Front Matter
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Cambridge University Press 0521660718 - Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire, 1158–1203 J. A. Everard Frontmatter More information The rule of the Angevins in Brittany is characterised usually as opening an isolated `Celtic' society to a wider world and imposing new and alien institutions. This study, the ®rst on the subject of Brittany under the Angevins, demonstrates that the opposite is true: that before the advent of Henry II in 1158, the Bretons were already active participants in Anglo-Norman and French society. Indeed those Bretons with landholdings in England, Normandy and Anjou were already accustomed to Angevin rule. The book examines in detail the means by which Henry II gained sovereignty over Brittany, and how it was governed subsequently by the Angevin kings of England from 1158 to 1203. In particular, it examines the extent to which the Angevins ruled Brittany directly, or delegated authority either to native dukes or royal ministers, and shows that in this respect the nature of Angevin rule changed and evolved over the period. judith everard is co-editor (with Michael Jones) of The Charters of Constance, Duchess of Brittany, and her Family (1171±1221) (1999). © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660718 - Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire, 1158–1203 J. A. Everard Frontmatter More information Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought BRITTANY AND THE ANGEVINS © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660718 - Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire, 1158–1203 J. A. Everard Frontmatter More information Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought Fourth Series General Editor: d. e. luscombe Leverhulme Personal Research Professor of Medieval History, University of Shef®eld Advisory Editors: christine carpenter Reader in Medieval English History, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of New Hall rosamond mckitterick Professor of Medieval History, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Newnham College The series Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought was inaugurated by G. G. Coulton in 1921; Professor D. E. Luscombe now acts as General Editor of the Fourth Series, with Dr Christine Carpenter and Professor Rosamond McKitterick as Advisory Editors. The series brings together outstanding work by medieval scholars over a wide range of human endeavour extending from political economy to the history of ideas. For a list of titles in the series, see end of book. © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660718 - Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire, 1158–1203 J. A. Everard Frontmatter More information BRITTANY AND THE ANGEVINS Province and Empire 1158±1203 J. A. EVERARD © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660718 - Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire, 1158–1203 J. A. Everard Frontmatter More information published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk 40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011±4211, USA http://www.cup.org 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia Ruiz de AlarcoÂn 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain # J. A. Everard 2000 The book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2000 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface Monotype Bembo 11/12pt System 3b2 [ce] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Everard, Judith Ann, 1963± Brittany and the Angevins:province and empire, 1158±1203 / J. A. Everard. p. cm. ± (Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought; 4th ser.) isbn 0 521 66071 8 (hardback) 1. Brittany (France) ± History. 2. Anjou, House of. 3. Henry II, King of England, 1133±1189. 4. Great Britain ± Relations ± France. 5. France ± Relations ± Great Britain. I. Title. II. Series. dc611.b864 2000 944'1 ± dc21 00±086596 isbn 0 521 66071 8 hardback © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660718 - Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire, 1158–1203 J. A. Everard Frontmatter More information CONTENTS List of ®gures and maps page viii Preface ix List of abbreviations xi Introduction 1 1 Ducal Brittany, 1066±1166 17 2 Henry II and Brittany 34 3 The government of Brittany under Henry II 76 4 Duke Geoffrey and Brittany, 1166±1186 93 5 Duke Geoffrey, Henry II and the Angevin empire 123 6 The end of Angevin Brittany, 1186±1203 146 Conclusion 176 Appendices 1 The `Assize of Count Geoffrey' 182 2 The hereditary seneschals of Rennes 204 3 Angevin of®cers in Brittany 207 4 The right of wreck and ducal 213 brefsdemer Bibliography 216 Index 237 vii © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660718 - Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire, 1158–1203 J. A. Everard Frontmatter More information FIGURES AND MAPS Figure 1 Genealogy of the dukes of Brittany, 1066±1203 page xv Map 1 The principal political divisions of Brittany, c.1066 xvi Map 2 Ducal domains, c. 1066±1186 xvii Figure 2 Genealogy of the Seneschals of Rennes 206 viii © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660718 - Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire, 1158–1203 J. A. Everard Frontmatter More information PREFACE By [the twelfth-century], Brittany was a central player in the feudal politics of the Anglo-Norman world, partaking of the cosmopolitan Latin culture of the day and economically transformed by the growth of towns. It was no longer a peripheral society . Distinctive still in cultural and linguistic terms, Brittany was nevertheless taking its place among the territorial principalities which clustered under the mantle of the Capetian monarchy.1 Thus, in the epilogue of Province and Empire: Carolingian Brittany,Dr Julia Smith elegantly summarised Brittany in the hundred years or so preceding the advent of Angevin rule. The aim of this study is to examine Brittany as a province of the Angevin empire from the perspective of the duchy as a participant in the contemporary culture and politics of western France and the Anglo- Norman realm. I hope to dispel the notion that twelfth-century Brittany was `Celtic' and different, backward and atypical, and therefore not relevant to any discussion of Capetian France or of Anglo-Norman society. This notion has fostered the view that Angevin rule in Brittany, between 1158 and 1203, involved the autocratic imposition of Anglo- Norman or Angevin institutions which were alien to the Bretons. Since, on closer inspection, these institutions prove to be anything but alien to Brittany by the mid-twelfth century, a thorough reconsidera- tion of Angevin rule in Brittany is called for. This study provides such a reconsideration, examining in detail both Brittany's place within the Angevin empire, and the mechanisms of Angevin rule in Brittany. `Angevin rule', it will be stressed, was not a monolithic phenomenon, unchanging over a period of nearly half a century. On the contrary, one can trace the changes in the nature of 1 J. M. H. Smith, Province and Empire: Carolingian Brittany, Cambridge, 1992, p. 203. ix © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660718 - Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire, 1158–1203 J. A. Everard Frontmatter More information Preface Angevin rule in Brittany under the succession of Angevin rulers down to King John. This book is derived from my doctoral thesis, completed in 1995 under the supervision of Professor Sir James Holt. My primary debt of gratitude is to Professor Holt, whose patient supervision and good advice were responsible for the production of the thesis. Professor R. B. Dobson has been and I hope will continue to be a valued mentor, whether of®cial or unof®cial, and has shown great forbearance in his capacity (until his retirement very shortly before publication) as the Advisory Editor to the `Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought' series charged with overseeing production of this book. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Professor Michael Jones, Professor Rosamond McKitterick, M. Hubert Guillotel, Dr Elisabeth van Houts, Dr Katharine Keats-Rohan, Dr Daniel Power and Dr Karen Jankulak for their advice and encourage- ment. My research trips to France would have been far less productive without the assistance of the staff of the various libraries and archives I visited. I am particularly indebted to those of the salle des manuscrits at the BibliotheÁque nationale and of the Archives deÂpartementales of Ille-et-Vilaine (Rennes), CoÃtes-d'Armor (Saint-Brieuc) and Loire- Atlantique (Nantes). Completion of my doctoral thesis was made possible by generous ®nancial assistance from the Coles-Myer Scholarship, the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Princi- pals' Overseas Students Research Awards scheme and the Principal and Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge. Completion of the book was undertaken as a British Academy post-doctoral fellow, and in this capacity I have greatly bene®ted from the hospitality of the Master and Fellows of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. Finally, I wish to thank my husband, Nicholas Syms, for ®rst tolerating the absences of his new wife, then taking a prolonged sabbatical from his own work to care for the two sons who arrived while this work was in progress. x © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660718 - Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire, 1158–1203 J. A. Everard Frontmatter More information ABBREVIATIONS AB Annales de Bretagne Actes d'Henri II L. Delisle and E. Berger (eds.), Recueil des Actes d'Henri II, roi d'Angleterre et duc de Normandie, concernant les provinces francËaises et les affaires de France, 4 vols., Paris, 1916±1927.