his death that would pit the power of the House of Montfort against conflicting treaty obligations to the House of Penthievre in Brittany and the House of Valois in France, and finally a test of the Breton tradition of semi-Salic law in which a daughter could be the principal inheritor. The position of the King of France dominated these events which ended with the marriage of Anne to King Charles VIII. Nearly a century later, Francis II, Duke of Brittany, fought the Mad War
Mad War
The Mad War , also known as the War of the Public Weal, was a late Medieval conflict between a coalition of feudal lords and the French monarchy. It occurred during the regency of Anne of Beaujeu in the period after the death of Louis XI and before the majority of the young king Charles VIII...
against Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...
and lost. Under the Treaty of Verger the marriage of Francis II's sole surviving issue, Anne, would need to be approved by the King of France. At his death, his daughter Anne of Brittany became Duchesse as well as one of the most sought after royal brides in Europe. She would follow the work of Francis II to seek a husband for Anne who would be strong enough to defend Brittany from further influence from the French Crown.
Duchesse Anne of Brittany
Anne of Brittany
Anne, Duchess of Brittany , also known as Anna of Brittany , was a Breton ruler, who was to become queen to two successive French kings. She was born in Nantes, Brittany, and was the daughter of Francis II, Duke of Brittany and Margaret of Foix. Her maternal grandparents were Queen Eleanor of...
was initially betrothed to Edward, Prince of Wales
Edward V of England
Edward V was King of England from 9 April 1483 until his deposition two months later. His reign was dominated by the influence of his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who succeeded him as Richard III...
, the son of Edward IV of England
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
, but upon the king's death his son disappeared and the English thrown passed to the notorious Richard III of England
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
. Anne was then married to Maximillian I of Austria. However, the relations between Brittany and France deteriorated and France II was forced into the last Franco-Breton war, which he lost. As a result of this war, the French King was able to have Anne's marriage to Maximillian declared illegal, because he had not approved it under the Treaty of Verger. He married Anne in a marriage that was validated by Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....
. Charles would not allow Anne to use the title Duchess of Brittany. However, upon his death, Anne returned to Brittany and took steps to return the Duchy to independent rule under herself as Duchess. The children of Charles and Anne did not reach adulthood and this presented a new succession problem for the Kingdom of France. The French succession issues we solved and Anne's efforts to reassert Breton independence were halted upon her marriage to Louis XII of France
Louis XII of France
Louis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...
.
The birth of Anne of Brittany's sole heir with Louis XII of France, her daughter Claude of France
Claude of France
Claude of France was a princess and queen consort of France and ruling Duchess of Brittany. She was the eldest daughter of Louis XII of France and Anne, Duchess of Brittany....
, introduced a new succession issue in France under strict Salic law, which was solved upon Claude's marriage to Francis I of France
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
. It is notable that the French inheritance solution under Salic law would not yield identical inheritance solutions under the Semi-Salic tradition of Ducal Brittany. The birth of Claude's sons Frances and Henry II of France
Henry II of France
Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
represented a resolution to these contrasting issues that accelerated the loss of independence of Brittany and the disappearance of the Ducal title.
The 16th century: Unification with France under Duke Francis III
Queen Claude of France, reigned as duchess of Brittany from 1514, but under her husband king Francis was not able to maintain an independent government. Claude's son FrancisFrancis
Francis is a French and English first name and a surname of Latin origin.Francis is a name that has many derivatives in most European languages. The female version of the name in English is Frances, and Francine...
was invested as duke of Brittany. But this act meant next to nothing for Breton independence. Some members of the Penthievre-Blois-Brosse family were appointed as royal governors of Brittany by the French. Their failure to reassert their Ducal rights hastened the merger of the Ducal crown into the Kingdom of France. At this time the title Duke of Brittany begins to lose independent sovereign status and begins to become only titular in character; the Breton region loses independence and becomes a province of France.
Duke Francis III dies, never becoming King of France. Francis III's death made his brother Henry II of France
Henry II of France
Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
the last titular duke of Brittany. When Henry II of France
Henry II of France
Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
ascended the French throne, Brittany was regarded as having merged into the French crown. He is not crowned separately as Duke of Brittany, and from this time the title of Duke of Brittany falls into disuse until it is returns as a titular title when the House of Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
gains the French crown. However Henry attempted to create a separate legal status for Brittany vis-a-vis the Kingdom of France similar to the position of the Duchy of Cornwall to the Kingdom of Great Britain. In some histories it is meant to be a ducal territory he would attempt to preserve for himself and his heirs if he was to lose the French Crown. This attempt at legal separation did not survive his reign. The French view that Brittany had merged into France did not enjoy universal support, as many Bretons would have liked a return to greater traditional autonomy and other European royal houses would have liked to see France weaken her own borders. When Henry III of France
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
, the last male-line descendant of Claude died in 1589 in the House of Valois, his heirs in Brittany and Auvergne were Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, the later Spanish ruler of Low Countries, and Henry I, Duke of Lorraine.
While technically Henry's heirs, there were problems with both claimants. Infanta Isabella was the eldest daughter of the late eldest sister of Henry III but being female weakened her status. Henry, Duke of Lorraine was at least male, but as son of a younger sister, his claim was also weakened. Brittany had a tradition of giving some -but not all- precedence to male heirs even in cases where the male heir was descended through the female line. In addition to sovereign claims of rule over Brittany by the King of France as Duke were never in doubt whether during the French reign of the House of Valois or the House of Bourbon.
Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
, France' main foe at the time, challenged either heir to divide as much of France between them as could be taken. Brittany did not figure in this challenge and remained the property of the King of France. Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercœur, a leader of Catholic League
Catholic League (French)
The Catholic League of France, sometimes referred to by contemporary Roman Catholics as the Holy League, a major player in the French Wars of Religion, was formed by Duke Henry of Guise in 1576...
, whom king Henry III had in 1582 made royal governor of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, ruled Brittany in the name of his own underage son Philippe Louis de Lorraine-Mercœur who through maternal ancestry was the direct primogenitural heir of Duchess Joanna the Lame, of the Penthièvre branch, wife of Charles the Lame of Blois. Mercœur organized a government at Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
, supported by the Spaniard
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
s. It took several years until in 1598 the Mercœur government surrendered in 1598 to Henry IV of France
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
who had one of his own bastards marry the young daughter of the Mercœurs, and confirmed the direct French control of the province.
The Duchy of Brittany under the Bourbon Kings of France
Under the Kings of France the nobles of Brittany continued to enjoy the privileges that had been accorded them by the various independent Dukes of Brittany. Brittany's celtic legal traditions were maintained, to a degree, and a Breton Parlement (les Estates de Bretagne and kept separate from the French Parliament in Paris. From time to time the Breton parliament would meet in Rennes or Vannes but the remaining Parlement house is located in Rennes and continues to function as a court of Justice. These Breton noble privileges included exemption from taxes, representation in the Breton Parlement, and the maintenance of Breton titles in the tradition of the Duchy rather than that of France. When French King Louis XIV dissolved the Breton Parlement he did so to strengthen his claims as an absolute monarch (where a representative parlement was not necessary) and to advance a centralized federal form of government, but the King preserved the nature of the Brittany's autonomy by acknowledging its nobles' traditional privileges; in so doing the King acted as the Duke of Brittany.The title Duke of Brittany reappears in during the reign of the House of Bourbon when a grandson of Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
is named Louis, duc de Bretagne and is the last holder of the title prior to the French Revolution. Louis, duc de Bretagne, suffers the fate of several descendants of Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
and Louis XV of France
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
and does not live to inherit the French throne and at his death the title is effectively defunct. The use of the title by Louis XIV further evidences that claims on the titular Ducal title by Spanish nobles at various times were not to be considered legitimatized with the subtle additional point that as the title had merged into the crown of France only the King could assert the title himself or bestow it on another. Louis XIV's actions with regard to the Ducal title also underscore that the Spanish or cadet House of Bourbon had relinquished all French claims and inheritance rights as a condition of gaining the crown of Spain.
The Role of the Holy Roman Catholic Church in Ducal Brittany
The Holy Roman Catholic church and the evolution of Christianity in western Europe had dramatic impacts on Ducal Brittany. The earliest settlers are believed to have been part of a larger DruidDruid
A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
culture that flourished prior to the Roman times. The alignments of Carnac
Carnac
Carnac is a commune beside the Gulf of Morbihan on the south coast of Brittany in the Morbihan department in north-western France.Its inhabitants are called Carnacois...
are the largest Druidic ruin outside of Ireland and the British Isles. There are numerous burial mounds such as the Tumultus St. Michel and the Breton landscape is contains many Druidic Menhirs. The lines of the Druidic lords and priests had evaporated by the time of the Roman invasions and did not figure in the development of Ducal Brittany.
The Roman occupation had little success in transporting the pre-Christian Roman gods to the Breton people, although Roman temples can still be found, for example north of St-Brieuc on the road to Guingamp
Guingamp
Guingamp is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France.-Population:Inhabitants of Guingamp are called guingampais.-Breton language:...
. The earliest rulers of the Breton Region were likely former Roman military officers and leaders who filled the void of the withdrawal of the Roman occupation. The earliest infuence of the Christian Church was seen in the reign of Conan Meriadoc
Conan Meriadoc
Conan Meriadoc is a legendary British leader credited with founding Brittany. Versions of his story circulated in both Brittany and Great Britain from at least the early 12th century, and supplanted earlier legends of Brittany's foundation...
whose wife, Darerca of Ireland
Darerca of Ireland
Saint Darerca of Ireland was a sister of Saint Patrick.Much obscurity is attached to her history, and it is not easy to disentangle the facts of her history from the network of legend which medieval writers interwove with her acts...
, was the sister of St. Patrick. Darerca was both a Queen of Brittany and a Christian saint. Later rulers of Brittany also achieved sainthood, such as Salomon, but often this was more a matter of local tradition in the eyes of the Breton people than a formal sainthood bestowed by Rome. The list of Breton saints contains many names not recognized by the modern Roman Catholic Church. Queen Darerca was descended from St Martin of Tours and this relationship is the foundation for Christian Brittany's relation with the Bishop of Tours during the Ducal period.
The Breton peninsula was the focus of a substantial missionary effort by clergy from the British Isles. The leading missionaries become the original seven founding saints of Brittany. As Brittany evolved from a waring kingdom to an established post-Viking invasion Duchy, the Dukes often attempted to strengthen their position by advancing the career of Chrisitan Bishops, but were frequently rebuffed by Rome. The Duke's attempt to raise the Bishop of Dol to the position of Archbishop by asking the Pope to grant the Bishop the symbolic pallium
Pallium
The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. In that context it has always remained unambiguously...
failed. The Duke wanted so as to give Brittany her own Christian patriarch, which would have reinforced his power over the region, or so he thought; instead, Rome reinforced the obligation of Breton Bishops to report to the Archbishop of Tours, outside of the Breton Duchy. In this period Rome continued to support a Holy Roman Emperor and while Brittany's Dukes achieved secular independence from England, France and the Vikings, her Bishops remained obligated to the external Church imbedded in the Empire's structure.
In the middle ages Bishops were also frequently secular Lords in their own right. This complicated the central authority of the Roman Church. In Brittany, the Bishop and Lord of Quimper
Quimper
Quimper is a commune and capital of the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.-Administration:Quimper is the prefecture of the Finistère department.-Geography:...
was tremendously popular until his son, on inheriting the Bishops ring, was admonished by the Church. Future Bishops would no longer be permitted to hand their Bishop's mitre and ring to their heirs, and shortly thereafter Rome moved to a system of complete celibacy for all ranks of clergy above Deacon, meaning the Bishops could no longer marry or have legitimate children. This coincided with the strong movement within the church to centralize its authority in Rome and diminish the independence of regional churches, including those of each of the celtic regions.
Once Ducal Brittany was joined to the French Crown through the marriage of Anne of Brittany
Anne of Brittany
Anne, Duchess of Brittany , also known as Anna of Brittany , was a Breton ruler, who was to become queen to two successive French kings. She was born in Nantes, Brittany, and was the daughter of Francis II, Duke of Brittany and Margaret of Foix. Her maternal grandparents were Queen Eleanor of...
, there was an effort to bring a unified form of Christianity to the Breton people, and this was done by creating Catholic catechisms in the Breton language. The first such catechism is thought to have been written by a Benedictine monk, the Comte de Saisy et de Kerampuil. The most successful effort in this regard was the efforts of the Jesuit priest Julian Maunoir
Julian Maunoir
Julien Maunoir , was a French-born Jesuit priest known as the "Apostle of Brittany". He was beatified in 1951 by Pope Pius XII and is commemorated by the Roman Catholic Church on 29 January and 2 July....
from the town of Plevin
Plévin
Plévin is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Bretagne in northwestern France.-Population:Inhabitants of Plévin are called plévinois.-See also:*Communes of the Côtes-d'Armor department...
, near Carhaix; Pere Maunoir was beatified by Rome in 1951. His efforts had the dramatic effect of unifying the Breton people around the Catholic faith in a way that the Dukes of Brittany had not been able to accomplish. The Calvaires and the annual "pardons" of Brittany
which date from this period reflect this effect. This unity, based in religion, assisted the French King to both rule and control the Duchy and was consistent with the King's excellent relations with Rome as reflected in the descriptor "most Christian King" given to most French kings by the Pope since the time of Louis XI of France
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
, a saint of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.
Unfortunately this religious movement served to eliminate any vestige of autonomy from the French crown as the independent nature of the Duchy was lost to the French kings. After the French Revolution and to the modern day, Brittany has adopted as secular a posture as other parts of the 5th Republic of France, and many of the Christian churches are little used or have been transformed for use for other purposes,mostly as museums maintained either by the Church or by the the towns in which they are located. While the average Breton resident of Breton background will claim to be Christian, however inactive or lapsed, the modern state of the Church in Brittany is neutral in its impact on any future emergence of a Ducal Brittany.
The efforts of Pere Maunoir within Brittany coincided with the missionary work of[Louis-Marie de Grignion, also known as Saint Louis de Montfort
Louis de Montfort
St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort was canonized in 1947. He was a French priest and known in his time as a preacher and author, whose books, still widely read, have influenced a number of popes....
. Louis de Grignon was a Catholic priest and founder of the Montfort order; this order had much success as a missionary order spreading the Roman Catholic form of Christianity throughout the world. Saint Louis de Montfort's esteem in the Church was enhanced through the acknowledgements his order received from Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
. The efforts of the Montfort missionaries was purely religious and have had little if any impact on modern Brittany and no effect on Ducal Brittany.
The Effect of Medieval Customs and Laws on the Duchy of Brittany
Ducal Brittany operated under an evolving set of celtic customs. These customs included the division of a kingdom among a ruler's sons, and Semi-Salic laws of succession.The celtic tradition of granting each son part of a kingdom reflected the manner in which Charlemagne passed his own empire to his sons. In Brittany, the custom as abandoned as early as the time of Conan Meriadoc
Conan Meriadoc
Conan Meriadoc is a legendary British leader credited with founding Brittany. Versions of his story circulated in both Brittany and Great Britain from at least the early 12th century, and supplanted earlier legends of Brittany's foundation...
most likely because the new rulers' incentives were to control and expand the Duchy, not divide it. What remained, however, through the merger of the Duchy into France was the frequent contests and rivalry between the great houses of Brittany for the Ducal crown.
Following the celtic norms for royalty, as compared with the French royalty's application of Salic law
Salic law
Salic law was a body of traditional law codified for governing the Salian Franks in the early Middle Ages during the reign of King Clovis I in the 6th century...
, the role of Sovereign Duke would sometimes be held by a woman, typically when the oldest heir of a Breton Duke was his daughter or no direct male heir existed. Inheritance of the ducal title could pass to a female heir if she was the only direct heir of a Duke. Duchesses ruled Brittany in their own right at several points during the Duchy's history and at others their consorts either served as Co-ruler, or claimed direct control of the Duchy as a right in marriage. See the histories of Duchesse Alix, the ducal claimant Joan of Penthievre, Duchesse Anne, and Claude of France as Duchesse.
The Duke of Brittany was forced to live in exile or seek protection and allies outside the Duchy several times in the Duchy's history. Alan II lived in exile in England and returned to claim the Duchy with the help of an English army. The claimant Joan of Penthievre was exiled after losing the War of Succession and never reclaimed the Ducal crown. During the first part of the 10th century Brittany was ruled as an occupied land by Viking invaders, who were eventually repulsed.
The decline of sovereign ducal power was accompanied by the increasing influence of the French crown who named military governors of Brittany during Ducal rule, and emergence of democratic forces as a result of the War of Succession which saw first the founding of the Estates of Brittany, followed by the founding of the Parlement of Brittany.
The relation of the Duke and Breton nobles reflected ancient celtic customs unique to celtic lands and distinct from the relations of Kings to their nobles in post Conquest England and Capetian France. The Duke raised armies provided by the nobles who received concessions in return including exemption from taxes, and later, the right to sit in either the Breton Estates or Parlement.
The Duchy and Modern Brittany
There is no modern-day Duchy of Brittany.In modern times the Duchy of Brittany does not exist as a state nor does the sovereign form of the Ducal title. The only active use of the title Duke of Brittany is as a courtesy title sometimes claimed by the Spanish Legitimist Pretender to the French Throne. The Spanish use of the courtesy title is self-bestowed and thus controversial; its use is part of the greater concerns about Legitimist Pretenders to the French crown expressed by Juan Carlos of Spain . Orleanist Pretenders to the French throne have not used the courtesy title. In the abscence of the sovereign Ducal title, the most frequently observed senior noble title in use in modern Brittany, is that of Comte
Comte
Comte is a title of Catalan, Occitan and French nobility. In the English language, the title is equivalent to count, a rank in several European nobilities. The corresponding rank in England is earl...
.
Modern French royalty do, however, carry Breton noble titles that had been linked to the title Duke of Brittany. There are two nobles who use the title Duke of Anjou (see Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou
Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou
Prince Louis Alphonse of Bourbon, Duke of Anjou was not originally among his given names ; born 25 April 1974, Madrid) is a member of the historically royal dynasty of the House of Bourbon, and one of the current pretenders to the defunct crown of France...
, the Spanish Legitimist pretender to the French throne and Prince Charles Philippe, Duke of Anjou, a Member of the House of Orleans
House of Orleans
Orléans is the name used by several branches of the Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimate male line from the dynasty's founder, Hugh Capet. It became a tradition during France's ancien régime for the duchy of Orléans to be granted as an appanage to a younger son of the king...
, and an Orleanist pretender to the French throne.
The history of the Duchy reflects the various efforts expended by its Dukes to preserve its independence. Some French kings sought to maintain the autonomy of the Duchy for the benefit of their heirs much in the style of the relation between the modern Duchy of Cornwall to the modern Crown of Great Britain. The modern political era continues the Breton tradition of independence whether at the level of the Duchy or the cultural region known as Brittany, with various movements for the independence and autonomy of the Breton region becoming more active and successful in recent times.
The Breton Parlement no longer meets. Its seat was in Rennes where the Parliament building remains in use. It was disbanded by Louis XIV but the Parlement voted to ignore the King's order of dissolution upon the claim it it all alone had the authority to dissolve this legislative and judicial body. The Breton Parlement has no modern analogous body and the Parlement has not met in any form since the French Revolution. The return of an active Breton Parlement remains a cultural possibility, even if the legal preconditions for its reactivation have only a remote chance of being aligned within the current Constitution of the 5th French Republic.
In the modern 5th Republic of France, the lands of the Duchy have been divided into several French departements. There is no single regional governing or representative body for the lands that would comprise the Duchy, were it to re-emerge. In addition in most modern French federal assessments the former Breton capital city of Nantes is placed in the departement of Loire-Atlantique
Loire-Atlantique
Loire-Atlantique is a department on the west coast of France named after the Loire River and the Atlantic Ocean.-History:...
rather than one of the four clearly Breton departements. Modern French law allows a local area to hold a referendum that would have the effect of re-locating it within the Departemental system of the French Republic. Thus the legal mechanics exist to re-unite Nantes with the rest of the Duchy's region.
The independent spirit of the Duchy is sometimes expressed culturally. In recent years there has been a resurgence in the use of the Breton language and the emergence of so-called Diwan
Diwan (school)
Diwan is a federation of Breton language-medium schools in Brittany .-Concept:The Diwan concept, which allows children to learn French and Breton through immersion was inspired by the Gaelscoileanna movement in Ireland, Ikastolak movement in the Basque Country and the Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin...
schools where instruction is in Breton rather than French. Annual Breton cultural festivals and their celebration of Breton's celtic culture have become increasingly linked with other Celtic and Gaelic festivals throughout the world. While the Breton Departements remain firmly anchored in a Republican France that is a member of the new European Common Union, there have been occasional efforts to amend the French Constitution to provide for autonomy for the Breton Region.
Richmondshire
The region of RichmondshireRichmondshire
Richmondshire is a local government district of North Yorkshire, England. It covers a large northern area of the Yorkshire Dales including Swaledale and Arkengarthdale, Wensleydale and Coverdale, with the prominent Scots' Dyke and Scotch Corner along the centre. Teesdale lies to the north...
in England was often held by Breton dukes themselves or their secundogeniture
Counts and dukes of Penthièvre
In the 11th and 12th centuries the countship of Penthièvre in Brittany belonged to a branch of the sovereign house of Brittany. Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany, gave it to his brother Eudes in 1035, and the line formed a cadet branch of the ducal house of Brittany...
during the Middle Ages. Further complicating the political landscape were the competing ambitions played out in both Brittany and Richmondshire; Plantagenet Richmondshire under John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford
John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford
John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, KG , also known as John Plantagenet, was the third surviving son of King Henry IV of England by Mary de Bohun, and acted as Regent of France for his nephew, King Henry VI....
supported English claims to the French throne
English claims to the French throne
The English claims to the French throne have a long and complex history between the 1340s and the 19th century.From 1340 to 1801, with only brief intervals in 1360-1369 and 1420–1422, the kings and queens of England, and after the Acts of Union in 1707 the kings and queens of Great Britain, also...
, whilst Capet Brittany opposed this. During the Wars of the Roses
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...
, Richmond allied itself with the House of Lancaster
House of Lancaster
The House of Lancaster was a branch of the royal House of Plantagenet. It was one of the opposing factions involved in the Wars of the Roses, an intermittent civil war which affected England and Wales during the 15th century...
under the Tudor earls
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
, themselves supported by the Duke of Brittany.
Control of Richmondshire reflected the shifting of power between Britain and Brittany.
Arthur III (in Breton Arzhur III) (August 24, 1393 – December 26, 1458), known as the Justicier and as Arthur de Richemont, was Lord of Parthenay and titular Count (Earl) of Richmond in England and, for eleven months at the very end of his life, Duke of Brittany and Count of Montfort after inheriting those titles upon the death of his nephew. Brittany's tenure in Richmond passed to Britain through Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset
Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset
Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset was the son of King Henry VIII of England and his teenage mistress, Elizabeth Blount, the only illegitimate offspring whom Henry acknowledged.-Childhood:...
(15 June 1519–18 June 1536) the only illegitimate offspring that Henry VIII acknowledged. FitzRoy was created Earl of Nottingham and Duke of Richmond and Somerset on 16 June 1525. Henry FitzRoy
Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset
Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset was the son of King Henry VIII of England and his teenage mistress, Elizabeth Blount, the only illegitimate offspring whom Henry acknowledged.-Childhood:...
advertised his royal connection with quartered ermine
Ermine (heraldry)
Ermine is a heraldic fur representing the winter coat of the stoat . Many skins would be sewn together to make a luxurious garment, producing a pattern of small black spots on a white field...
in his coat of arms. Upon his death without children in 1536 it became extinct. The British title to Richmond was next gifted to Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox, 1st Earl of Richmond (September 29, 1574 – February 16, 1624) a Scottish nobleman and politician.
The titles Duke of Richmond and Duke of Brittany ceased to be held by the same individual and were separated as Brittany became more closely associated with France. Richmond became a dukedom
Duke of Richmond
The title Duke of Richmond is named after Richmond and its surrounding district of Richmondshire, and has been created several times in the Peerage of England for members of the royal Tudor and Stuart families...
in its own right; the Duchy of Brittany and Kingdom of Navarre
Kingdom of Navarre
The Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean....
were united in France in the same time frame as the Principality of Wales
Principality of Wales
The Principality of Wales existed between 1216 and 1542, encompassing two-thirds of modern Wales.It was formally founded in 1216 at the Council of Aberdyfi, and later recognised by the 1218 Treaty of Worcester between Llywelyn the Great of Wales and Henry III of England...
and Kingdom of Scotland
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...
were formed in Britain. Ties with Scotland and France, forged in the 16th century further influenced the pedigree of the Dukedom of Richmond. The British title Duke of Richmond was bestowed on Charles Lennox
Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond
Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox, 1st Duke of Aubigny was the illegitimate son of Charles II of England and his mistress Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth....
, the son of English King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
and the Breton noblewoman Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth
Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth
Louise Renée de Penancoët de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth was a mistress of Charles II of England. Through her son by Charles II, Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, she is ancestress of both wives of The Prince of Wales: the late Diana, Princess of Wales, as well as The Duchess of...
. Their modern British descendants include the late Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and Sarah, Duchess of York
Sarah, Duchess of York
Sarah, Duchess of York is a British charity patron, spokesperson, writer, film producer, television personality and former member of the British Royal Family. She is the former wife of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, whom she married from 1986 to 1996...
and their children.
The Dukes of Richmond also owe their honorific title Duke of Aubigny
Duke of Aubigny
The Scottish Dukes of Aubigny had their origins in Aubigny-sur-Nère, France, from the 15th century, which was an important honour throughout the Auld Alliance and Ancien Régime...
(after Aubigny-sur-Nère
Aubigny-sur-Nère
Aubigny-sur-Nère is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre region of France.-Geography:An area of forestry and farming surrounding a small light industrial town, situated in the valley of the river Nère some north of Bourges at the junction of the D940, D924, D30 and the D923...
in Berry
Berry (province)
Berry is a region located in the center of France. It was a province of France until the provinces were replaced by départements on 4 March 1790....
), to the Bretonne Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth
Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth
Louise Renée de Penancoët de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth was a mistress of Charles II of England. Through her son by Charles II, Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, she is ancestress of both wives of The Prince of Wales: the late Diana, Princess of Wales, as well as The Duchess of...
. This relationship connected Richmond to the Auld Alliance
Auld Alliance
The Auld Alliance was an alliance between the kingdoms of Scotland and France. It played a significant role in the relations between Scotland, France and England from its beginning in 1295 until the 1560 Treaty of Edinburgh. The alliance was renewed by all the French and Scottish monarchs of that...
, through Breton roots in the House of Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
. Richmond, with its French and Scottish connections was identified as a region where reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
recusancy
Recusancy
In the history of England and Wales, the recusancy was the state of those who refused to attend Anglican services. The individuals were known as "recusants"...
flourished, finding sympathies in the Lennox
Lennox (district)
The district of Lennox , often known as "the Lennox", is a region of Scotland centred around the village of Lennoxtown in East Dunbartonshire, eight miles north of the centre of Glasgow. At various times in history, the district has had both a dukedom and earldom associated with it.- External...
district near Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. Catholic
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
connections further distinguished Richmond during England's Civil War and the English Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
. The Dukes of Richmond were also associated with the Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
Clan Gordon
Clan Gordon
Clan Gordon, also known as the House of Gordon, is a Scottish clan. The chief of the clan was the powerful Earl of Huntly, now also Marquess of Huntly.-Origins:...
which has property in the Scottish Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
. The present Duke of Richmond is also Duke of Gordon
Duke of Gordon
The title Duke of Gordon has been created once in the Peerage of Scotland and again in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.The Dukedom, named after the Clan Gordon, was first created for the 4th Marquess of Huntly, who on 3 November 1684 was created Duke of Gordon, Marquess of Huntly, Earl of Huntly...
.
Legendary Brittany: The Arthurian Period
The rule of the legendary Hi King of Briton, Uther PendragonUther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon is a legendary king of sub-Roman Britain and the father of King Arthur.A few minor references to Uther appear in Old Welsh poems, but his biography was first written down by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae , and Geoffrey's account of the character was used in...
and his son Arthur
Arthur
Arthur is a common masculine given name. Its etymology is disputed, but its popularity derives from its being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur....
coincide roughly with the 5th Century early emigrations from the Cornish region to Brittany which later became a determined emigration of Cornish and other Brythonic settlers escaping the expansion of the Anglo-Saxons through Great Britain.
While Uther is not directly active in Amorica
Amorica
Amorica is the third album by The Black Crowes. It was released in late 1994 on American Recordings and re-issued in the US and UK in 1998 with two bonus tracks. The album cover's depiction of pubic hair, from a 1976 United States Bicentennial issue of Hustler magazine, caused controversy...
, his son's emergence involves a number of Breton figures, ranging from Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
, and Gorlois
Gorlois
Gorlois was a Duke of Cornwall and Igraine's first husband before her marriage to Uther Pendragon, according to the Arthurian legend...
the Duke of Cornwall at the castle Tintagel
Tintagel
Tintagel is a civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The population of the parish is 1,820 people, and the area of the parish is ....
, to members of the Round Table. including Hoel
Hoel
Hoel or Howel is a legendary king of Brittany and one of the oldest characters associated with Arthurian legend. He is the son of King Budic of Brittany, and serves as one of King Arthur's vassals and loyal allies...
King of Brittany and Leodegrance
Leodegrance
King Leodegrance is the father of Queen Guinevere in Arthurian legend. His kingdom of Carmelide is sometimes identified with a location somewhere in the southwest of England, but may be located in Breton Cornouaille near the town of Carhaix, which is the Carhaise of L'Histoire de Merlin King...
.
Arhurian Brittany is identified as a territory linked to the Dukes of Cornwall and the knights of the Round Table
Round Table
The Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of...
. King Leodegrance
Leodegrance
King Leodegrance is the father of Queen Guinevere in Arthurian legend. His kingdom of Carmelide is sometimes identified with a location somewhere in the southwest of England, but may be located in Breton Cornouaille near the town of Carhaix, which is the Carhaise of L'Histoire de Merlin King...
's kingdom was located in Carhaix or alternatively in Southwestern Great Britain. He served Arthur's father Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon is a legendary king of sub-Roman Britain and the father of King Arthur.A few minor references to Uther appear in Old Welsh poems, but his biography was first written down by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae , and Geoffrey's account of the character was used in...
, and his daughter Guinevere
Guinevere
Guinevere was the legendary queen consort of King Arthur. In tales and folklore, she was said to have had a love affair with Arthur's chief knight Sir Lancelot...
became both Queen of Brittany, in her own right, and the wife of Arthur. French Arthurian legends describe Arthur's first major battle in the fields outside of Carhaix in defense of Leodegrance. These fields to the southeast of Carhaix are thought to be in an area known as Bresiliande. At Carhaix Arthur met and fell in love with Guinevere. Leodegrance is among the first of the Brythonic kings to accept Arthur as "Hi King", and the Uther's Round Table is his wedding gift to Arthur and Guinivere. The Round Table also includes Hoel
Hoel
Hoel or Howel is a legendary king of Brittany and one of the oldest characters associated with Arthurian legend. He is the son of King Budic of Brittany, and serves as one of King Arthur's vassals and loyal allies...
, the King of Brittany as another Arthurian knight.
When Arthur suffered a significant wound in his last battle he was transported to the folkloric city of Avalon
Avalon
Avalon is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudohistorical account Historia Regum Britanniae as the place where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was forged and later where Arthur was...
, thought to be located in Brittany, a region under the protection of the Duke of Cornwall. It is after the Arthurian period that a Ducal Brittany emerges.
Traditional vassals
This is an incomplete list of traditional vassals of the Duke of Brittany. Some titles were promoted to duchy rank after the Duke of Brittany title merged with the French crown.Titles as rendered into the Breton language
Breton language
Breton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
:
- duke, duchess: dug, dugez
- count, countess: kont, kontez
Counts (Comtes)
- Count of Cornouaille (BretonBreton languageBreton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
: Kernev) - Comte de Guingamp; Count of Guingamp
- Count of NantesCounty of NantesThe counts of Nantes were originally the Frankish rulers of the Nantais under the Carolingians. Their county served as a march against the Bretons of the Vannetais...
(BretonBreton languageBreton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
:Naoned) - Count of Poher (Latin: Poucher)
- Count of PenthièvreCounts and dukes of PenthièvreIn the 11th and 12th centuries the countship of Penthièvre in Brittany belonged to a branch of the sovereign house of Brittany. Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany, gave it to his brother Eudes in 1035, and the line formed a cadet branch of the ducal house of Brittany...
(BretonBreton languageBreton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
: Penteur) House of Penthievre - Count of RennesCount of RennesThe Count of Rennes was originally the ruler of the Romano-Frankish civitas of Rennes. From the middle of the ninth century these counts were Bretons with close ties to the Duchy of Brittany, which they often vied to rule. From 990 the Counts of Rennes were usually Dukes of Brittany...
(BretonBreton languageBreton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
:Roazhon) - Comte de Saisy de Kerampuil - Famille de Saisy de Kerampuil
- Count of Tréguier
- Count of VannesCount of VannesCount of Vannes was the title held the rulers of the County of Vannes....
(BretonBreton languageBreton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
: Gwened)
Viscounts
- Viscount of LéonViscounty of LéonThe Viscounty of Léon was a feudal state in extreme western Brittany in the High Middle Ages. Though nominally a vassal of the sovereign Duke of Brittany, Léon was functionally independent of any external controls. It thus became the focus of revolts and wars when Brittany was drawn into the...
- Viscount of PorhoëtPorhoëtThe first recognised vicomte de Porohoet was Guithenoc , formerly of Guilliers. Guithenoc was born in Guilliers, Moribihan, Brittany, Western France. He married Allurum of Guilliers. He became Vicomte, and in about 1008 he moved to La Trinite, in Porhoet, Morbihan, Brittany. There he built...
(BretonBreton languageBreton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
: Poutrecoet) created c. 990 - Viscount of Rohan
Religious Figures of Brittany
The Seven Founder Saints of Brittany (seven founder saints of Brittany)- Tudwal
- Pol Aurelian
- BriocBriocSaint Brioc was an early 6th century Welshman who became the first Abbot of Saint-Brieuc in Brittany. He is one of the seven founder saints of Brittany.Very little is known about his early life, as his 9th century 'life' is not altogether reliable...
- Malo (saint)
- St. Patern
- Corentin of QuimperCorentin of QuimperSaint Corentin is a Breton saint. He is venerated as a saint and as the first bishop of Quimper. His feast day is December 12. He was a hermit at Plomodiern and regarded as one of the seven founder saints of Brittany...
- Samson of DolSamson of DolSaint Samson of Dol was a Christian religious figure who is counted among the seven founder saints of Brittany. Born in southern Wales, he died in Dol-de-Bretagne, a small town in north Brittany.-Life:...
Saints and other Holy Persons
- Darerca of IrelandDarerca of IrelandSaint Darerca of Ireland was a sister of Saint Patrick.Much obscurity is attached to her history, and it is not easy to disentangle the facts of her history from the network of legend which medieval writers interwove with her acts...
- Saint (recognized), Queen of Brittany - Salomon - Saint (by tradition), King of Brittany
- Louis de MontfortLouis de MontfortSt. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort was canonized in 1947. He was a French priest and known in his time as a preacher and author, whose books, still widely read, have influenced a number of popes....
- Saint (canonized in 1947) - Julian MaunoirJulian MaunoirJulien Maunoir , was a French-born Jesuit priest known as the "Apostle of Brittany". He was beatified in 1951 by Pope Pius XII and is commemorated by the Roman Catholic Church on 29 January and 2 July....
- beatified in 1951
Bishops and Dioceses
- Archbishop of Tours - Archdiocese of Tours - All Breton Dioceses were subordinate to Tours until Rennes was raised to an Archdiocese. The Duke of Brittany attempted to make Dol the Archdiocese in charge of Breton Dioceses, but this was rebuffed by Rome in favor of Tours, and eventually the Diocese of Dol ceased to be an Archdiocese.
- Archbishop of DolAncient Diocese of DolThe Breton and French Catholic diocese of Dol existed from 848 to the French Revolution. It was suppressed by the Concordat of 1801. Its see was Dol Cathedral...
- The Diocese of Dol lost the privileges of an Archdiocese and the Bishop ceased to use the title Archbishop in the 1700s. - Archbishop of Rennes - Currently the highest ranking Dioceses within the Roman Catholic Church's organization for Brittany. The Archdiocese has 8 suffragans: Outside of Brittany: Diocese of Angers, Diocese of Laval, Diocese of Le Mans, Diocese of Luçon; Within Brittany: Diocese of Nantes, Diocese of Quimper, and the Diocese of Saint-Brieuc.
- Bishop of St Pol de Leon - Diocese of Saint-Pol-de-Leon-merged into the modern Diocese of Quimper
- Bishop of Nantes - Diocese of Nantes
- Bishop of Quimper - Diocese of Quimper (Formerly the Diocese of Cornouailles); the modern Diocese includes the former Diocese of Cornouailles, St-Pol-de-Leon and parts of Treguier
- Bishop of Treguier - Diocese of Treguier; parts are merged into the modern diocese of Saint-Brieuc and Tréguier and the modern Diocese of Quimper
- Bishop of St. Brieuc - Diocese of Saint-Brieuc; merged into the modern diocese of Saint-Brieuc and Tréguier
- Bishop of Vannes- Diocese of Vannes
Princes of the Bretons
- ConomorConomorConomor , also known as Conomerus or Conomor the Cursed, was an early medieval ruler of Brittany. His name, which has the Welsh cognate Cynfawr, means "Great Dog", but could also indicate "Sea Dog" in early Brythonic. Conomor was notorious for his cruelty, becoming a legendary villain in Breton...
(6th century) Prince de Poher - MormanMormanMorman was a Breton chieftain who was declared King after the death of the Bretons' Frankish overlord Charlemagne in 814. He is the first personage known by name to be described as a Breton "king" and he probably ruled a warband with members drawn from throughout Brittany...
(r.814–818) - WihomarcWihomarcWihomarc was a Breton chieftain "who seemed to have greater authority than the other Breton leaders" and who revolted against Frankish overlordship in 822 and held on to his power until his death...
(r.822–825) - NominoeNominoe, Duke of BrittanyNominoe was the first Duke of Brittany from 846 to his death. He is a sort of Breton pater patriae and to Breton nationalists he is known as Tad ar Vro ....
(or Nevenoe) (r.841–851), as a missus dominicusMissus dominicusA missus dominicus , Latin for "envoy[s] of the lord [ruler]", also known in Dutch as Zendgraaf , meaning "sent Graf", was an official commissioned by the Frankish king or Holy Roman Emperor to supervise the administration, mainly of justice, in parts of his dominions too far for frequent personal...
of the EmperorHoly Roman EmperorThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
Louis the PiousLouis the PiousLouis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
, a count of VannesVannesVannes is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2000 years ago.-Geography:Vannes is located on the Gulf of Morbihan at the mouth of two rivers, the Marle and the Vincin. It is around 100 km northwest of Nantes and 450 km south west...
(Gwened) and a duke (dux) of Brittany - ErispoeErispoe, Duke of BrittanyErispoe was Duke of Brittany from 851. After the death of his father Nominoe, he led a successful military campaign against the Franks, culminating in his victory at the Battle of Jengland...
(r.851–857), as a duke, then as a king - SalomonSalomon, Duke of BrittanySalomon was Count of Rennes and Nantes from 852 and Duke of Brittany from 857 until his death by assassination. He used the title King of Brittany intermittently after 868...
(or Salaun) (r.857–874), as a duke, then a king - PasquitanPasquitan, Duke of BrittanyPasquitan, Pascweten, or Paskwezhen was the Count of Vannes and a claimant to the rule of Brittany. He was a son of Ridoredh of Vannes, a prominent and wealthy aristocrat first associated with the court of Erispoe in the 850s...
(or Paskweten) (r.874–877), ruling Brittany (southern part) with Gurvand - GurvandGurvand, Duke of BrittanyWrhwant, Gurwant, Gurwent or Gurvand was a claimant to the Duchy of Brittany from 874 until his death in opposition to Pascweten, Count of Vannes.Wrhwant was complicit in the conspiracy which assassinated Salomon in 874...
(r.874–877), ruling Brittany (northern part) with Pasquitan - JudicaelJudicael, Duke of BrittanyJudicael was the Duke of Brittany from 876 to his death. He was a son of a daughter of Erispoe and claimed Brittany after the death of the pretenders Wrhwant and Pascweten in mid 876....
(r.877–888), successor of Gurvand, ruled Brittany (north) with Alan the Great (south) - Alan the GreatAlan I, Duke of BrittanyAlan I , called the Great, was the Count of Vannes and Duke of Brittany from 876 until his death. He was probably also the only King of Brittany to hold that title by legitimate grant of the Emperor....
(reigned from 877 to 888 with Judicaël, alone as a duke, then as a king up to 907)
The succession was interrupted by the Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
occupation (907–937)
NantesCounty of NantesThe counts of Nantes were originally the Frankish rulers of the Nantais under the Carolingians. Their county served as a march against the Bretons of the Vannetais...
/ Naoned
- Alan II WrybeardAlan II, Duke of BrittanyAlan II , nicknamed Wrybeard and also known as Le Renard "The Fox", was Count of Vannes, Poher, and Nantes, and Duke of Brittany from 938 to his death...
(reigned as a duke from 937 to 952) (grandson of Duke Alan I) - Drogo, son (reigned from 952 to 958) (son of Alan II)
- Hoel I, brother (reigned from 960–981 as a duke, but controlled only the county of Nantes/Naoned)
- Guerech, brother (reigned from 981–988 as a duke, but controlled only the county of Nantes/Naoned)
- Alan, son of Guerech, (reigned from 988–990 as a duke, but controlled only the county of Nantes/Naoned) (son of Guerech)
RennesRennesRennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
/ Roazhon (Vannes II)
- Conan I (r.958–992) earl of Rennes/Roazhon, then ruling all Brittany (if not Nantes/Naoned) as a duke (990–992)
- Geoffrey IGeoffrey I, Duke of BrittanyGeoffrey I of Rennes was duke of Brittany, from 992 to his death. He was son of Duke Conan I and Ermengarde of Anjou, whose parents were Geoffrey I of Anjou and Adele of Meaux....
(r.992–1008) - Alan IIIAlan III, Duke of BrittanyAlan III of Rennes was duke of Brittany, from 1008 to his death. He was son of Duke Geoffrey I and Hawise of Normandy. Alan married Bertha, daughter of Odo II, Count of Blois and had at least two children: Conan II, his successor, and Hawise of Brittany, who married Hoel of Cornwall.Alan III was...
(r.1008–1040) - Conan IIConan II, Duke of BrittanyConan II of Rennes was Duke of Brittany, from 1040 to his death. Conan was the eldest child and heir of Alan III, Duke of Brittany by his wife Berthe de Blois, and member of the House of Rennes...
(r.1040–1066) - HawiseHawise, Duchess of BrittanyHawise of Rennes was hereditary Duchess of Brittany from 1066 until her death.She was the second child and heiress of Alan III, Duke of Brittany by his wife Berthe de Blois, and as such, a member of the House of Rennes...
(r.1066-1072)
CornouailleCornouailleCornouaille is a historic region in Brittany, in northwest France. The name is identical to the French name for the Duchy of Cornwall, since the area was settled by migrant princes from Cornwall...
/ Kerne
- Hoel IIHoel II, Duke of BrittanyHoel II of Cornwall was count of Kernev , from 1058 as Hoel V, and after his marriage to Hawise, Duchess of Brittany, in 1066, he became duke of Brittany...
(r.1066–1084) de jure uxorisJure uxorisJure uxoris is a Latin term that means "by right of his wife" or "in right of a wife". It is commonly used to refer to a title held by a man whose wife holds it in her own right. In other words, he acquired the title simply by being her husband....
duke. - Alan IV FergantAlan IV, Duke of BrittanyAlan IV was Duke of Brittany, from 1084 until his abdication in 1112. He was also Count of Nantes and Count of Rennes. He was son of Hawise, Duchess of Brittany and Duke Hoel II. He was known as Alan Fergant, which in Breton means "Alan the Strong"...
(r.1084–1112) - Conan III the FatConan III, Duke of BrittanyConan III of Cornwall or the Fat , was duke of Brittany, from 1112 to his death. He was son of Duke Alan IV and Ermengarde of Anjou....
(r.1112–1148) - BerthaBertha, Duchess of BrittanyBertha of Cornwall , also known as Bertha of Brittany , was hereditary Duchess of Brittany between 1148 until her death. Bertha was the eldest daughter of Conan III of Brittany by Maude, the illegitimate daughter of King Henry I of England...
(r. 1148-1156)
Penthièvre / Penteur
- Conan IV the YoungerConan IV, Duke of BrittanyConan IV of Penthièvre , called "the Young", was duke of Brittany, from 1156 to his death. He was son of Alan the Black, 1st Earl of Richmond and Bertha of Brittany. He was his mother's heir as Duke Conan III...
, son of Bertha and Alan the Black, 1st Earl of RichmondAlan de Bretagne, 1st Earl of RichmondAlan of Penthièvre of Brittany, 1st Earl of Cornwall, 1st Earl of Richmond , Breton Alan Penteur, also known as "Alan the Black", was a Breton noble who fought for Stephen of England...
. (r.1156–1168) - ConstanceConstance, Duchess of BrittanyConstance of Penthièvre was hereditary Duchess of Brittany between 1171 and 1196...
, (r.1168–1194)
PlantagenetHouse of PlantagenetThe House of Plantagenet , a branch of the Angevins, was a royal house founded by Geoffrey V of Anjou, father of Henry II of England. Plantagenet kings first ruled the Kingdom of England in the 12th century. Their paternal ancestors originated in the French province of Gâtinais and gained the...
/ Plantajened
- Geoffrey IIGeoffrey II, Duke of BrittanyGeoffrey II, Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond was Duke of Brittany between 1181 and 1186, through his marriage with the heiress Constance. Geoffrey was the fourth son of King Henry II of England and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine.-Family:He was a younger maternal half-brother of Marie de...
(r. 1181-6) (de facto ruler as husband of Constance) - Arthur I PlantagenetArthur I, Duke of BrittanyArthur I was Duke of Brittany between 1194 and 1202. He was the posthumous son of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany and Constance, Duchess of Brittany...
(r.1194-1203)
ThouarsThouarsThouars is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France.It is on the River Thouet. Its inhabitants are known as Thouarsais.-History:...
/ Dhouars
- Alix of Thouars (r 1203-1221). Alix's father Guy of Thouars acted as regent between 1203–1206, with Philip II of FrancePhilip II of FrancePhilip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
as regent from 1206-1213.
Dreux
- John IJohn I, Duke of BrittanyJohn I the Red , known as John the Red due to the colour of his beard, was Duke of Brittany, from 1237 to his death...
, the Red (r.1221–1286) - John IIJohn II, Duke of BrittanyJohn II was Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond, from 1286 to his death. He was son of Duke John I and Blanche of Navarre...
(r.1286–1305) - Arthur IIArthur II, Duke of BrittanyArthur II , of the House of Dreux, was Duke of Brittany from 1305 to his death. He was the first son of John II and Beatrice, daughter of Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence....
(r.1305–1312) - John IIIJohn III, Duke of BrittanyJohn III the Good was duke of Brittany, from 1312 to his death. He was son of Duke Arthur II and Mary of Limoges, his first wife...
, the Good (r.1312–1341)
Breton War of Succession (1341–1364)
- Charles of BloisCharles, Duke of BrittanyCharles of Blois , claimed the title Duke of Brittany, from 1341 to his death.Charles is the son of Guy I of Blois-Châtillon, count of Blois, by Margaret of Valois, a sister of king Philip VI of France. He was a devout man, who took piety to the extreme of mortifying his own flesh...
and Joanna of Penthièvre (r.1341–1364) - disputed by House of Montfort- vs. Duke John IV, Duchess Joanna, and Duke John V, see below
MontfortMontfort of BrittanyThe House of Montfort was a French noble family, who reigned in the Duchy of Brittany from 1365 to 1514. It was a cadet branch of the Breton House of Dreux, itself a branch of the House of Dreux; it was thus ultimately part of the Capetian dynasty...
/ Moñforzh
The cadet branch of the House of Dreux
- John of MontfortJohn IV, Duke of BrittanyJohn IV of Montfort , was duke of Brittany, from 1341 to his death. He was son of Duke Arthur II and Yolande de Dreux, countess of Montfort, his second wife.In 1322 he succeeded his mother as count of Montfort, and in 1329, he married Joanna of Flanders at Chartres...
(r.1341–1345) in rivalry to the aforementioned. - Joanna of BrittanyJoanna of FlandersJoanna of Flanders , also known as, Countess Jeanne, Jehanne de Montfort, and Jeanne la Flamme, was consort Duchess of Brittany by her marriage to John IV, Duke of Brittany...
(r.1341-1345) in rivalry to the aforementioned. - John IVJohn V, Duke of BrittanyJohn V the Conqueror KG was Duke of Brittany and Count of Montfort, from 1345 until his death.-Numbering:...
, the Conqueror (r.1364–1399) until 1365 in rivalry to the aforementioned, thereafter not actively disputed. - John VJohn VI, Duke of BrittanyJohn VI the Wise , was duke of Brittany, count of Montfort, and titular earl of Richmond, from 1399 to his death...
(r.1399–1442) - Francis IFrancis I, Duke of BrittanyFrancis I , was duke of Brittany, count of Montfort and titular earl of Richmond, from 1442 to his death. He was son of Duke John VI and Joan of France.He first married, at Nantes in 1431, Yolande of Anjou Francis I (in Breton Fransez I, in French François I) (Vannes/Gwened, May 14, 1414 –...
(r.1442–1450) - Peter IIPeter II, Duke of BrittanyPeter II , was duke of Brittany, count of Montfort and titular earl of Richmond, from 1450 to his death. He was son of Duke John VI and Joan of France, and thus was younger brother of Francis I.In 1442, he married Françoise d'Amboise Peter II (in Breton Pêr II, in French Pierre II) (1418 –...
(r.1450–1457) - Arthur IIIArthur III, Duke of BrittanyArthur III , known as the Justicier and as Arthur de Richemont, was Lord of Parthenay and titular Count of Richmond in England and for eleven months at the very end of his life, Duke of Brittany and Count of Montfort after inheriting those titles upon the death of his nephew.-Biography:Belonging...
(r.1457–1458) - Francis II (r.1458–1488)
- Anne (r.1488–1514) (opposed by unsuccessful claims to the Duchy from male line descendants of Joanna de Penthievre, and others)
Valois
- Claude of FranceClaude of FranceClaude of France was a princess and queen consort of France and ruling Duchess of Brittany. She was the eldest daughter of Louis XII of France and Anne, Duchess of Brittany....
(r.1514–1524), daughter of Anne and King Louis XII of FranceLouis XII of FranceLouis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes... - Francis III Duke of Brittany (r.1524–1536), son of Claude and King Francis I of FranceFrancis I of FranceFrancis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
- Henry IHenry II of FranceHenry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
(r.1536-1547), brother of Francis III, Duke of Brittany- When he succeeded in the royal throne of France on 31 March 1547 as King Henry II, Brittany was officially united to the French crown
Regents and Guardians of the Kingdom and Duchy of Brittany
- Gourmaelon, earl of Cornwall (guardian of the kingdom from 907 during the Viking Occupation)
- Hoel of Cornwall , husband of Hawise, exercised authority jure uxorisJure uxorisJure uxoris is a Latin term that means "by right of his wife" or "in right of a wife". It is commonly used to refer to a title held by a man whose wife holds it in her own right. In other words, he acquired the title simply by being her husband....
, by right of his wife, and continued to control the government after her death in 1072 acting as regent for their son Alan IV. - Alix's father Guy of Thouars, father of Alix of ThouarsAlix of ThouarsAlix of Thouars was the nominal Duchess of Brittany from 1203 to her death.- Life :...
acted as her first regent between 1203–1206 - Philip II of FrancePhilip II of FrancePhilip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
acted as the second regent for Alix of ThouarsAlix of ThouarsAlix of Thouars was the nominal Duchess of Brittany from 1203 to her death.- Life :...
from 1206-1213 - Peter I, Duke of BrittanyPeter I, Duke of BrittanyPierre Mauclerc , also known as Peter of Dreux or Pierre de Dreux, was duke of Brittany jure uxoris from 1213 to 1221, then regent of the duchy from 1221 to 1237 as well as Earl of Richmond from 1219 to 1235.-Biography:He was the second son of Robert II, Count of Dreux...
husband of Duchesse Alix of ThouarsAlix of ThouarsAlix of Thouars was the nominal Duchess of Brittany from 1203 to her death.- Life :...
who, upon her death, ruled as regent for his son John I, Duke of BrittanyJohn I, Duke of BrittanyJohn I the Red , known as John the Red due to the colour of his beard, was Duke of Brittany, from 1237 to his death...
until his majority
Penthièvre and Montfort claims
The senior or PenthièvreCounts and dukes of Penthièvre
In the 11th and 12th centuries the countship of Penthièvre in Brittany belonged to a branch of the sovereign house of Brittany. Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany, gave it to his brother Eudes in 1035, and the line formed a cadet branch of the ducal house of Brittany...
claim, that of Joanna of Penthièvre and of the Dukes of Mercœur, went through Bourbon-Vendôme
Bourbon-Vendôme
The Bourbon-Vendôme family was an illegitimate branch of the senior line of the House of Bourbon, being thus part of the Capetian dynasty. It was founded by César de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme...
(the illegitimate branch started by Cesar, bastard of Henry IV, and his Briton wife) to Marie-Jeanne de Savoie-Nemours
Marie Jeanne of Savoy-Nemours
Marie Jeanne of Savoy was born a Princess of Savoy and was later the Duchess of Savoy. Married by proxy to Charles of Lorraine in 1662, Lorraine soon refused to recognise the union. Despite this, she married Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy in 1665 who was her second cousin once removed...
, the mother of Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia
Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia
Victor Amadeus II was Duke of Savoy from 1675 to 1730. He also held the titles of marquis of Saluzzo, duke of Montferrat, prince of Piedmont, count of Aosta, Moriana and Nizza. Louis XIV organised his marriage in order to maintain French influence in the Duchy but Victor Amadeus soon broke away...
and after her death in 1724, the Savoy kings of Sardinia, until Victor Emmanuel I was inherited by Dukes of Modena, and then subsequently inherited by Dukes of Bavaria, whose heir now is Franz, Duke of Bavaria
Franz, Duke of Bavaria
Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern , styled as His Royal Highness The Duke of Bavaria, is head of the Wittelsbach family, the former ruling family of the Kingdom of Bavaria...
.
- Joanna of Penthièvre (1364–1384), titular Duchess of Brittany after the defeat and death of her husband in the Battle of AurayBattle of AurayThe Battle of Auray took place on 29 September 1364 at the French town of Auray. This battle was the decisive confrontation of the Breton War of Succession, a part of the Hundred Years' War....
- John of Châtillon (1384–1404), son
- Olivier of Châtillon (1404–1433), son
- John II of Châtillon (1433–1454), brother
- Nicole of Châtillon (1454–1480), niece of Olivier and John II, married in 1437 to John I of Brosse (d. 1482), Lord of Sainte-Sévère and Boslac
- John II (III) of Brosse (1480–1502), son
- René of Brosse (1502–1524), son
- John III (IV) of Brosse (1524–1564), son
- Sebastien de LuxembourgSebastien, Duke of PenthievreSebastien de Luxembourg, count, later duke of Penthièvre was duke of Penthièvre and a peer of France.Nephew of Jean de Brosse, duc d'Étampes, he was allowed to inherit his uncle's taken estates and was subsequently created the 1st Duke of Penthièvre.His daughter and heiress Marie de Luxembourg...
(1564–1569), nephew, Duke de Penthiévre and Étampes - Marie de Luxembourg (1569–1623), daughter, married in 1579 to Philippe Emmanuel of Lorraine, Duke of Mercœur (d. 1602)
- Françoise de LorraineFrançoise de Lorraine (1592–1669)Françoise de Lorraine was a French noblewoman and the daughter-in-law of King Henry IV of France; sometimes known as Françoise de Mercœur, she was the niece of Louise of Lorraine, wife of the previous king, Henry III of France...
(1623–1669), daughter, married in 1608 to César de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme (d. 1665), illegitimate son of King Henry IV of FranceHenry IV of FranceHenry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France.... - Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme (1669–1712), grandson
- Philippe, Duke of Vendôme (1712–1727), brother, called the Grand Prior
- Victor Amadeus II, Duke of SavoyVictor Amadeus II of SardiniaVictor Amadeus II was Duke of Savoy from 1675 to 1730. He also held the titles of marquis of Saluzzo, duke of Montferrat, prince of Piedmont, count of Aosta, Moriana and Nizza. Louis XIV organised his marriage in order to maintain French influence in the Duchy but Victor Amadeus soon broke away...
(1727–1732), great-great-grandson of Françoise de Lorraine and César de Bourbon, in 1713 King of Sicily and in 1720 King of Sardinia - Charles Emmanuel III, King of SardiniaCharles Emmanuel III of SardiniaCharles Emmanuel III was the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1730 until his death.-Biography:...
(1732–1773), son - Victor Amadeus III, King of SardiniaVictor Amadeus III of SardiniaVictor Amadeus III was King of Sardinia from 1773 until his death. Although he was politically conservative, he carried out numerous administrative reforms until declaring war on revolutionary France in 1792...
(1773–1796), son - Charles Emmanuel IV, King of SardiniaCharles Emmanuel IV of SardiniaCharles Emmanuel IV was King of Sardinia from 1796 to 1802. He abdicated in favour of his brother Victor Emmanuel I...
(1796–1802), son - Victor Emmanuel I, King of SardiniaVictor Emmanuel I of SardiniaVictor Emmanuel I was the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1802 to 1821, and Jacobite Pretender from 1819 until his death.-Biography:...
(1802–1824), brother - Maria Beatrice of SavoyMaria Beatrice of SavoyMaria Beatrice of Savoy was a Princess of Savoy and Duchess of Modena by marriage. She was also the Jacobite Pretender from 1824 until her death.-Biography:...
(1824–1840), daughter, married in 1812 to Francis, Archduke of Austria-EsteFrancis IV, Duke of ModenaFrancis IV Joseph Charles Ambrose Stanislaus was Duke of Modena, Reggio, and Mirandola , Duke of Massa and Prince of Carrara , Archduke of Austria-Este, Royal Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece...
and Duke of Modena as Francis IV, her maternal uncle (d. 1846) - Francis V, Duke of ModenaFrancis V, Duke of ModenaFrancesco Ferdinando Geminiano von Habsburg-Lothringen, known as Francis V of Modena , Archduke of Austria-Este, Royal Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, was Duke of Modena, Reggio, and Mirandola, Duke of Guastalla , Duke of Massa and Prince of Carrara from 1846 to 1859...
(1840–1875), son - Maria Theresia of Austria-Este (1875–1919), niece, married in 1868 wint Prince Ludwig of BavariaLudwig III of BavariaLudwig III , was the last King of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918.-Early life:...
, since 1913 King Ludwig III of Bavaria (d. 1921) - Rupprecht, Crown Prince of BavariaRupprecht, Crown Prince of BavariaRupprecht or Rupert, Crown Prince of Bavaria was the last Bavarian Crown Prince.His full title was His Royal Highness Rupprecht Maria Luitpold Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Bavaria, Duke of Bavaria, of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine...
(1919–1955), son - Albrecht, Duke of BavariaAlbrecht, Duke of BavariaAlbrecht Luitpold Ferdinand Michael, Duke of Bavaria, of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine , was the son of Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria and his first wife, Duchess Marie Gabrielle in Bavaria. He was the one surviving child from that marriage...
(1955–1996), son - Franz, Duke of BavariaFranz, Duke of BavariaFranz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern , styled as His Royal Highness The Duke of Bavaria, is head of the Wittelsbach family, the former ruling family of the Kingdom of Bavaria...
(1996–present), son
The junior or Montfort
Montfort of Brittany
The House of Montfort was a French noble family, who reigned in the Duchy of Brittany from 1365 to 1514. It was a cadet branch of the Breton House of Dreux, itself a branch of the House of Dreux; it was thus ultimately part of the Capetian dynasty...
claim, that of Isabella Clara Eugenia (who died in 1633), went to her nephew the duke of Savoy, whose descendant Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia inherited it from his father in 1675. Since Victor Amadeus subsequently in 1727 succeeded in his mother's rights too, the succession thus continued as explained above together with the senior claim all way down to Franz, Duke of Bavaria.
- Isabella Clara Eugenia, Infanta of SpainInfanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of SpainIsabella Clara Eugenia of Austria was sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands in the Low Countries and the north of modern France, together with her husband Albert. In some sources, she is referred to as Clara Isabella Eugenia...
(1589–1633), niece and senior legitimate heir of King Henry III of FranceHenry III of FranceHenry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
, in turn the last male heir of Anne of BrittanyAnne of BrittanyAnne, Duchess of Brittany , also known as Anna of Brittany , was a Breton ruler, who was to become queen to two successive French kings. She was born in Nantes, Brittany, and was the daughter of Francis II, Duke of Brittany and Margaret of Foix. Her maternal grandparents were Queen Eleanor of... - Victor Amadeus I, Duke of SavoyVictor Amadeus I, Duke of SavoyVictor Amadeus I was the Duke of Savoy from 1630 to 1637. He was also titular King of Cyprus and Jerusalem. He was also known as the Lion of Susa-Biography:...
(1633–1637), nephew - Francis Hyacinth, Duke of SavoyFrancis Hyacinth, Duke of SavoyFrancis Hyacinth was the Duke of Savoy from 1637 to 1638 under regency of his mother Marie Christine.-Biography:...
(1637–1638), son - Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of SavoyCharles Emmanuel II, Duke of SavoyCharles Emmanuel II was the Duke of Savoy from 1638 to 1675 and under regency of his mother Christine Marie of France until 1663. He was also Marquis of Saluzzo, Count of Aosta, Geneva, Moriana and Nice, as well as claimant king of Cyprus and Jerusalem...
(1638–1675), brother - Victor Amadeus II, Duke of SavoyVictor Amadeus II of SardiniaVictor Amadeus II was Duke of Savoy from 1675 to 1730. He also held the titles of marquis of Saluzzo, duke of Montferrat, prince of Piedmont, count of Aosta, Moriana and Nizza. Louis XIV organised his marriage in order to maintain French influence in the Duchy but Victor Amadeus soon broke away...
(1675–1732), son, in 1713 King of Sicily and in 1720 King of Sardinia- In 1727 he also became in the general heir of the Penthièvre claim through his mother, and united both claims over the Duchy of Brittany as the senior legitimate heir of Duke Arthur II of BrittanyArthur II, Duke of BrittanyArthur II , of the House of Dreux, was Duke of Brittany from 1305 to his death. He was the first son of John II and Beatrice, daughter of Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence....
- In 1727 he also became in the general heir of the Penthièvre claim through his mother, and united both claims over the Duchy of Brittany as the senior legitimate heir of Duke Arthur II of Brittany
- Charles Emmanuel III, King of SardiniaCharles Emmanuel III of SardiniaCharles Emmanuel III was the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1730 until his death.-Biography:...
(1732–1773), son - Victor Amadeus III, King of SardiniaVictor Amadeus III of SardiniaVictor Amadeus III was King of Sardinia from 1773 until his death. Although he was politically conservative, he carried out numerous administrative reforms until declaring war on revolutionary France in 1792...
(1773–1796), son - Charles Emmanuel IV, King of SardiniaCharles Emmanuel IV of SardiniaCharles Emmanuel IV was King of Sardinia from 1796 to 1802. He abdicated in favour of his brother Victor Emmanuel I...
(1796–1802), son - Vittorio Emmanuel I, King of SardiniaVictor Emmanuel I of SardiniaVictor Emmanuel I was the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1802 to 1821, and Jacobite Pretender from 1819 until his death.-Biography:...
(1802–1824), brother - Maria Beatrice of SavoyMaria Beatrice of SavoyMaria Beatrice of Savoy was a Princess of Savoy and Duchess of Modena by marriage. She was also the Jacobite Pretender from 1824 until her death.-Biography:...
(1824–1840), daughter, married in 1812 to Francis, Archduke of Austria-EsteFrancis IV, Duke of ModenaFrancis IV Joseph Charles Ambrose Stanislaus was Duke of Modena, Reggio, and Mirandola , Duke of Massa and Prince of Carrara , Archduke of Austria-Este, Royal Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece...
and Duke of Modena as Francis IV, her maternal uncle (d. 1846) - Francis V, Duke of ModenaFrancis V, Duke of ModenaFrancesco Ferdinando Geminiano von Habsburg-Lothringen, known as Francis V of Modena , Archduke of Austria-Este, Royal Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, was Duke of Modena, Reggio, and Mirandola, Duke of Guastalla , Duke of Massa and Prince of Carrara from 1846 to 1859...
(1840–1875), son - Maria Theresia of Austria-Este (1875–1919), niece, married in 1868 wint Prince Ludwig of BavariaLudwig III of BavariaLudwig III , was the last King of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918.-Early life:...
, since 1913 King Ludwig III of Bavaria (d. 1921) - Rupprecht, Crown Prince of BavariaRupprecht, Crown Prince of BavariaRupprecht or Rupert, Crown Prince of Bavaria was the last Bavarian Crown Prince.His full title was His Royal Highness Rupprecht Maria Luitpold Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Bavaria, Duke of Bavaria, of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine...
(1919–1955), son - Albrecht, Duke of BavariaAlbrecht, Duke of BavariaAlbrecht Luitpold Ferdinand Michael, Duke of Bavaria, of Franconia and in Swabia, Count Palatine of the Rhine , was the son of Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria and his first wife, Duchess Marie Gabrielle in Bavaria. He was the one surviving child from that marriage...
(1955–1996), son - Franz, Duke of BavariaFranz, Duke of BavariaFranz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern , styled as His Royal Highness The Duke of Bavaria, is head of the Wittelsbach family, the former ruling family of the Kingdom of Bavaria...
(1996–present), son
Bourbon / Bourboned
None of those claims had any effect on the political and dynastic situation of Brittany, which put the province squarely into the hands of the royal family, subject to the validity of claims that ante date the reign of the Duchesse Anne. Some of the younger sons of French-Navarrese and Spanish kings were titled "Duke of Brittany", unlike the claimants described above. These included Louis, Dauphin of France (1707-1712) and his elder brother Louis, who only survived one year (1704–1705). Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and CádizAlfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz
Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Duke of Cádiz, Grandee of Spain was a grandson of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and a Legitimist claimant to the throne of France.-Life:Alfonso was born in the Clinica Santa Anna in Rome, the elder son of Infante...
's heir François de Bourbon held "Duke of Brittany" as a courtesy title
Courtesy title
A courtesy title is a form of address in systems of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer. These styles are used 'by courtesy' in the sense that the relatives do not themselves hold substantive titles...
(1973–1984) but the title had been self-bestowed rather than granted by the King of France as was his right since the time of the Franco-Breton war and subject to other claims prior to the Treaty of Verger .
See also
- History of BrittanyHistory of BrittanyThe history of Brittany may refer to the entire history of the Armorican peninsula or only to the creation and development of a specifically Brythonic culture and state in the Early Middle Ages and the subsequent history of that state....
- Château des ducs de BretagneChâteau des ducs de BretagneThe Château des ducs de Bretagne is a large fortified château located in the city of Nantes in the Loire-Atlantique département of France; it served as the centre of the historical province of Brittany until its separation in 1941. It is located on the right bank of the Loire, which formerly fed...
(Castle of the Dukes of Brittany) - Dukes of Brittany family treeDukes of Brittany family treeThis is a family tree of the Dukes of Brittany from the 9th century, to the annexation of Brittany by France in 1532.See also: Brittany - List of family trees...
- List of rulers of Brittany
- List of consorts of Brittany
- Union between Brittany and FranceUnion between Brittany and FranceIn August 1532, King Francis I of France absorbed the independent Duchy of Brittany into the Kingdom of France. The union of Brittany and France was a step toward the unification of modern-day France.-Context:...
- Kingdom of BrittanyKingdom of BrittanyThe Kingdom of Brittany was an entity in the history of France. It was created when Erispoe was appointed King of Brittany in 851. Erispoe was the son of Nomenoe, the missus imperatoris to Brittany from the Kingdom of France since 831, but Nominoe had rebelled against Charles the Bald in 845...
(851—936) - March of Brittany (753—851)