History of Brittany

The 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.

Pre-Brythonic Armorica includes the ancient megalith cultures in the area and the Celtic tribal territories that existed before Roman rule. After the collapse of the Roman empire, large scale migration from Britain led to the foundation of British colonies linked initially to homelands in Cornwall and Wales. The independent Breton kingdom later developed into the Duchy of Brittany, before it was unified with France to become a province. After the French Revolution Brittany was abolished as an administrative unit, but continued to retain its distinctive cultural identity. Its administrative existence was reconstituted, in reduced size, as the Region of Brittany in the mid 20th century.

Before Brittany

Iron Age

A variety of tribes are mentioned in Roman sources, like the Veneti, Armoricani, Osismii, Namnetes and Coriosolites. Strabo and Poseidonius describe the Armoricani as belonging to the Belgae.

Armorican gold coins have been widely exported and are even found in the Rhineland.

Salterns are widespread in Northern Armorica, for example at Trégor, Ebihens and Enez Vihan near Pleumeur-Bodou (Côtes-d'Armor) and the island of Yoc'h near Landuvez (Finistère) of late La Tène date.

An estimated 40–55 kg of salt per oven were produced at Ebihens. Each oven was about 2 m long. The site dates to the end of the early La Tène or the middle La Tène period. Numerous briquetage remains have been found. At Tregor, "boudins de Calage" (hand-bricks) were the typical form of briquetage, between 2.5 and 15 cm long and with a diameter of 4–7 cm.At the salterns at Landrellec and Enez Vihan at Pleumeur-Bodou the remains of rectangular ovens have been excavated that are 2.5–3 m long and about 1 m wide, constructed of stones and clay.On the Gulf of Morbihan about 50 salterns have been found so far, mainly dating to the final La Téne period.

Roman rule

In 56 BC the area was conquered by the Romans under Julius Caesar. The main resistance came from the Veneti. After their defeat their leaders were killed and the tribe sold as slaves. The Romans called the district "Armorica" (a Latinisation of a Celtic word meaning "coastal region"), part of the "Gallia Lugdunensis" province. The modern "département" of Côtes-d'Armor has taken up the ancient name. After the reforms of Diocletian, it was part of the dioceses Galliarum.

The uprising of the Bagaudae in the 3rd century led to unrest and depopulation, numerous villages were destroyed. Thick layers of black earth in the towns point to urban depopulation as well. The rule of Constantine (307–350) led to a certain renaissance. Numerous coins were minted. At the "tractus Armoricanus", new forts were built, for example at Brest, Avranches and Le Yaudet. The Notitia Dignitatum (circa 400AD) mentions a number of local units manning the "Tractus armoricanus et nervicanus", for example Mauritanian troops in the territory of the Veneti and Osismii. Frankish laeti were present in Rennes.
Christianisation is commonly dated to the late fourth century, but material evidence is rare.

Middle Ages

Early Middle Ages

In the 380s a large number of British troops in the Roman army may have been stationed in Armorica. The ninth century Historia Brittonum states that the emperor Magnus Maximus, who withdrew Roman forces from Britain, settled the troops there. Other British authors (Nennius, Gildas) mention a second wave of Britons settling in Armorica in the following century to escape the invading Anglo-Saxons and Scoti. Modern archaeology supports a two-wave migration. [Léon Fleuriot, Les origines de la Bretagne: l’émigration, Paris, Payot, 1980.]

These Britons gave the region its current name and contributed the Breton language, "Brezhoneg", a sister language to Welsh and Cornish. (Brittany used to be known in English as "Little Britain" to distinguish it from Great Britain - the street in London called "Little Britain" was the location of the embassy of the Duchy of Brittany).

The earliest text in the Breton language, a botanical treatise, dates from 590 (for comparison, the earliest text in French dates from 843). [Source:Leiden University, the Netherlands.]

Conan Meriadoc, the semi-mythic founder of the house of Rohan is mentioned by medieval Welsh sources as having led the settlement of Brittany by Welsh mercenaries, who are supposed to have married native women after cutting out their tongues to preserve the purity of their language. Geoffrey of Monmouth presents this legend to explain the Welsh name for Brittany, "Llydaw", as originating from "lled-taw" or half-silent.

In the Early Middle Ages, Brittany was divided into three kingdoms — Domnonia, Cornouaille (Kernev), and Bro Waroc'h (Broërec) — which eventually were incorporated into the Duchy of Brittany. The first two kingdoms derive their names from the homelands of the migrating tribes in Britain (Devon and Cornwall). Bro Waroc'h ("land of Waroch") derives from the name of one of the first known Breton rulers, who dominated the region of Vannes (Gwened). The rulers of Domnonia, such as Conomor sought to expand their territory, claiming overlordship over all Bretons, though there was constant tension between local lords.

The first unified Kingdom of Brittany was founded by Nominoë in 845 when the Breton army defeated the forces of Charles the Bald, King of France, at the Battle of Ballon, in the eastern part of Brittany near Redon and the French border. Nominoe gained control over the major towns of Rennes and Nantes, which had previously formed part of the Frankish border zone known as the "Breton March".

Control over Rennes, Nantes and Pays de Retz was secured when the French army was defeated once again in 851 at the Battle of Jengland by the Bretons under King Erispoë and consequently Charles the Bald recognised the independence of Brittany and determined the borders that defined the historic duchy and later province.

High Middle Ages

Bretons took part in the Revolt of 1173–1174, siding with the rebels against Henry II of England. Henry's son Geoffroy II, then heir apparent to the Duchy of Brittany, resisted his father's attempts to annex Brittany to the possessions of the English Crown. Geoffroy's son Arthur did likewise during his reign (1186–1203) until his death, perhaps by assassination under King John's orders.

In 1185, Geoffroy II signed "Count Geoffrey's Assise" which forbade the subdivision of fiefs, thereby reinforcing the Breton feudal system.

In 1213, with the aim of strengthening his power in Brittany, king Philip August of France introduced the Capetian prince Peter Mauclerc of Dreux as administrator of the duchy and tutor of his son, duke Jehan of Brittany. It was Peter Mauclerc who introduced the use of ermines in the Breton coat of arms and came to espouse the cause of his fief's independence with respect to France.

The Breton War of Succession was fought 1341–1364. The parties were the half-brother of the last duke, John of Montfort (supported by the English) and his niece, Joanna of Penthièvre, who was married to Charles of Blois, nephew of the king of France. This protracted conflict, a component of the Hundred Years' War, has passed into legend (see for example Combat of the Thirty and Bertrand de Guesclin). Its outcome was decided at the Battle of Auray in 1364, where the House of Montfort was victorious over the French party. After the first Treaty of Guérande, Joanna of Penthièvre abdicated her claims to the dukedom in favour of John the Conqueror. A modified form of Salic law was introduced in Brittany as a result.

In the midst of the conflict, in 1352, the "États de Bretagne" or Estates of Brittany were established. They would develop into the Duchy's parlement.

Deserted by his nobles, duke John IV left for exile in England in 1373. The higher nobility of that time, like the house of Coetmen-Penthièvre, or the house of Rougé, descendants of the former kings of Brittany, strongly supported the Penthièvre side and nearly extinguished in the repeated fights between Montfort and Penthièvre's troops. The king of France Charles V named as lieutenant-general of Brittany his brother, the duke of Anjou (also a son-in-law of Joanna de Penthièvre). In 1378, the king of France sought to annex Brittany, which provoked the Bretons to recall John IV from exile. The second Treaty of Guérande (1381) established Brittany's neutrality in the Anglo-French conflict, although John continued to swear homage to Charles VI.

In 1420, duke John V was kidnapped by the count of Penthièvre, son of Joanna of Penthièvre. John's wife, duchess Joanna de France besieged the rebels and set free her husband, who confiscated the Penthièvre's goods.

, was published. This book was the world's first trilingual dictionary, the first Breton dictionary and also the first French dictionary.

The army of the Kingdom of France with the help of 5,000 mercenaries from Switzerland and Italy defeated the Breton army in 1488 and the last and old Duke of independent Brittany Francis II was forced to submit to a treaty giving the King of France the right to determine the marriage of the Duke's daughter, a young girl 12 years old, the heir to the Duchy. The Duchess Anne was the last independent ruler of the duchy as she was ultimately obliged to marry Louis XII of France. The duchy passed on her death to her daughter Claude, but Claude's husband Francis I of France incorporated the duchy into the Kingdom of France in 1532 through the "Edict of Union between Brittany and France", which was registered with the Estates of Brittany.

Modern era

Early modern period

After 1532, Brittany retained a certain fiscal and regulatory autonomy, which was defended by the "États de Bretagne" despite the rising tide of royal absolutism. Brittany remained on the whole strongly Catholic during the period of the Huguenots and the Wars of Religion, although Protestantism made some headway in Nantes and a few other areas. From 1590–98, during the War of the Catholic League, Philippe-Emmanuel, Duke of Mercoeur (governor of Brittany and husband of the countess of Penthièvre) sought to have himself proclaimed Duke of Britanny and allied with Philip II of Spain. The latter, on the other hand, considered establishing his daughter Isabella at the head of a reconstituted Brittany. Henri IV, however, brought Mercoeur to an honourable surrender.

During the era of Colbert, Brittany benefited from France's naval expansion. Major ports were built or renovated at Saint-Malo, Brest, and Lorient, and Bretons came to constitute a leading component of the French navy. Bretons played an important role in the colonization of New France and the West Indies ("see" French colonisation of the Americas).

In 1675, insurgents in the diocese of Cornouaille and elsewhere rose up in the Revolt of the Bonnets Rouges. The rebels, in contact with Holland, were expecting assistance that never came. Sébastian Ar Balp, the leader of the rebellion, was assassinated by the Marquis de Montgaillard whom Ar Balp was holding prisoner. The rebellion was repressed by the duc de Chaulnes, and hundreds of Bretons were hanged or broken on the wheel. Madame de Sévigné claimed that French soldiers garrisoned in Rennes had roasted a Breton infant on a spit. A whole street in Rennes, suspected of seditiousness, was demolished leaving the inhabitants homeless. [Arthur de La Borderie. "La Révolte du Papier Timbré advenu en Bretagne en 1675". Saint-Brieuc 1884.]

In the conspiracy of Pontcallec of 1720, members of the petty nobility in contact with Spain led a tax revolt against the Regency. The marquis de Pontcallec and six others were tried and executed in Nantes for the uprising.

During the 18th century, Nantes rose to become one of the most important commercial centres of France. The backbone of Nantes's prosperity was the Atlantic slave trade.

On 4 August 1789, the National Constituent Assembly in Paris unanimously proclaimed the abolition of feudal privileges. These included the privileges of the provinces such as Brittany. Brittany thus lost the juridical existence, autonomy, Parlement, and administrative, fiscal and legal peculiarities guaranteed since the Edict of Union of 1532. Although the Breton Club (better known as the "Jacobins") in Paris had initiated the move to abolish feudal distinctions, the decision proved increasingly unpopular in Brittany, where the loss of local autonomy and the increasingly anti-clerical character of the Revolution were resented. Many Bretons took part in the Chouannerie, the royalist insurgency assisted by Great Britain and allied with the revolt in the Vendée. Brittany thus became a hotbed of resistance to the French Revolution.

The territory of Brittany was divided in 1789 into five "départements", partially on the basis of earlier divisions called "présidiaux" which in turn had issued from mediaeval "bailliages".

Post-Revolutionary period

Nineteenth-century Brittany acquired a reputation for timeless autarky, as Romantics developed an image of the province as a bastion of peasant traditionalism, religious festivals, and wild landscapes. At the same time, Breton life became increasingly integrated with that of the rest of France, particularly under the Third Republic.

Brittany has had its own regionalist and separatist movements which have experienced varying success at elections and other political contests. Modern Breton nationalism developed at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. The main body of these movements situated themselves within the Catholic traditionalist current. After 1944, Breton nationalism was widely discredited thanks to the collaboration of a number of prominent nationalists (such as Roparz Hemon) with the Nazis, who occupied Brittany along with most of the rest of the French state during the Second World War. On the other hand, other Breton nationalists took part in the Resistance. Brittany played a particularly important role in the Resistance thanks to its proximity to Great Britain, the relatively rugged landscape, and the presence of important naval installations.

When France was divided into administrative regions, the official Brittany Region included only four of the five departments traditionally understood to comprise the Breton territory. This removal of Loire-Atlantique, which contains Nantes (one of the two traditional Breton capitals) from the Breton region has been a matter of much controversy.

An experimental nuclear power station was constructed at Brennilis in the Monts d'Arrée during the 1960s. This was in operation for about ten years, and since 1988 it has been in the process of being dismantled. This is the first time that a nuclear power station has been dismantled in France.

Since the 1960s in particular Breton nationalism has developed a strong leftist character, alongside the Catholic traditionalist strain. Certain groups such as the ARB, marginal even within nationalist circles, made headlines through sabotage against highly symbolic targets.

In March 1972, workers at the « Joint Français », a factory in Saint-Brieuc, went on strike to obtain a wage increase. The strike lasted eight weeks.

Since the 1940s, use of the Breton language has declined precipitously. In most Breton-speaking communities, it has become uncommon for children born since 1945 to acquire much of the language as French becomes universalized. On the other hand, Breton has enjoyed increasing support among intellectuals and professionals since the 1970s, and the relatively small, urban-based Diwan movement has sought to stem the loss of young Breton speakers through bilingual immersion schools. Breton music has also become more widely known through the work of musicians such as Alan Stivell.

On 16 March 1978, the supertanker "Amoco Cadiz" ran aground a few hundred metres from the shores of the small port of Portsall in Ploudalmézeau. The result was the fifth-largest oil spill in world history which severely affected the north and northwest coasts of Brittany.

In February and March 1980, the population of Plogoff, the commune containing the Pointe du Raz, demonstrated to prevent the construction of a nuclear power generator in their commune, despite the paratroopers and helicopters sent by the government. They received a wide support from the media. The power station project was abandoned after the presidential elections of 1981, which brought François Mitterrand to power.

Bibliography

*Myles Dillon, Nora Chadwick The Celtic Realms, Weindenfeld and Nicholson, London,1967.
*E.G.Bowen Saints seaways and settlements University of Walles Press,1977.SBN 900768 30 4
*Christian Y.M.Kerboul Les royaumes brittoniques au Très Haut Moyen Age Editions du Pontig-Coop Breizh,1997.ISBN 2-84346-030-1.
*Jean-Jacques Monnier & Jean-Christophe Cassard, with a team of scholars of the Breton Universities of Brest, Nantes, and Rennes, "Toute l’histoire de Bretagne", in Britain and in Brittany, in-8°, 800 pages, Editions Skol- Vreizh, Morlaix 1996 ISBN 2-903313-95-4
*Noël-Yves Tonnerre Naissance de la Bretagne, in-8°,621 p.p.,Presse de l' Université d' Angers,1994.
*Jean Kerhervé, L'État Breton aux 14e et 15e siècles, 2 vol., Maloine, 1987. ISBN 2-224-01703-0. ISBN 2-224-01704-9.
*Michel de Mauny, 1532-1790 Les dessous de l' Union de la Bretagne à la France, Editions France-Empire, Rennes, 1986.
*Léon Fleuriot, Les origines de la Bretagne, Éd. Payot, 1980. ISBN 2-228-12710-8
*Myles Dillon, Nora Chadwick, Christian-J. Guyonvarc'h Les royaumes celtiques, Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1974.ISBN 2-213-00077-8
*L'Histoire de la Bretagne et des pays celtiques, Morlaix, Skol Vreizh, 1966 ;
*Marcel Planiol, Histoire des Institutions de la Bretagne (Droit Public et Droit Privé), Ouvrage couronné par l' Institut, publié avec le concours du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 3 vol., Editions du cercle de Brocéliande, Rennes 1953-1955.
*Arthur Le Moyne de la Borderie, Membre de l' Institut, Histoire de la Bretagne, 6 volumes in-quarto, Plihon Editeur, Imprimerie Vatar, Rennes 1905-1914.
*Dom Lobineau Histoire de Bretagne, 2 vol. in-folio.,Paris, veuve Muguet, 1707.
*Dom Morice et Dom Taillandier Histoire de Bretagne, 2 vol. in-folio.,Paris, veuve Delaguette, 1750-1756.
*Dom Morice et Dom Taillandier Mémoires pour servir de preuves à l'Histoire de Bretagne, 3 vol. in-folio.,Paris, Ch. Osmont, 1742-1746.

References

ee also

*Breton literature

External links

* [http://www.histoire-bretagne.com/ Skol uhel ar vro – High Institute of Brittany - Ti Istor Breizh – The house for the History of Brittany]
* [http://www.chez.com/buan1/history_of_brittany.htm Istor Breizh e saozneg - History of Brittany in English]
* [http://www.geobreizh.com/ Douaroniezh Breizh – Geography of Brittany]
* [http://www.breizh.net/identity/ Personelezh Breizh e saozneg - Breton identity in English]