Brittany

The Dukes of Brittany and Earls of Richmond.

Arms: Of Alan Forgeant and Earls of Richmond—Chequy or, and az. a canton ermine and bordure gu.; of De Dreux, Dukes of Brittany, the same, till John (le Roux), Duke of Brittany, adopted the ermine alone in 1286.

Brittany or Ancient Armorica, was inhabited by the Celtic tribes of the Veneti, the Curiovolitæ and the Asismii until a.d. 284, when the Britons, forced by the invasion of the Saxons, migrated in large numbers to Armorica under the protection of Constaned. This colony was followed by another, a.d. 384, when the Tyrant Maximus who was in Britain induced six thousand Britons under their leader Conis or Cowan, Prince of Albanie and Powys, to settle in Armorica where they formed a monarchy, afterwards reduced to a Duchy, which maintained its independence till united to the Crown of France in 1532.

According to the Histories of Bretagne or Brittany (Lobineau, Tallandiers, Morice, etc.), Conan or Cynan Medriadog, Prince of Albanie and Powys, (“the most ancient Christian King in Europe”), living a.d. 383, m. a.d. 388, Dareara, dau. of Calphurnim, his cousin, and sister of St. Patrick; and dying a.d. 421, was succeeded by his eldest son Urbien, as King of Brittany.

Urbien, was succeeded by Salmon I. (421, d. 434), who mar. a dau. of Patrick Flavius, and had Andrew (446, d. 464), who succeeded him, and Constantine, King of Britain, grandfather of Arthur, King of Britain (506), made famous in history.

Andrew was succeeded by his son, Erich, Duke of Brittany (d. 478), whose eldest son Budic (d. 544), had to wife D’Anaumide, who had Höel I. or Rioval (d. 545), who married Alma Pompa, and had Höel II. (d. 547), married to Rimo, who had Juduael or Alan I. (born 535), married to Azenor by whom he had Höel III. (d. 612) and Grallon, Count of Cornuaille.

Höel III. mar. Fratelle, daughter of Osoche, and had Judicael (d. 17th Dec., 658), who married Morone and had Alain II. or “Ohe Long” (a.d. 690), and Urbien, Count of Cornuaille.

From this time forward more or less obscurity and confusion exists in this as in every other reign of the Sovereign Houses in Europe; but it appears that Daniel (grandson of Alan II.) succeeded his uncle Grallon in the Duchy, and had Budic Le Grand, who was succeeded in 799 by his second son Rivallon, and successively by Jarnithan (814), Morvan (818), and Rivallon, eldest brother of Noménoe, great-grandson of Budic, King of Brittany (851).

Rivallon was succeeded by Salmon III. (a.d. 870), whose son Wigon died s.p., and the Duchy passed to his two sisters, one of whom married Gurvard, Count de Rennes (d. 877), and the other, Pasquiten, Count de Nannes (d. 877).

Gurvard was succeded by his son, Judicael, as Count de Rennes (d. 888), who had Juhael-Berringer (930), who had Conan 1st. (Le Tort), who was twice married. By his second wile, Ermengarde, dau of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, he had Judith, who married Richard II., Duke of Normandy; and by his first marriage he had five sons, the eldest of whom was Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany (992–1008), who married Hawise or Havoise, sister of Rich. II., Duke of Normandy, and had two sons, Alan III. (or V.). and Eudo, Count de Penthievre, who married sisters, the daughters of Alan Cagnart, Count de Cornuaille.

Eudo married Agnes or Ennogent, dau. of Alan Cagnart, and had Alan Niger, Alan le Roux, and Brian (ancestor of the Counts Chateaubriand), successively Earls of Richmond, in England; Bardolph[1] (progenitor of the Barons FitzHugh and others), Geoffrey Botterel 1st, and Etienne, Count of Penthievre (d. 1138), who married Havoise, heiress and daughter of the Count de Guinchamp, who had (with others) Alan Niger, “The Savage” (died 1165), fourth Earl of Richmond and Brittany, who in 1137 married Bertha, sole daughter and heiress of Conan III. (Le Gros, d. 1148), son of Alan le Roux or Forgeant (d. 1119), and great grand-daughter of Höel V., Duke of Brittany, son of Alan Cagnart (d. 13th April, 1084), who married Havoise, daughter of Alain III., Duke of Brittany (d. 1040), whose son and heir, Conan II. (d. 1066) left a natural[2] son, Alan.

Alan Niger, Duke of Brittany and fourth Earl of Richmond, was succeeded by Conan IV. (or le Petit, d. 20th February, 1171), who married Margaret, dau. of Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, sister of Malcolm, King of Scotland; by whom he had a sole heiress, Constance (d. 1201), mar. to Geoffrey, son of King Henry II. of England, who had Arthur, Duke of Bretagne, with whom the Earldom of Richmond ended; while the Duchy of Brittany passed to Peter de Dreux, who married Alice, daughter of Constance, by her third husband, Guy, Count de Thours.

Notes

[1] Bardolph: See Note 5 “Bardolph,” in page 104, ante.

[2] Natural: See L’Art de Verifier les Dates, for the History of the Honour of Richmond. But it may be observed that French genealogists often considered as natural sons all those whose mothers were unknown, and who did not inherit lands in French territory.