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Early Armorica

monnaie vénète

Before Brittany, Armorica

Before it was called Brittany, our peninsula was known as Armorica. Armorica in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages remains a mystery. No written documentary sources, few archaeological indications, only hypotheses. In the first centuries AD, on both sides of the English Channel, in Armorica and in insular Brittany (today’s England), Celtic peoples lived with similar lifestyles and languages: Britton in insular Brittany, the Celtic Gallic language in Armorica.
The Roman conquest of Armorica began under Caesar in 50 BC, and that of island Brittany a century later, intensifying commercial, cultural and even religious exchanges between the two shores of the English Channel. The crossing seems to have been relatively easy in good weather, lasting a day and a night, using oars and sails, in small boats made of wood and stretched skins, called “curragh”, weighted down with a large stone into which the mast was embedded, or in larger oak ships for transporting men and goods.
The Roman presence in Armorica was slight. In the towns, which were few in number, the Romanized elites spoke Latin and there were a few small Christian communities. But the countryside remained Gallic and attached to the ancient Celtic religion. Thanks to political stability, a certain prosperity reigned until the middle of the3rd century.

Arrival of the Britons in the 3rd century

Two centuries later, Brittany was already Christianized. In Armorica, the penetration of Christianity was less marked.

From the5th century onwards, religious figures from island Brittany, accompanied by their followers, arrived in large numbers. Perhaps they were driven out by pressure from the Scots of Ireland, or perhaps they were exiled to the mainland following doctrinal differences, or perhaps they wanted to carry out an evangelizing mission – the uncertainties remain. They were monks, diplomats, organizers.

Starting from the coast and working their way up the valleys of the Gouet, Blavet, Rance and Vilaine rivers, they founded hermitages or small clan communities, of which they were the leaders, and left their mark on this territory.

These religious navigators are the well-known Breton “saints”: Saint Quay, Saint Malo, Saint Budoc, Saint Maudez, Saint Briac, Saint Brieuc, Saint Tugdual, Saint Paul-Aurélien… and many others among the 700 Breton saints listed.

In the following centuries, power in Armorica seems to have gradually passed into the hands of the new arrivals, with the Armoricans adopting the language of the island Bretons, and Breton “counts” taking over relatively autonomous territories. At the beginning of the 6th century, the chieftains of what is now called Brittany formed an alliance with the Franks of Clovis, the Frankish king who had become a Christian. Much later, in 1532, Brittany became part of France…

Anne de Bretagne (1477-1514) – Jean Bourdichon – vers 1503