BRITTANY

BRITTANY. Jutting into the ocean, far from Paris's central state, Brittany had close economic and cultural ties to its Atlantic neighbors. Until 1550, when larger and more efficient Dutch ships displaced them, Breton fleets swarmed European coastal waters, carrying salt, linen, hemp, hides, grain, and wine to distant ports. They returned with oranges, leather, and silver from Spain, with herring, cheese, and naval stores from Holland, and with cloth from England, Holland, and Flanders. Brittany remained a bustling manufacturing power until 1680: its two million inhabitants gave it a population density matched in Europe only by the urban regions of the Low Countries.

In western Brittany, war between France and England disabled the manufacture of linen, crucial to the region's economy, at the end of the seventeenth century. This region lapsed into an enduring poverty, and became a leading center of emigration to Paris in the nineteenth century. Nantes followed a different path: it prospered mightily in colonial trade, becoming the largest French slaving port, and reexporting West Indian sugar and coffee throughout Europe.

Brittany enjoyed a quasi-independent status until 1491, when the last Breton ruler, Duchess Anne (1477–1513), married Charles VIII of France (ruled 1483–1498). He died childless; she then married Louis XII (ruled 1498–1515). Their eldest daughter, Claude, married Francis I (ruled 1515–1547); Claude's son, Henry II (ruled 1547–1559) inherited the duchy, making it the personal property of subsequent kings of France.

Brittany until 1790 preserved its provincial Estates, which met annually until 1626 and biannually after 1630; a full complement of local courts, headed by the parlement at Rennes; its customary laws; and its tax system, run primarily by the Estates. These local institutions enabled the Breton nobility to maintain unusually tight control over the province: alone among early modern French peasant rebels, the Breton bonnets rouges ('red caps') in 1675 targeted noble landlords, rather than royal taxes.

Western Brittany stood out culturally because its inhabitants spoke Breton Gaelic. Many French speakers shared the views expressed by the marquis of Lavardin, lieutenant general of Brittany, in 1675: Celtic Brittany "is a rude and ferocious country, which produces inhabitants that resemble it. They poorly understand French and scarcely better reason." The Catholic Church sent out "missionaries," led by the Jesuit Julien Maunoir, to "convert" the nominally Catholic Bretons, whom it viewed as pagans. One of his hymns set forward the church's view of peasant sociability: "Listen all of you [Bretons]/The evil of your veillées,/And your savage dances/That the mad devil/Has brought here/To plunge young people/Into eternal torments . . . From these dances/Come lewd thoughts!" (The veillées, evening village gatherings, for storytelling, matchmaking, and general socializing, remained a staple of Breton life into the 1930s.)

Bretons left a visual legacy of their remarkably rich civilization in parish closes, ensembles of churches, Calvary scenes, and ossuaries. The wealth produced by linen and livestock enabled the peasant-merchants of a St-Thégonnec or a Pleyben to commission magnificent statuary, often created by the workshop of Jean Dauré (1706?–1736/1747?) of Landerneau. Artists richly decorated the interiors of the rural churches, either with imaginative paintings on ceilings and pillars, or with stunning altars, as at Lampaul-Guimiliau, whose gilded fallen angels are based on a painting by Rubens (1577–1640). These masterpieces show the European dimension of early modern Breton civilization, and offer some of the richest rewards rural France has to entice the twenty-first-century visitor.

See also Anne of Brittany ; Charles VIII (France) ; France ; Louis XII (France) ; Provincial Government.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Collins, J. B. Classes, Estates, and Order in Early-Modern Brittany. Cambridge, U.K., and New York, 1994.

Croix, Alain. L'âge d'or de la Bretagne, 1532–1675. Rennes, France, 1993.

Tanguy, J. Histoire de la Bretagne et des pays celtique: La Bretagne province 1532–1789. Morlaix, 1986.

James B. Collins

Brittany. Former duchy and province of north-western France on the Armorican peninsula, coextensive with modern French Departments of Finistére, Côte d'Armor, Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine, and Loire-Atlantique (although the last is officially declared not a part of Brittany since the Vichy Regime, 1941). Occupying 18,630 square miles, the region is more than twice as large as Wales and more than half the size of Ireland. Brittany has been occupied by Celtic-speaking populations since pre-Roman times, but it takes its name from the Brythonic people who fled the isle of Britain in the 5th century. In Breton it is known as Breizh (cf. Breizh Uhel, ‘east or Upper Brittany’ (Fr. Haute Bretagne); Breizh Izel, ‘west or Lower Brittany’ (Fr. Basse Bretagne)); in Welsh it is Llydaw; Corn. Breten Vyghan; OIr. Letha; ModIr. An Bhriotáin; ScG Breatainn na Frainge; Manx Yn Vritaan. The coastal regions are known in Breton literature and folklore as Arvor [Bret. Ar-Mor, sea], while the interior is known as Argoad [Bret. Ar-Goat, Ar-Koad, woods, forest]. In early Christian times the region now called Brittany was divided among three petty kingdoms, Domnonia in the north, Cornouaille in the south and west, Bro Waroch in the south and east. The Fir Morca of early Irish myth, although sometimes placed in west Limerick, are Armoricans/Bretons.

In Welsh tradition the emigrants to Brittany were led by the legendary St. Cynan Meiriadog (or Meriadoc), who is described as a conqueror in Breuddwyd Macsen Wledig [The Dream of Macsen Wledig]. According to that story, the Roman emperor Macsen [Maximus] rewarded his British allies with a portion of Gaul then called Brytanieid. Macsen had married a British princess, Elen, whose brother Cynan had brought a British army to Rome. Cynan and his allies cut out the tongues of all the women of the province lest the language of the conquerors be corrupted, and thus they name it Llydaw [W lled, half; taw, silent]. Cynan is also described as the British invader in Breton legends, where he is known as Conan. With the subsequent influx of British ecclesiastics, the area increasingly became known as ‘Brittany’ instead of Armorica, although the two terms were interchangeable for many centuries.

A P-Celtic language of the Brythonic family, Breton is historically linked to both Welsh and the now extinct Cornish. On the testimony of Giraldus Cambrensis (12th cent.), spoken Breton was more closely related to the Cornish of his day than to Welsh. But despite many lexical similarities, modern spoken Breton and Welsh are not mutually comprehensible. In 1907 scholars determined that Breton language and tradition should be divided into four parts. Three in the north and west are closely interrelated: KLT, named for Kernev (Cornouaille), Leon (or Léon), and Treger (Trégor, Tréguier). The G dialect of the south-west stands somewhat apart, taking its name from Gwened, Breton for Vannes, capital of Morbihan; the dialect is also known as Vannetais in French, Gwenedeg in Breton. The first great political leader of the Bretons, subject of many legends, was Nominoë (9th cent.), who first accepted Frankish suzerainty but later revolted and restored Breton independence.

Although Giraldus Cambrensis speaks of ‘tale-telling Bretons and their singers’, no Breton literature survives from before 1450. The Anglo-Norman writer Marie de France (1160–80) brought the purported Breton lai or lay, often employing Breton subject matter, into the mainstream of European literature. Breton folk-tales and songs were not collected until the 19th century. An attempt to fill the void of early Breton tradition was made by Hersart de La Villemarqué's spurious, Macpherson-like ‘translations’ in 1839. Traditional symbols of Breton national culture are the ermine, triscele or triskelion, and biniou (a distinctive Woodwind instrument). See N. K. Chadwick, ‘The Colonization of Brittany from Celtic Britain’, Proceedings of the British Academy, 50 (1966); Early Brittany (Cardiff, 1969); Léon Fleuriot, Les Origines de la Bretagne: I'émigration (Paris, 1980). See also the Bibliography under ‘Breton’.

Brittany , Breton Breiz, Fr. Bretagne, region and former province, NW France. It is a peninsula between the English Channel (N) and the Bay of Biscay (S) and comprises four departments, Ille-et-Vilaine, Côtes-d'Armor, Finistère, and Morbihan. Historically the duchy and province of Brittany also included the Loire-Atlantique dept.

Land and People

The coast, particularly at the western tip, is irregular and rocky, with natural harbors (notably at Brest , Lorient , and Saint-Malo ) and numerous islands. Important rivers include the Odet and Vilaine. The emigration of the young has resulted in a serious decline in the region's population. Brittany and the Breton people have retained many old customs and traditions. Breton, their Celtic language (akin to Welsh), is spoken in traditionalist Lower (i.e., western) Brittany outside the cities (see Breton literature ). Brittany has remarkable stone calvaries, some built at the close of the 16th cent. to ward off the plague. Many megalithic monuments, formerly ascribed to the druids , dot the Breton landscape, notably at Carnac . These sights and the local traditions (old-fashioned peasant dress and high lace headgear, processions, and pilgrimages), which its inhabitants jealously maintain, have made Brittany an outstanding tourist attraction.

Economy

The economy of the region is based on agriculture, fishing, and tourism. Apples, from which the distinctive Breton cider is made, are grown extensively inland. Industry includes food processing, and automobile manufacturing. A major space telecommunications center is at Pleumeur-Bodou. There is a nuclear power plant in the Arrée Mts. and a tidal power station at Rance.

History

A part of ancient Armorica, the area was conquered by Julius Caesar in the Gallic Wars and became part of the province of Lugdunensis (see Gaul ). It received its modern name when it was settled (c.500) by Britons whom the Anglo-Saxons had driven from Britain. Breton history is a long struggle for independence—first from the Franks (5th-9th cent.), then from the dukes of Normandy and the counts of Anjou (10th-12th cent.), and finally from England and France.

In 1196, Arthur I, an Angevin , was acknowledged as duke. King John of England, who presumably murdered him (1203), failed to obtain the duchy, which passed to Arthur's brother-in-law, Peter I (Peter Mauclerc). The extinction of his direct line led to the War of the Breton Succession (1341-65), a part of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). With the end of the Breton war, the dukedom was won by the house of Montfort. The dukes of Montfort tried to secure Brittany's neutrality between France and Britain during the remainder of the Hundred Years War.

The unsuccessful rebellion of Duke Francis II against the French crown led to the absorption of Brittany into France after the accession of his daughter, Anne of Brittany, in 1488. King Francis I formally incorporated the duchy into France in 1532. Brittany's provincial parlement met at Rennes, and its provincial assembly remained powerful until the French Revolution.

The 16th and 17th cent. were generally peaceful in Brittany, but the region, never reconciled to centralized rule, became one of the early centers of revolt in 1789. However, its staunch Catholicism and conservatism soon transformed it into an anti-Revolutionary stronghold; the Chouans (anti-Revolutionary peasants) were never fully subdued, and in S Brittany and the neighboring Vendée the Revolutionary government resorted to ruthless reprisals.

Breton nationalism grew in the 19th cent. and was fueled by the anticlericalism of the Third Republic. The Breton autonomists, long successfully repressed by the French government, nevertheless resisted German bids for collaboration in World War II. During the 1970s, Breton nationalists once again protested the French repression of Breton culture. Groups such as the Breton Revolutionary army and the Movement of National Liberation by Socialism committed sporadic acts of violence, such as the exploding of a bomb in the palace of Versailles in June, 1978.

Bibliography

See N. Lands, Brittany (1986); E. Baclone, The Appointed Hour (1989).

Brittany (Bretagne) Former duchy and province in nw France, forming the peninsula between the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel. Under Roman rule from 56 bc to the 5th century ad, it was later inhabited by Celts who provided its name, language (Breton), and distinctive costume and culture. It was formally incorporated within France in 1532, and the years that followed saw the deliberate suppression of Breton culture, to the extent that the language was banned. In more recent times, the French government has improved the region's infrastructure. Pop. (1999) 2,907,178.

Brittany (Bretagne; Breton: Breiz), FranceArmorica A region. Armorica was the Romanized version of the Celtic word for seaside from ar ‘on’ and mor ‘sea’. The region was named after the Britons who fled here in the 5th century to escape the Anglo‐Saxon invasions of Britain. Between 851 and 939 it was a kingdom before becoming a duchy. Brittany did not become a part of France until 1532. It shares a Celtic heritage with Wales, Ireland, and the county of Cornwall in England.

Brittany ♀ Mainly North American: modern coinage, taken from the traditionally Celtic-speaking region of north-west France, known in medieval Latin as Britannia, because it was settled by refugees from Cornwall and Devon following the establishment of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex. Its adoption as a given name has also been influenced by Britt, of which it is sometimes regarded as the full form. In recent years it has rapidly established itself as a popular name in the English-speaking world.

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