 | Brittany: Encyclopedia II - Brittany - History
Brittany - History
Main article: History of Brittany
Human habitation in the area now called Brittany goes back to the late Paleolithic, or Epi-Palaeolithic, period. Megaliths erected in the 5th millennium BC are the best known Neolithic remains. Roman sources record the Armoricani tribes of the Veneti, Osismii, Namneti, Coriosoliti and Riedoni as inhabiting the area in the iron age.
In 56 BC the area was conquered by the Romans under Julius Caesar. The Romans called the district Armorica (a Latinisation of a Celtic word meaning "coastal region"), within the larger province of Gallia Lugdunensis. The modern département of Côtes-d'Armor has taken up the ancient name. The uprising of the Bagaudae in the 3rd century led to the destruction of villages and to depopulation.
By the 4th century Romano-British tribes from across the English Channel started to settle. This flow of Britons increased when Roman troops and authority were withdrawn from Britain, and raiding and settling by Anglo-Saxons and Scotti into Britain increased. The immigrant Britons gave the region its current name and contributed to the Breton language, Brezhoneg, a sister language to Welsh and Cornish. The name Brittany (meaning Little Britain) derived to distinguish the region from Great Britain in this time.
In the early Middle Ages, Brittany was divided into three kingdoms - Domnonée/Dumnonea, Cornouaille/Kernev, and Broërec/Broereg (also called Bro Waroch) - which eventually were incorporated into the kingdom of Brittany.
The first unified Kingdom of Brittany was founded by Nominoë in 845 when the Breton army defeated Charles the Bald, King of France, at the battle of Ballon, near Redon in the east of Brittany near the French border.
After the French army was defeated once again in 851 at the battle of Jengland by the army of King Erispoë, Charles the Bald recognised the independence of Brittany and the title of king for its leader, with the possession of the counties of Rennes/Roazhon and Nantes/Naoned. King Salomon later conquered the counties of Coutances and Avranches, expanding his kingdom to the maximum. The Norman invaders crushed this first unified state of Brittany in 913. But with the help of King Athelstan of Wessex, the grandson of the last king of the Bretons, Alan II of Brittany, came back from its exile and defeated the various Norman troops in 937. Too weak nevetheless to be recognized the title of king, he ruled Brittany as a "Duke", the title that would be held by his successors.
The Kingdom of France defeated the Breton army in 1488 and the last Duke of independent Brittany was forced to submit to a treaty giving the King of France the right to determine the marriage of the Duke's daughter, the heir to the Duchy. The Duchess Anne was the last independent ruler of the duchy as she was ultimately obliged to marry Charles VIII of France, after the death of whom she married Louis XII of France. The duchy passed on her death to her daughter Claude, but Claude's husband François I incorporated the duchy into the Kingdom of France in 1532. The duchy kept specific laws and taxes until 1790, when the French revolutionaries withdrew all the "privilèges" (specific rules for certain communities or regions).
Other related archives13th-century, 1488, 1532, 1790, 1999, 19th-century, 2004, 20th century, 3rd century, 4th century, 56 BC, 5th millennium BC, 845, Alan II of Brittany, Alan Stivell, Anglo-Saxons, Anjou, Ankou, Armorica, Armoricani, Articles lacking sources, Athelstan of Wessex, Avranches, Bagaudae, Basse-Bretagne, Batz, Bay of Biscay, Belle Île, Breizh-Izel, Brest, Bretagne, Breton, Breton music, Brezhoneg, Britain, Britons, Brittany, Bro Goz ma Zadoù, Bréhat, Carhaix, Carnac, Catholic, Celtic Christianity, Celtic Congress, Celtic language, Channel Islands, Charles VIII of France, Charles the Bald, Chateaubriand, Claude, Cornish, Cornouaille, Cornwall, Coutances, Côtes-d'Armor, Domnonée, Duchess Anne, Duke of independent Brittany, English Channel, Erispoë, Finistère, France, François I, French, Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallo, Glénan islands, Gorsedd, Great Britain, History of Brittany, Houat, Hoëdic, Ireland, Ivo of Kermartin, Jacques Cartier, Julius Caesar, King Arthur, Latinisation, Loire, Loire-Atlantique, Lorient, Louis XII of France, Maine, Massachusetts, Middle Ages, Nantes, Neolithic, Onion Johnny, Oïl languages, Paleolithic, Paul Gauguin, Pays-de-la-Loire, Peninsulas, Pol Aurelian, Post-impressionist, Quimper, Redon, Rennes, Republic of Ireland, Romano-British, Romans, Roscoff, Saint Anne, Saint-Brieuc, Saint-Malo, Saint-Nazaire, Samson of Dol, Scotti, Surrealist, Taiwan, Tri Yann, Tugdual, United Kingdom, Ushant, Vannes, Veneti, Wales, Welsh, Ys, Yves Tanguy, apéritif, bagadoù, bagpipes, beers, binious, bombardes, buckwheat, calvaries, chouchen, cider, citation needed, cotriade, crème de cassis, crêpes, céilí, dessert, dolmen, duchy, département, elections, feast day, ferry, fest noz, help, info, iron age, kir, km², korrigans, kouign amann, language revival, mead, megalithic, menhir, mussels, official language, oysters, pancakes, parish, pastries, patron saint, peninsula, pilgrimage, port, province of France, préfecture, pudding, rap, regional languages, régions, saints, second-home, stereotypical, wine, Île d'Arz
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
