The Bretons (Peoples of Europe)

This is a history of one of the most distinctive regions of France and its people, from prehistoric times to the end of the independent Duchy in the 15th century. Patrick Galliou and Michael Jones draw upon a wide range of archaeological and literary material to explore the characteristics of a society which has combined peoples from two different linguistic and cultural traditions in a long-enduring political union. In the book's opening chapter Patrick Galliou describes early Armorica, the Gaulish name for Brittany, including its physical environment, the hunter-gatherer society of the paleolithic era, the farmers of the neolithic and the metal working communities of the Bronze Age. Both authors synthesize much recent research to examine such themes as trade, population and settlement, the economy, urbanization and transport, art and crafts and Breton religion, culture and political ideology. Michael Jones pays particular attention to the circumstances in which Brittany became a fully-fledged late medieval state whilst nominally remaining a part of the kingdom of France, and considers also the evolution of aristocratic power. He also focuses upon the external forces which shaped Breton society, notably the Carolingian, Anglo-Norman, Angevin and Capetian policies and such European religious movements as monastic reform. A concluding chapter reviews Breton history from the end of the Middle Ages to the present day.