This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Kingdom of Brittany" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Kingdom of Brittany Rouantelezh Breizh (Breton) Royaume de Bretagne (French)
851–939
The growth of the Kingdom of Brittany 845–67
Common languages	Breton,Gallo,Latin,French,Norman,Poitevin
Religion	Catholicism
Duke of Brittany
History
• Battle of Jengland	22 August 851
• Battle of Trans-la-Forêt	1 August 939
Preceded by Succeeded by Cornouaille Domnonée Broërec Marches of Neustria Duchy of Brittany Viking Upper Brittany Duchy of Normandy Frank Neustria

TheKingdom of Brittany (Breton:Rouantelezh Breizh) was a short-lived vassal-state of theFrankish Empire that emerged during theNorse invasions. Its history begins in 851 withErispoe's claim to kingship. In 856, Erispoe was murdered and succeeded by his cousinSalomon.

The kingdom fell into a period of turmoil caused by Norse invasions and a succession dispute between Salomon's murderers:Gurvand andPascweten. Pascweten's brother,Alan, called the Great, was the third and last to be recognized as King of Brittany.^[1] After his death, Brittany fell under Norse occupation.

WhenAlan Twistedbeard, Alan the Great's grandson, reconquered Brittany in 939,Brittany became a sovereign duchy untilits union with France in 1532.

In 383,Magnus Maximus was proclaimed emperor by his soldiers in Britain. He promptly invaded Gaul and deposed EmperorGratian. During the invasion, he instructed some of his soldiers to occupy the western part of theArmorican peninsula and expel soldiers loyal to Gratian. TheHouse of Ingelger confirm this event in their origin story.

At the end of theAntiquity period, additionalCeltic Britons, fleeing theAnglo-Saxon settlement of Britain (5th-7th centuries), settled in the same region. At some stage, it was renamedBrittany ("little Britain").

As a result of these settlements,Celtic culture was revived inGallo-Roman Armorica and independentpetty kingdoms arose in this region, namelyCornouaille,Domnonée andBroërec.

From 801 to 837, the adjacentFrankish Empire made several unsuccessful attempts to subdue the Breton tribes. In order to bring Brittany into the Empire's sphere of influence,Louis the Pious appointedNominoe, a noble Briton, head of the region. Titledmissus imperatoris ("Imperial emissary") by the Emperor, he was in charge of the administration of the region on the latter's behalf.

Following the death of Louis the Pious and taking advantage of theNorman invasions destabilizing the Frankish Empire, Nominoe defeated Frankish troops at theBattle of Ballon (845). The peace treaty that followed allowed Nominoe to increase his autonomy fromCharles the Bald, a son of Louis the Pious. In 850, the Bretons briefly occupied the FrankishBreton March, but following Nominoe's untimely death they retreated to their historical lands.

Seeking revenge, Charles the Bald invaded Brittany with an army drawn from both the western and eastern parts of the Frankish empire.Erispoe, Nominoe's son and successor, intercepted Charles at theBattle of Jengland (851). At the Treaty of Angers signed the same year, thePays de Retz entered Erispoe's realm. As the Bretons decisively defeated the Franks, Brittany became effectively independent of the Frankish Empire, making Erispoe the first king of Brittany. In 856, the Kingdom of Brittany and the Frankish Empire allied themselves to counter the Norman invasions. But Erispoe was murdered the same year by his cousinSalomon who took the throne of Brittany and allied himself with the Normans to capture the Frankish city ofLe Mans.

Charles the Bald bought peace with the Bretons by giving away the provinces ofCotentin (863) andMaine (867). In 874,Salomon was murdered in a conspiracy involvingPascweten andGurvand, but a civil war ensued between the latter pair. Both claimants died in 876, but war continued between their respective successorsAlan (Pascweten's brother) andJudicael (Gurvand's son).

In a temporary truce, Alan and Judicael allied themselves to counter Norman attacks. In one of those attacks inQuestembert in 888, Judicael died andAlan became king of Brittany as Alan I.

Alan died in 907 and was succeeded, after a disputed succession, byGourmaëlon who did not claim the title of king. Little is known about his reign because Norse raids increased dramatically, destabilizing the region further. It was probably during one of these attacks that Gourmaëlon died in 913.

From 919, Brittany was completely occupied by the Norsemen, monasteries and cities were looted and many Bretons fled to neighbouring countries.

In 935,Alan Twistedbeard (Alan I's grandson), who had fled back toEngland after a failed insurrection against the Norsemen a few years earlier, disembarked once more on the shores of Brittany in order to reconquer his domain. By 937, he had recovered most of Brittany and the Norsemen retreated to their stronghold ofTrans-la-Forêt. In 939, a combined army of Frankish and Breton soldiersattacked the fortress and eliminated the Norse threat in Brittany.

With his domain ruined by decades of occupation and war, Alan Twistedbeard was not in a position to restore the kingship of Brittany and paid tribute asduke of Brittany to kingLouis IV of France in 942.^[2][3]

• Judicael (c. 590–657) - Breton high king, king ofDomnonée; united the Breton kingdoms of Domnonée andBroërec; recognizedDagobert I andEligius
• Morman (reigned 814–818)- first ruler named King of Brittany by the Breton nobles upon the death ofCharlemagne in 814, whom he had served as avassal
• Period of Frankish rule underLouis the Pious (819–822) -Morman rebelled against Frankish rule but was defeated byLouis the Pious. During this period Brittany was also threatened by theBreton March.
• Wihomarc (reigned 822–825) - led a successful rebellion against Frankish rule to re-establish Breton rule; killed by Lambert I,Count of Nantes of the Breton March
• Nominoe (orNevenoe) (ruled 841–851), a count of Vannes, first duke of Brittany
  • by tradition, Father of the Country;
  • amissus dominicus of theEmperorLouis the Pious;
• Erispoe (ruled 851–857), a Count of Vannes, son ofNominoe; ruled as duke, then as king
  • assassinated at a church altar, at the time a place of asylum, bySalomon, his cousin
  • his daughter marriedGurvand
• Salomon (orSalaun) (reigned 857–874), acount of Rennes and acount of Nantes
  • led a revolt againstErispoe;
  • ruled as duke, then as king based upon the coronet and purple robes bestowed upon him by the emperor; the last ruler of unified Brittany untilAlan I;
  • attempted to have the Pope award the pallium to the Bishopric of Dol in an effort to obtain its independence from theMetropolitan of Tours;
  • assassinated in a revolt led in part byPascweten, Count of Vannes, his son-in-law andGurvand, the son-in-law ofErispoe;
  • canonized a saint and raised to the level of martyr
• Period of divided rule during a civil war and the first Viking invasion (874–888)
  • Southern Brittany
    • Pascweten (orPaskweten) (reigned 874–877), a count of Vannes, ruled southern Brittany contemporaneously withGurvand;
    • Alan the Great (reigned 877–888) - succeeded his brotherPascweten; ruled southern Brittany contemporaneously withJudicael; seeAlan I
  • Northern Brittany
    • Gurvand (reigned 874–877), ruled northern Brittany contemporaneously withPascweten;
    • Judicael (reigned 877–888), succeededGurvand, ruled northern Brittany contemporaneously withAlan the Great; seeAlan I
• Alan I, or Alan the Great,
  • (reigned 877–888) succeededPascweten, and reigned from 877 to 888 withJudicael, then,
  • (reigned 888–907) ruled alone as a duke upon Judicaël's death,
  • granted the title of king or 'rex Brittaniæ' by the EmperorCharles the Fat;
  • the last king of Brittany
• The second Viking invasion and occupation (907–937)
  • Alan I's son Mathuedoi, Count of Poher, and his son (who would become Alan II) fled Brittany and lived in exile with the king of England. Mathuedoi was aking in exile but never crowned.

• Medieval Brittany
• States and territories disestablished in the 930s
• 851 establishments

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from June 2015
• All articles needing additional references
• Articles containing Breton-language text
• Articles containing French-language text
• France articles missing geocoordinate data
• All articles needing coordinates
• Articles missing coordinates with coordinates on Wikidata