Brittany 4

Brittany 4

III. HISTORY

 

 

Brittany, whose ancient name was Armorica (Ar môr, by the sea), and

which was known to the Britons and Irish as Llydau, was originally

peopled by the race of the Dolmen-builders, a brown eyed and dark

haired people, who strewed it with their monuments. To them followed

the Gauls, blue eyed and with flaxen hair; these latter were

divided into five tribes that occupied severally the departments of

Ille-et-Vilaine (Redones), with their capital at Rennes; Côtes-du-Nord

(Curiosoliti), with their headquarters at Corseul, near Dinan;

Finistère (Osismi), their capital of Carhaix; Morbihan (Veneti), with

their centre at Vannes; Loire Inférieure (Nanneti), with a capital at

Nantes.

 

These tribes were subjugated by Cæsar, and the Veneti almost

exterminated by him. Under the Romans, the culture and the language

of the conquerors were rapidly assimilated. Christianity took root at

Rennes and Nantes and Vannes, but almost nothing was done for the rural

population, which probably still spoke its agglutinative tongue akin

to the modern Basque. The stately bishops of these Gallo-Roman cities

confined themselves to ministering to the cultured residents within

their walls, and in villas scattered along the coast. The Gallo-Roman

population had dwindled to an incredible extent, under the exactions

of the imperial tax-gatherers, so that all the country residences fell

into ruin, and the impoverished Gallo-Romans withdrew into the towns.

But early--very early in the 5th century, fleets of British settlers

came over, flying from the swords of Picts and Scots, and occupied the

land about the mouth of the Loire. By 469 they were so numerous as to

be able to send a contingent of twelve thousand men to the assistance

of the Romans against the Visigoths.

 

As a consequence of the Saxon invasion of Britain the immigration

grew, and the dispossessed islanders sought and found a new home in

the Armorican peninsula, where they established themselves under their

own princes, with their own institutions, civil and ecclesiastical,

and their own tongue. Thenceforth Armorica ceased to be so called, and

received the name of Lesser Britain, and the current language became

British, identical with that now spoken in Wales, and spoken till

the 17th century in Cornwall as well. Contact with France along the

East has gradually thrust back the Breton language, but it is still

spoken from Guingamp, in a slanting line to the mouth of the Loire.

Two British kingdoms were formed, Domnonia and Cornubia; the former

included the Côtes-du-Nord and Finistère above the river Elorn, and

Cornubia or Cornouaille was the district below that river, the basin

between the Monts d'Arrée and the Montagnes Noires, and stretched to

the river Ellé at Quimperlé. All the department of Morbihan was the

Bro-Weroc, a county, but the British chief did not call himself its

king, probably because the colonists did not get hold of Vannes, the

capital, which they enveloped but left unmolested.

 

At first the British colonists admitted their allegiance to their

native princes in Britain, who certainly came over, and were granted

certain lands as the royal _dominium_ in the newly settled land. Thus

we have Geraint, King of Devon, with his palace in Belle Ile, and

portions of the newly-acquired territory on the Blavet, in Morbihan,

and near Matignon, in Côtes-du-Nord. His son Solomon, or Selyf, as

was his British name, also came over, and is said to have fallen at

Langollen, probably whilst endeavouring to enforce taxes on the native

original pagan inhabitants.

 

But as the insular power of the Britons was broken, the colonists

considered themselves independent, and acknowledged a loose and

ill-defined submission to the Frank kings at Paris, who, however, left

them to be governed by their native rulers.

 

But not only did Britons settle in the land. Large numbers of Irish

arrived from Ossory and Wexford, at the close of the 5th century, and

settled along the west and north coast. No traces of them are found

south of Hennebont, or west of Guingamp, but all the coastline of

Cornouaille and Léon was studded thick with them.

 

Now only was a serious attempt made to convert the native population.

The chiefs who came over were attended or followed by their brothers

and cousins who were ecclesiastics, and these were granted lands on

condition that they educated the young of the freeborn colonists of the

tribe, and ministered in sacred matters to the tribesmen.

 

The work of the evangelisation of Ireland seems to have sent a thrill

through Brittany, and to have been taken up there with energy.

Missionary colleges were formed by some of the assistants of Patrick,

which should serve as training places for those who were to assist in

carrying on the apostolic work in Ireland.

 

The principal _Irish_ founders in the country were:--Fiacc, Bishop

of Sletty, called in Breton Vi'ho; Tighernac, Bishop of Clogher and

Clones, in Breton Thégonnec; Eugenius, Bishop of Ardstraw, in Breton

Saint Tugean; Senan, Abbot of Inniscathy (Breton Seny), Setna, his

disciple, in Breton Sezni; Conleath, Bridget's domestic bishop, in

Breton Coulitz, Ronan and Brendan.

 

The principal _British_ founders were:--Cadoc, Brioc, Tugdual,

Leonore, Paulus Aurelianus, Curig, Caradoc, Gildas, and his crippled

son Kenneth; David, Samson, Malo, Arthmael, Meven, and Mancen or

Mawgan--this latter closely allied with the Irish mission. Nonna,

mother of S. David, Ninnoc, Noyala, and disciples of S. Bridget,

established institutions for the education of the daughters of the

freemen of the tribe to which the schools were attached.

 

In 845, Nominoe, who had been invested with the lieutenancy of

Brittany by Louis the Pious, led a revolt against Charles the Bald,

and established the independence of Brittany that lasted till the

Duchess Anne brought it under the French crown, 1491. From the close

of the 9th century, and throughout the 10th, the coast was ravaged by

the Northmen, Frisians and Danes, and the insecurity inland caused

the desertion of the country and the flight of the monks carrying the

relics of their founders to walled towns in the heart of France. That

Brittany should thus fall a prey to these invaders was largely due to

the divisions that existed among its princes, who could not or would

not combine against the common foe. At length Alan, Count of Vannes,

did succeed in rallying the Britons, and defeated the Northern pirates,

which secured rest for fifteen years. For the first time under him did

the Gallo-Roman towndwellers consent to make common cause with the

descendants of the British colonists.

 

On the death of Alan (907) the Northmen reappeared, and a great many

Bretons under Count Matthuedoi of Poher fled to England and threw

themselves on the protection of Athelstan.

 

In 938, Alan Barbetorte, godson of Athelstan, returned from England

and drove out the Normans. Nantes was in such complete ruin that when

Alan sought to reach the fallen altar of the cathedral church, there to

offer up his thanks for victory gained, he was constrained to hew his

way to it through a thicket of thorns and brambles.

 

After the expulsion of the Northmen Brittany was reorganised. Hitherto

the colonists had been divided into tribes, each of which was a _plou_,

and no Gallo-Roman could enter into one such. But after the victories

of Alan Barbetorte the plous were not reconstructed, and the feudal

system succeeded to that which was tribal.

 

Brittany was now broken up into a hierarchy of counties and

seigneuries, and the king abandoned the royal title and contented

himself with that of duke. The great counties were those of Léon,

Cornouaille, Poher, Porhoët, Penthièvre, Rennes and Nantes. Five barons

defended the eastern frontier, holding their fiefs under the Count

of Rennes; these were Châteaubriant, la Guerche, Vitré, Fongères and

Combourg. The whole vast inland forest was given to the Counts of

Rennes, it was Porhoët. It was divided into two parts. In the east the

seigneuries of Gael, Loudéac and Malestroit were created as fiefs.

In the west there was but a single seigneurie, that of Porhoët; the

viscount lived at Josselin. Later it was broken up and gave birth to

the viscounty of Rohan.

 

[Illustration: FOUGÈRES]

 

The old kingdom of Cornouaille became a county with vassal barons at

Pont l'Abbé, Pont Croix, the abbot of Landevennec, and the viscount of

Le Faou. In the interior were the viscounts of Poher and Gourin.

 

The old kingdom of Domnonia was divided into three counties, Léon,

Penthièvre and Tréguier.

 

The Ducal crown did not long remain in the family of Alan Barbetorte.

After internecine war lasting forty years, Conan, Count of Rennes,

assumed the title (990), and the dukes of his house spent their time

in fighting and crushing their own kinsmen. Geoffrey I. had married a

Norman wife, and he had by her two sons, Alan and Eudo. In 1034 Eudo,

jealous and ambitious, demanded of his brother a share in the duchy.

Alan gave him the counties of Tréguier and Penthièvre, and thus Eudo

became the ancestor of that great and dangerous family of Penthièvre,

which maintained undying rivalry with the ducal house, and made of

Brittany a field of civil war for centuries. Conan II. succeeded as

a child of three months, and his uncle ruled in his name, aided by

the Normans. When Conan came of age, he had to fight against Eudo;

he invaded Normandy, but was cut off by poison. When William the

Conqueror became King of England, Brittany was nipped between France

and Normandy, and became an object of ambition to both, and a common

battlefield.

 

For five hundred years this continued. Brittany writhed and strove for

her independence, and had no desire to become either a province of

France or an English colony. The war broke out under Duke Hoel in 1076

when he invoked the aid of Philip I. against William the Conqueror.

However, under Alan Fergant and Conan III. the land had rest for eighty

years, and then the trouble began again with renewed violence. Conan's

death in 1148 gave rise to a war of succession that lasted eight years.

Conan IV. assisted by the English succeeded in establishing himself in

the ducal seat, and he favoured the English in every way. Henry II. of

England married his son Geoffrey Plantagenet to Constance, daughter

of Conan IV., the heiress of Brittany, and Geoffrey was crowned at

Rennes in 1169. This was of advantage so far that it introduced Norman

civilisation into a duchy that was backward and barbarous. The churches

built in the 12th century were erected by architects of the Norman and

French schools. Such are the cathedrals of S. Pol-de-Léon and S. Malo

and the churches of Guérande. Geoffrey died in 1187, and his son Arthur

fell into the hands of his uncle, King John, who had him murdered at

Rouen (1203). Constance did not die broken-hearted and despairing, as

represented by Shakespeare, but married Guy de Thouars, and had by him

a daughter and heiress, who was married to Pierre de Dreux.

 

We may pass over the ensuing history till we reach John III. who died

in 1341, without issue, and who, hating his half-brother, Jean de

Montfort, bequeathed the succession to his niece Jeanne de Penthièvre,

whom he married to Charles de Blois, nephew of Philip VI. of France.

This was the signal for the outbreak of the terrible and desolating

War of the Succession of the two Jeannes. In it, neither of those most

interested were for the most part of the time leaders of their hosts.

At the outset Jean de Montfort was taken prisoner (1342), and was kept

in prison till his health was broken, and he was discharged only to

die (1345). But his intrepid wife Jeanne of Flanders carried on the

conflict. At the Battle of La Roche-Derrien (1347) Charles of Blois was

captured and conveyed a prisoner to England, and the conduct of the war

fell to his wife Jeanne. The English espoused the side of Montfort,

and the French that of Charles of Blois. The success of the battle of

La Roche was followed by the signal victory of Mauron (1352). The war

dragged on, and Charles was released in 1356, to renew the contest with

fresh cruelty. He had now as his best assistant Bertrand du Guesclin,

an heroic and honourable soldier, and one of the best captains France

has produced. But in the decisive battle of Auray (1364) Charles was

killed, and Du Guesclin taken prisoner. A few months later, Jean de

Montfort the younger was recognised duke under the title of John IV.

But the war was not at an end. Now that Charles was dead, the Bretons

of Penthièvre rallied about Oliver de Clisson, and the old strife continued under other names.