In ancient times,Armorica orAremorica[1] was a region ofGaul between theSeine and theLoire that includes theBrittany Peninsula, and much of historicalNormandy.[2]
The nameArmorica is a Latinized form of theGaulishtoponymAremorica, which literally means 'place in front of the sea'. It is formed with the prefixare- ('in front of') attached to -mori- ('sea') and the feminine suffix-(i)cā, denoting the localization (or provenance).[3] The inhabitants of the region were calledAremorici (sing.Aremoricos), formed with the stemare-mori- extended by the determinative suffix -cos. It is glossed by the Latinantemarini ('coastal', 'before the sea') inEndlicher's Glossary. The Slavs use a similar formation,Po-mor-jane ('those in front of the sea'), to designate the inhabitants ofPomerania.[3] The Latin adjectiveArmoricani was an administrative term designating in particular a sector of the Roman defence line in Gaul inLate Antiquity, theTractus Armoricani ('Armorican Tract').[4][5]
In medievalInsular Celtic languages, the Celtic term*Litauia, meaning 'Land' or 'Country' (from an original Proto-Celtic*Litauī 'Earth',lit. 'the Vast One'), came to be used to designate the Brittany Peninsula, as inOld IrishLetha,Old WelshLitau,Old BretonLetau, or in the Latinized formLetavia.[6]
InBreton, which belongs to theBrythonic branch of the Insular Celtic languages, along withWelsh andCornish, "on [the] sea" iswar vor, but the older wordarvor (with a non-related prefix "ar") is used to refer to the coastal regions of Brittany, in contrast toargoad (ar "on/at",coad "forest" [Welshar goed orcoed "trees"]) for the inland regions.[7] If the Breton usage of these terms corresponds with the Gaulish usage ofAremorica, this could suggest that the Romans first contacted coastal people in the inland region and assumed that the regional nameAremorica referred to the whole area, both coastal and inland.[citation needed]
Pliny the Elder, in hisNatural History (4.17.105), claims that Armorica was the older name forAquitania and states Armorica's southern boundary extended to thePyrenees. Taking into account the Gaulish origin of the name, that is perfectly correct and logical, as Aremorica is not a country name but a word that describes a type of geographical region, one that is by the sea. Pliny lists the followingCeltic tribes as living in the area: theAedui andCarnuteni as having treaties withRome; theMeldi andSecusiani as having some measure of independence; and theBoii,Senones,Aulerci (both theEburovices andCenomani), theParisii,Tricasses,Andicavi,Viducasses,Bodiocasses,Veneti,Coriosvelites,Diablinti,Rhedones,Turones, and theAtseui.
Trade between Armorica and Britain, described byDiodorus Siculus and implied by Pliny,[8] was long-established. Because, even after the campaign ofPublius Crassus in 56 BC, continued resistance to Roman rule in Armorica was still being supported by Celtic aristocrats inBritain andJulius Caesar led two invasions of Britain, in 55 BC, and again in 54 BC, in response. Some hint of the complicated cultural web that bound Armorica and the Britanniae (the "Britains" of Pliny) is given by Caesar when he describesDiviciacus of theSuessiones as "the most powerful ruler in the whole of Gaul, who had control not only over a large area of this region but also of Britain".[9] Archaeological sites along the south coast of England, notably atHengistbury Head, show connections with Armorica as far east as theSolent. This 'prehistoric' connection of Cornwall and Brittany set the stage for the link that continued into the medieval era. Still farther East, however, the typical Continental connections of the Britannic coast were with the lower Seine valley instead.
Archaeology has not yet been as enlightening in Iron-Age Armorica as the coinage, which has been surveyed byPhilip de Jersey.[10]
Under theRoman Empire, Armorica was administered as part of the province ofGallia Lugdunensis, which had its capital inLugdunum, (modern dayLyon). When theRoman provinces were reorganized in the 4th century, Armorica (Tractus Armoricanus et Nervicanus) was placed under the second and third divisions of Lugdunensis. After the legions retreated from Britannia (407 AD) the local elite there expelled the civilian magistrates in the following year; Armorica too rebelled in the 430s and again in the 440s, throwing out the ruling officials, as the Romano-Britons had done. At theBattle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451 a Roman coalition led by GeneralFlavius Aetius and the Visigothic KingTheodoric I clashed violently with the Hunnic alliance commanded by KingAttila the Hun.Jordanes lists Aëtius' allies as including Armoricans and other Celtic or German tribes (Getica 36.191).
The "Armorican" peninsula came to be settled withBritons from Britain during the poorly documented period of the 5th–7th centuries.[11] Even in distant ByzantiumProcopius heard tales of migrations to the Frankish mainland from the island, largely legendary for him, ofBrittia.[12] These settlers, whether refugees or not, made the presence felt of their coherent groups in the naming of the westernmost, Atlantic-facing provinces of Armorica,Cornouaille ("Cornwall") andDomnonea ("Devon").[13] These settlements are associated with leaders like SaintsSamson of Dol andPol Aurelian, among the "founder saints" of Brittany.
The linguistic origins ofBreton are clear: it is aBrythonic language descended from theCelticBritish language, likeWelsh andCornish one of theInsular Celtic languages, brought by these migrating Britons. Still, questions of the relations between the Celticcultures of Britain—Cornish andWelsh—and CelticBreton are far from settled. Martin Henig (2003) suggests that in Armorica as insub-Roman Britain:
There was a fair amount of creation of identity in themigration period. We know that the mixed, but largely British and Frankish population of Kent repackaged themselves as 'Jutes', and the largely British populations in the lands east of Dumnonia (Devon and Cornwall) seem to have ended up as 'West Saxons'. In western Armorica, the small élite which managed to impose an identity on the population happened to be British rather than 'Gallo-Roman' in origin, so they became Bretons. The process may have been essentially the same."[14]
According toC. E. V. Nixon, the collapse of Roman power and the depredations of theVisigoths led Armorica to act "like a magnet to peasants,coloni, slaves and the hard-pressed" who deserted other Roman territories, further weakening them.[15]
Vikings settled in theCotentin peninsula and the lower Seine aroundRouen in the ninth and early tenth centuries and, as these regions came to be known asNormandy, the nameArmorica fell out of use in the area. With western Armorica having already evolved intoBrittany, the east was recast from aFrankish viewpoint as theBreton March under a Frankishmargrave.
The home village of the fictional comic-book heroAsterix was located in Armorica during theRoman Republic; there, "indomitable Gauls" hold out against Rome. The unnamed village was reported as having been discovered by archaeologists in a spoof article in the BritishThe Independent newspaper onApril Fool's Day in 1993.[16] The opening chapter ofFinnegans Wake byJames Joyce also refers to North Armorica.[17]
48°10′00″N1°00′00″W / 48.1667°N 1.0000°W /48.1667; -1.0000
