Duke of Brittany
|
Coat of Arms of the Dukes of Brittany (from 1312); described by virtually the only one-word blazon in existence, simply Ermine. |
The
Duke of Brittany (
French:
Duc de Bretagne) governed
Brittany, a region with strong traditions of independence, including a language and a distinctive culture.
The incorporation of Brittany into the
Carolingian empire ensured that the political and social institutions were similar to those prevailing elsewhere in western
Francia. Until the 10th century, Brittany was severely affected by Viking attacks and ducal authority was weak. Dynastic disputes caused the political fragmentation of the duchy into counties and authority suffered even further from the pressures of resisting claims by both the
dukes of Normandy and the
counts of Anjou. This process of fragmentation was halted and reversed from the mid-eleventh century, when intermarriage resulted in the ducal title vesting in a single individual, Duke Alain IV Fergent.
Alain's long and stable reign included expansion of Breton holdings by King
William I of England conferring upon him the honour of
Richmond, after the
Norman Conquest of England. His son Conan III also saw progress in the revival of central authority. A succession dispute following Conan's death undid the duke's achievements and allowed
Henry II of England, to claim overlordship. Between 1158 and 1166, Henry II annexed Brittany to his continental holdings, marrying his third son, Geoffrey, to Constance, heiress of the duchy. The
Angevin Empire in Brittany came to an end in 1203, after King
John of England murdered his nephew, Arthur, the son of Geoffrey and Constance.
The marriage of the infant Alice to Capetian cadet Peter of Dreux in 1213, began the new House of Dreux. This allowed Brittany a measure of autonomy again, although continuously giving lip service to Capetian sovereignty. After the
Breton War of Succession, Brittany still had links with the English Crown through the
Earldom of Richmond, until the
Wars of the Roses. A disoriented and shut out Brittany became royally subsumed into France, during a tapering reign of the
Montfort house. In 1465 Duke Francis II took
Penthievre from its Blois-descended countess, Nicole de Bretagne-Blois - thus undermining the Penthievre family's position in the country. In 1488, at the death of the last male duke Francis II, the head of the Penthievre family was Jean de Brosse (died 1502), grandson of Nicole de Blois the aforementioned, and he asserted their claimto the duchy, but Francis' daughter Anne however succeeded. Duchess
Anne of Brittany was first attempted to get married to Habsburgs, in order to avoid French central government's yoke, but she found herself instead married in turn to two kings of France. Her daughter Claude, duchess from 1514, was married to king Francis, and was not able to keep any independent government. Claude's son Francis IV was invested as duke, but this meant next to nothing to Briton independence. Some members of the
Brosse family were appointed as royal governors of Brittany by the French. When Francis IV's brother Henri ascended the French throne, the duchy became regarded as merged in the crown. The view enjoyed no undivided support, as many Britons would have liked higher autonomy and other European royal houses woulsd have liked to weaken France in its own borders. Thus, when
Henry III of France, the last male-line descendant of Claude died in 1589, his theoretical heirs in Brittany and Auvergne were Infanta
Isabella Clara Eugenia, the later Spanish ruler of Low Countries, and
Henry I, Duke of Lorraine (the former was eldest daughter of the late eldest sister of Henry III but female, the latter was male but son of younger sister; Brittany had a unlogical tradition of giving some -but not all- precedence to male heirs even in cases he also descended through female).
Philip II of Spain, leading enemy of France, offered either of them to divide as much of France between them as could be taken. Regarding Brittany, nothing come from this. Instead,
Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercoeur, a leader of
Catholic League, whom king Henry III had in 1582 made royal governor of
Brittany, declared independence in name of his own underage son
Philippe Louis de Lorraine-Mercoeur who through maternal ancestry was the direct primogenitural heir of Duchess Joanna of Brittany, that of the Penthievre branch, wife of
Charles the Lame of Blois. Mercoeur organized a government at
Nantes, supported by the
Spaniards. It took several years until in 1598 the Mercoeur government surrendered in 1598 to
Henry IV of France who had one of his own bastards to marry the young daughter of the Mercoeurs, and confirmed the direct French control of the province.
Richmondshire, part of Brittany and latterly of Great Britain
Richmondshire was often held by Breton dukes themselves or
their secundogeniture during the Middle Ages. There was also a rift in the political ambitions of Brittany and Richmondshire;
Plantagenet Richmondshire under
John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford supported
English claims to the French throne, whilst
Capet Brittany opposed this. During the
Wars of the Roses, Richmond became partisan with the
House of Lancaster under the
Tudor earls, themselves supported by the Duke of Brittany. Parting between Nantes and Richmond was amicable (
Arthur de Richemont) and unofficial for the span of a century (
Henry FitzRoy quartered
ermine in his arms), or more (
Ludovic Stewart was originally a mere
Earl, not
Duke of Richmond).
Richmond became a dukedom in its own right; the Duchy of Brittany and
Kingdom of Navarre were being united with France as the
Principality of Wales and
Kingdom of Scotland were uniting with England. The present holder of Richmond owes the honorific title
Duke of Aubigny (after
Aubigny-sur-Nère in
Berry), in descent from Breton
Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. This new relation was connected to the
Auld Alliance, Breton roots in the
House of Stuart,
reactionary recusancy as found in Richmondshire and also
Lennox near
Glasgow.
Catholic connections continued with the addition of
Jacobite Clan Gordon's property in the
Scottish Highlands to this circle and the present Duke of Richmond is also
Duke of Gordon.
Kings of the Bretons
*
Nominoe (or
Nevenoe) (r.
841â€"
851), as a
missus dominicus of the
Emperor Louis the Pious, a count of
Vannes (Gwened) and a duke (
dux) of Brittany
*
Erispoe (r.851â€"
857), as a duke, then a king of Brittany
*
Salomon (or
Salaun) (r.857â€"
874), as a duke, then a king of Brittany
*
Pasquitan of Vannes (or
Paskweten) (r.874â€"
877), ruling Brittany with Gurvand
*
Gurvand of Rennes (r.874â€"877), ruling Brittany with Pasquitan
*
Judicael of Rennes (r.877â€"
888), successor of Gurvand, ruled Brittany with Alan the Great
*
Alan the Great (reigned from
877 to
888 with Judicaël, alone as a duke, then as a king up to
907)The succession was interrupted by the
Norman occupation (
907â€"
937)
House of Nantes/Naoned
*
Alan II Wrybeard (reigned as a duke from 937 to 952)
*
Drogo, son (reigned from 952 to 958)
*
Hoel I, brother (reigned from 960â€"981 as a duke, but controlled only the county of Nantes/Naoned)
*
Guerech, brother (reigned from 981â€"988 as a duke, but controlled only the county of Nantes/Naoned)
House of Rennes/Roazhon
*
Conan I of Rennes (r.958â€"
992) earl of Rennes/Roazhon, then ruling all Brittany (if not Nantes/Naoned) as a duke (990â€"992)
*
Geoffrey I (r.992â€"
1008)
*
Alan III (r.1008â€"
1040)
*
Conan II (r.1040â€"
1066)
*
Hoel II of Cornouaille/Hoel Huuel (r.1066â€"
1084), married Hawisa, daughter of Alan III
*
Alan IV Fergant (r.1084â€"
1112)
*
Conan III the Fat (r.1112â€"
1148)
*
Eon I of Porhoet (r.1148â€"
1156), married Bertha, daughter of Conan III
*
Conan IV the Younger, son of Bertha and Alan of Richmond. (r.1156â€"1168), deposed, †1171
*
Geoffrey Plantagenet (r.1166â€"
1186), married Constance, daughter of Conan IV
*
Constance, daughter of Conan IV, (r.1186â€"1201)
*
Arthur I Plantagenet (r.1196â€"
1203)
*
Guy of Thouars (r.1203â€"1206)
*
Alix of Thouars, daughter of Constance and Guy of Thouars, (r.1206â€"1221)
*
Peter I Mauclerc of Dreux (r.
1213â€"
1237)
in right of his wife Alix and as regent of his son*
John I, the Red (r.1237â€"
1286)
*
John II (r.1286â€"
1305)
*
Arthur II (r.1305â€"
1316)
*
John III, the Good (r.1312â€"
1341)
Breton War of Succession (1341â€"1364)
*Charles of Blois and Joanna of Penthièvre (r.1341â€"1364)
*vs. Dukes John IV and John V, see belowThe cadet branch of the House of Dreux
*
John of Montfort (r.1341â€"
1345) in rivalry to the aforementioned
*
John IV, the Conqueror (r.1364â€"
1399) until 1365 in rivalry to the aforementioned
*
John V (r.1399â€"
1442)
*
Francis I (r.1442â€"
1450)
*
Peter II (r.1450â€"
1457)
*
Arthur III (r.1457â€"
1458)
*
Francis II (r.1458â€"
1488)
*
Anne of Brittany (r.1488â€"
1514)
*
Claudia of France (r.1514â€"
1524)
*
François, Dauphin of France (r.1524â€"
1536), son of
Francis I of France and
Claudia of France*
Henry II of France was from 1536 Duke of Brittany, and when he succeeded in the royal throne 1547, Brittany was officially united to France
1589-98 and its aftermaths
*
Philip, Duke of Brittany i.e Philippe de Lorraine-Mercoeur, born 1589, died in 1590, proclaimed "Prince and Duke of Brittany" in Nantes (reigned 1589-90 under regency of his father Philippe Emmanuel, duc de Mercoeur)
*
Marie de Luxembourg, Duchess of Penthievre (1562-1623), and her husband
Philippe-Emmanuel de Lorraine, Duke of Mercoeur (1558-1602), the rebel governor (reigned 1589-98)
** rival: Francoise de Lorraine-Mercoeur (1592-1669) and her husband
Cesar de Bourbon, duc de Vendome (1594-1665), candidates of King Henry IV
Claimants
When the Montfortine Duke Francis II died in 1488, heirs of the
Penthievre family asserted their claim - at that time, Penthievre and their rights had already been inherited by a female-line descent, the family of
Brosse, whose heads were:
* titular duke John VII (Jean de Brosse, died 1502), son of Jean V de Brosse and grandson of Nicole de Blois-Bretagne-Penthievre
* titular duke Rene I (René de Brosse, died 1524), son of previous
* titular duke John VIII (
Jean de Brosse, duc d'Etampes et de Chevreuse, died
1566), son of René, sometime royal governor of Brittany
*
Sebastien de Luxembourg, nephew of previous
*
Marie de Luxembourg (daughter of previous) and her husband Philippe-Emmanuel, duc de Mercoeur - they succeeded in having their rule recognized at least in Nantes and surroundings in 1589 onwards up to 1598The claims to the Duchy of Brittany after 1598 evolved:
* the senior claim, that of
Joan of Penthievre and of the Mercoeur, went through
Bourbon-Vendome (the illegitimate branch started by Cesar, bastard of Henry IV, and his Briton wife) to
Marie-Jeanne de Savoie-Nemours, the mother of
Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia and after her death in 1724, the Savoy kings of Sardinia, until Victor Emmanuel I was inherited by Dukes of Modena, and then subsequently inherited by Dukes of Bavaria, whose heir now is
Franz, Duke of Bavaria* the junior or
Montfort claim and of Isabella Clara Eugenia (who died in 1633), went to her nephew the duke of Savoy, whose descendant Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia inherited it from his father in 1675. Since Victor Amadeus subsequently in 1724 succeeded in his mother's rights too, the succession thus continued as explained above together with the senior claim all way down to Franz, Duke of Bavaria.
*
Brittany*
Dukes of Brittany family tree*
Genealogy of the Dukes of Brittany
