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Brittany

 

Contents

Flag

Historical Flags

Meaning/Origin of the Flag

Coat of Arms

Meaning/Origin of the Coat of Arms

Map of the historical Regions in France

Explanations about the Regions

Numbers and Facts

History

Origin of the Country's Name



Flag

Flagge Fahne flag drapeau Bretagne Brittany Bretagne Breizh
Flag of Brittany
– Drapeau de la Bretagne,
→ "Gwenn ha Du",

Source, by: Wikipedia (DE)



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Historical Flags

Flagge Fahne flag drapeau Bretagne Brittany Bretagne Breizh
historical flag of Brittany
– Drapeau historique de la Bretagne,
→ "Hermine",

Source, by: Wikipedia (DE)




Flagge Fahne flag drapeau Bretagne Brittany Bretagne Breizh
historical flag of Brittany
– Drapeau historique de la Bretagne,
→ "Kroaz Du",

Source, by: Wikipedia (DE)




Flagge Fahne flag drapeau Bretagne Brittany Bretagne Breizh
from ca. 1920,
Unofficial flag of the Brittany Region
– Drapeau officieux de la région Bretagne,
Source, by: Wikipedia (D)



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Meaning/Origin of the Flag

The historic flag of Brittany was a scutcheon-flag. It showed the image of the historic coat of arms. The current unofficial flag of Brittany is a creation of modern times. It was in the twenties of the 20th Century when the architect Morvan Marchal created it. The flag shows nine stripes in black and white and a white top corner with black ermine pattern. The design of the today's flag is probably inspired by the flag of the United States. It is called by the Bretons "Gwenn ha Du", what means translated from Breton "White and Black". Black and White are regarded as the Celtic national colors. They are also used in other Celtic regions, e.g. in Cornwall, and also the flag of Scotland should probably have these colours in the beginning. But the reason for the colours black and white for Brittany is to find in the ermine pattern. The ermine pattern is very old and goes back to the Count Pierre Mauclerc of Dreux, who became the Duke of Brittany in 1213. From the 14th century are flags known which showed the black ermine pattern on white, and from the 15th century are known, white flags with a black bar cross. The cross flags were primarily used in the military and for maritime use, which can be explained by improved visibility and ease of manufacture. This cross flag is now interpreted as a colours reversal of the flag of Saint Piran – the flag of Cornwall – and is now interpreted as the true flag of Brittany. It is called by the Bretons "Kroaz Du", what means translated from Breton "Black Cross".

Source: Volker Preuß, Wikipedia (DE)

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Coat of Arms


Wappen Bretagne arms crest Brittany blason de Bretagne
13th century,
original coat of arms of Count Pierre Mauclerc of Dreux
– Armoriaux originales du Comte Pierre Mauclerc de Dreux,
Source, by: Wikipedia (DE)


Wappen Bretagne arms crest Brittany blason de Bretagne
13th century,
Coat of arms of the mature Count Pierre Mauclerc of Dreux
– Armoriaux du Comte mature Pierre Mauclerc de Dreux,
Source, by: Wikipedia (DE)


Wappen Bretagne arms crest Brittany blason de Bretagne
1213–1316,
Coat of arms of Brittany
– Armoriaux de la Bretagne,
Source, by: Wikipedia (DE)


Wappen Bretagne arms crest Brittany blason de Bretagne
from 1316,
Coat of arms of Brittany
– Armoriaux de la Bretagne,
Source, by: Wikipedia (DE)

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Meaning/Origin of the Coat of Arms

The Duchy of Brittany had until the 13th century probably not its own coat of arms. When the Count of Dreux, Pierre Mauclerc, married the last Duchess of Brittany and consequently got Brittany as a fief, and became in this way the Duke of Brittany himself, his coat of arms was adopted as the arms of Brittany. His coat of arms was originally checkerboarded between gold and blue and was further added by a wide red border. The young count originally wanted to become a priest, and he added because that to his coat of arms a with a black ermine pattern decorated silvery (white) top corner, because the ermine was then considered as an attribute of the clergy. At the moment of his marriage with Duchess Alix, the ermine pattern was first transferred to the Brittany. In the year 1316 Duke Johann III. changed the coat of arms of Brittany to a simple ermine shield, like it is used to today.

Source: Wikipedia (DE)

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Map of the historical Regions in France

The historical, French Regions:

in black: governorate and province in 1776,
in red: former county, province oder governorate

Map: Volker Preuß

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Explanations about the Regions

The until the French Revolution existing provinces (or governorates) have been historically grown structures, which had their roots oftenly in former fiefdoms of the French crown, historic counties and duchies. They oftenly existed for hundreds of years and had preserved regionality (e.g. cultural particularities and regional languages). On the occasion of the French Revolution such phenomena were of course not desirable, and as part of their bloody and violent egalitarianism any regional references were eliminated. Shortly after the French Revolution the provinces were dissolved and France became divided into many départements, which should have approximately the same size and the same status. The départements were named after rivers or mountains, to use never and in no circumstances the name of an old province. However, there was no success in cutting the connections of the people of France to their respective regions, so that administrative regions were re-created in 1960, to have a better control in regional administrative processes. In this way became départements, which were placed in a historical province, administratively grouped to an oftenly historically named region. The resulted structures coincide only approximately with the boundaries of the old provinces. In the strictly centralist France any regionality is avoided, so that even the official flags of these regions mostly look like flags of companies, unloving, unhistorical, technocratic and modernistic, and these flags should not be a subject of any lexical considerations here. Only in a few of that regions, exist official flags which remember the historical models. But, even the existence of these today's regions is douptful, because in 2014 was passed a territorial reform valid from the year 2016, that reduces the number of the existing regions by merging to nearly the half. However, there exist unofficial flags in nearly all of these regions, which should remember the old provinces and the old heraldry.

Wikipedia Link to the regions of France: click or tap here
FOTW Link to the regions of France: click or tap here

Source: Flags of the World, Wikipedia (D), Volker Preuß

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Numbers and Facts

The historical Province of Brittany is the today's some smaller Region of Brittany:

Area: 10.582 sq.mi.

Inhabitants: 3.335.414 (2018), thereof 8% speakers of the Breton language

Religions: mostly Catholics and Non-religious

Density of Population: 315 inh./sq.mi.

Capital: Rennes, 217.728 inh. (2018)

official Language: French

other Languages: regional Languages: e.g. Breton, Gallo

Time Zone: GMT + 1 h

Source: Wikipedia (DE)

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History

antiquity · settlement by many small Celtic tribes, the largest of them are the Veneti and Armoricans, the country is called Armorica (Aremorica)

57–56 B.C. · conquest of Armorica by the Romans, the country comes to the province of Gallia Lugdunensis

5th century A.D. · establishing of the Covenant of Armorica to protect against Germanic invasions, potent immigration of British (Britons, Bretons) from England, who were expelled by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, Armorica becomes 'Britannia minor' or 'Britannia cismarina' (later also Brittany), the Franks conquer all of Gaul, Brittany comes after the fall of the Western Roman Empire under loose Frankish suzerainty

8th century A.D. · establishing of a Frankish Margraviate of Brittany in the area of the border to the Frankish Empire

861 · Charles the Bald, King of Franconia, hands over the Brittany to Robert the Brave of Anjou, and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers is elevated to a duchy

880 · Treaty of Verdun and Ribbemont, at the division of the Frankish Empire comes the Brittany formally to the West Frankish Kingdom (France)

10th century · invasions of the Normans

907 · death of Alain the Great, the Brittany is divided into four counties

912 · Charles the Fool of France marries his daughter Gisela with Rollo, the Duke of the Normans, who becomes the Duke of Normandy as Robert I., an he gets Brittany as a fief

1171 · with Conan IV. extincts the dynasty of the dukes, Brittany falls by inheritance to the husband of Constance, the daughter of Conan, namely Gottfried, son of Henry II. of England

1202 · Arthur, son and heir of Henry II. of England is murdered, Brittany is bone of contention between England and France

1213 · Count Pierre Mauclerc von Dreux merrys Alix, the Duchess of Brittany, daughter of Constance, and receives the Brittany as a French fief

1341–1364 · War of Succession

1488 · death of Francis II., the Dukes of Brittany extinct, the legacy goes to his daughter Anna

1491 · Anna is married to King Charles VIII. of France

1499 · Anna is married to Louis XII . of France

1514 · Claude, the daughter of Anna, is married to the Duke of Angoulême

1515 · the Duke of Angoulême becomes King of France as Francis I.

1532 · Brittany is annexed to France, the degrees get promised the preservation of their ancient rights, and maintains until the French Revolution of 1789 inter alia an own parliament

1776 · the already in the 14th century created governorates of the civil administration of the kingdom of France become committed to a number of 39, and correspond in this way to the number of provinces, in previous years could any provinces be summarized in one governorate

1789 · the French Revolution can only prevail with difficulties and with a revolutionary war in Brittany, the estates-state of Brittany and its associated privileges were abolished and the entire region was divided into departments

1960 · reintroduction of regions in France, formation of the Region of Brittany, but not within the historic boundaries, just by integrating the departments of Finistére, Côtes-du-Nord, Morbihan und Ille-et-Vilaine

Source: Atlas zur Geschichte, Meyers Konversationslexikon, Taschenatlas Weltgeschichte

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Origin of the Country's Name

Before the arrival of the British, who fled in the 5th century from the Angles, Saxons and Jutes from Britain, the region was called Armorica (or Aremorica), which means "land by the Sea", and goes even back to the then here living Celtic tribe of the Armoricans. After the arrival of the British the name Armorica was changed to 'Britannia minor' or 'Britannia cismarina', and under French influence the name later changed to 'Bretagne'. Nevertheless, the still here living Celtic Bretons call their country "Breizh".

Source: Volker Preuß, Wikipedia (DE), Meyers Konversationslexikon

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