Comments for Historical Britain Blog

Comment on Alain le Roux, Count of Brittany (Earl of Richmond) by Geoffrey Tobin

Geoffrey Tobin — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:17:04 +0000

It’s said that King William deposed all the Anglo-Dane lords after the rebellion in the North; if so, Count Alan reinstated them!

Comment on Alain le Roux, Count of Brittany (Earl of Richmond) by Geoffrey Tobin

Geoffrey Tobin — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:55:38 +0000

Godric the Steward, who held only Stoke in Suffolk before 1066, occurs as Lord or Tenant-in-Chief 143 times in 1086, frequently in association with Count Alan.

In Walpole, Norfolk, a location within Count Alan’s sphere in 1086, was born Godric of Finchale (c. 1065 – 21 May 1170), a very long-lived popular saint with a very interesting story (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godric_of_Finchale).

There is already a novel about Saint Godric (“Godric” (October 1980) by Frederick Buechner, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize), but the connection with Count Alan might have some mileage.

Comment on Alain le Roux, Count of Brittany (Earl of Richmond) by Geoffrey Tobin

Geoffrey Tobin — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:40:29 +0000

Edeva the Fair (identified by some with Edith Swannesha, the mother of Gunnhild) was in 1066 the Overlord (owner) of Cheveley and many other places in Cambridgeshire associated with both Alan Rufus and the Tweed family.

Looking at the list of her former properties, I cannot overlook Stevington [End] in Essex (http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TL5942/stevington-end/), where the 1086 Tenants-in-Chief were:

Aubrey de Vere (Lord of Oxford)
Tihel of HellÈan
Count Alan of Brittany (Lord of Cambridge)

and … wait for it …

Frodo brother of Abbot Baldwin.

Comment on Alain le Roux, Count of Brittany (Earl of Richmond) by Geoffrey Tobin

Geoffrey Tobin — Wed, 08 May 2013 01:53:51 +0000

Some interesting Bretons in literature:

Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi, has a Breton given name.

François-René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand, “the founder of Romanticism in French literature”, was Breton, born in the (former pirate base) of Saint Malo and raised in his aristocratic family’s castle in Combourg, Brittany.

The 2007 movie “Silk”, based on Alessandro Baricco’s novel, is a story about Hervé, a Breton officer in the French military, who changes career to become a silk merchant.

Jules Verne, born on Île Feydeau, “a small island within the town of Nantes” in Brittany.

Comment on Alain le Roux, Count of Brittany (Earl of Richmond) by Geoffrey Tobin

Geoffrey Tobin — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:54:43 +0000

Breton cultural influences on their Habsburg descendants may have influenced the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI in which he defied the Frank’s Salic Law by naming his daughters, (future Empress) Maria Theresa and Archduchess Maria Anna, as his heirs.

Comment on Alain le Roux, Count of Brittany (Earl of Richmond) by Geoffrey Tobin

Geoffrey Tobin — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:49:57 +0000

Brunhilda (c. 543 – 613) was a Visigothic princess who married King Sigebert I of Austrasia. She had a murderous feud with Fredegund (died 597) who had murdered Brunhilda’s sister, Galswintha, wife of King Chilperic I of Soissons, in order to replace her as Queen Consort.

Gregory of Tours (30 November c. 538 – 17 November 594) describes Fredegund as a ruthless murderess. Folklorist Alan Dundes quotes Gregory’s account of Fredegund’s cruelty to her own daughter Rigunth, in support of his suggestion that Fredegund was an inspiration for the stepmother of Cinderella.

Comment on Alain le Roux, Count of Brittany (Earl of Richmond) by Geoffrey Tobin

Geoffrey Tobin — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:26:39 +0000

ON the topic of German opera, historically a Nibelung is not, as depicted in the movie “The Curse of the Ring”, an ethereal otherworldly being, but rather the 5th century name of the ruling house of the Burgundians, who were then based at Worms in Germany, and already famous for their wealth. (Worm is an old slang word for a dragon, so one can see how the legend developed.)

In the 1400s the House of Luxembourg was under the overlordship of the Duke of Burgundy. When the Count of Maine sought a wife for his son, he set a dowry so high that the Duke of Burgundy could not afford to raise the funds. The Luxembourgs, however, did; evidently it’s they who had the larger fortune.

Comment on Alain le Roux, Count of Brittany (Earl of Richmond) by Geoffrey Tobin

Geoffrey Tobin — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:13:22 +0000

Alan was “very young” when he was noted as a particularly “valiant knight”. So, a bizarre thought occurred to me: is Count Alan Rufus (Alan Ar Rouz) an inspiration for the (very young) Count Octavian Rofrano, the Rosenkavalier in Richard Strauss’s comic opera?

Comment on Alain le Roux, Count of Brittany (Earl of Richmond) by Geoffrey Tobin

Geoffrey Tobin — Tue, 07 May 2013 10:22:52 +0000

The Breton language forms the names of occupations in the same way as English, German and French, so Breton for laborer/labourer is “labourer”.

In songs employing call (kan) and response (diskan), the caller is “kaner” and the responder is “diskaner”.

Breton for brothers/brethren is “breudeur”, similar to German “bruder”.

Comment on Alain le Roux, Count of Brittany (Earl of Richmond) by Geoffrey Tobin

Geoffrey Tobin — Tue, 07 May 2013 06:03:57 +0000

Poitou, Queen Mother Eleanor’s capital County, was among those that rebelled against King John when Duke Arthur died, so it’s likely that William of Poitiers’ bigotry against Bretons was not widely shared.

However, one of William of Poitiers’s informants affirmed that both the Norman/Breton/Flemish side and the Anglo-Saxons did use javelins during the Battle of Hastings.

Incidentally, I’ve recently read that the Anglo-Saxons weren’t alone in wielding double-sided battle axes: the Bretons were using them too! Ouch!