Origins

Brittany is France’s westernmost province, located on the Armorican peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. Armor, the coastal portion of the peninsula, has 3000 kilometres of shoreline with many deep coves sheltering fishing villages and major seaports. The economy of the inland portion, Arcoat, was long based on growing wheat and animal feed. In recent years, however, it has turned to livestock raising, a sector in which Brittany has become one of the largest producers in Europe. In 1972 the French government reduced the size of the administrative region of Brittany, cutting off a large part of historic Breton territory which at its height comprised the departments of Finistère, Côtes-du-Nord, Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine, and Loire-Atlantique.

The Bretons claim their own identity and a distinct culture. One source of this claim is their origin as Celts who came from across the English Channel. In the first millennium B.C.E., the Britons, from whom the Bretons are descended, settled in the south (Cornwall) and west (Wales) of what is now Britain, to which they gave their name. After the Roman conquest of Britain they showed remarkable flexibility, not so much submitting to the occupying forces as reaching an understanding with them. It was also during the Roman period that they converted to Christianity. The Britons retained their territory until the fifth century C.E., when the Picts and Saxons drove them across the Channel to Gaul. There, most settled on the Armorican peninsula.

The Bretons’ language, a major component of their distinct culture, is part of the great Celtic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Breton is most closely related to Welsh and Cornish. The language spread through the peninsula after the Bretons migrated there and reached its maximum territorial extent in the tenth century.

Politically, Brittany had a long history as an independent state. The Breton tribes resisted the eighth-century expansion of the empire of Charlemagne, whose son entrusted the peninsula to a Breton prince named Nominoë; in 845 Nominoë declared Brittany independent and enshrined himself as king. Brittany enjoyed the most glorious period in its history during the first half of the fifteenth century. Subsequent marriage alliances brought Brittany closer and closer to France. This process culminated in 1532, when King François I of France proclaimed the indissoluble union of Brittany with his kingdom.

France’s authorities gradually sought to absorb the country’s various peoples and make them conform to the Parisian model. The trend towards assimilation was especially marked after the French Revolution of 1789. As a result, Breton culture lost its vitality. In the nineteenth century, the French government forbade all manifestations of Breton particularism. Breton schools were closed, religious communities were disbanded, courses in Breton history were banned, and the language was outlawed. As a result of these measures most people in Brittany today do not know the language of their ancestors. Nevertheless, there are still 700,000 people who understand Breton and between 300,000 and 400,000 people who speak it. Regardless of language ability, the feeling of belonging to a cultural community that is distinct from the rest of France has persisted.

The survival of Breton language and culture was connected with a national awakening. In the early nineteenth century, Hersart de la Villemarqué’s Barzas Breiz, a collection of popular songs recounting the great moments of Breton history, became the centrepiece of a Breton literary movement. At the same time, Celtic nationalist journals (Feiz ha Breiz, Atao) also gave life to a current of national expression, while a style of church architecture marked by distinctive steeples, crosses, and ossuaries left an indelible mark on Brittany’s landscape.

Although the national awakening, called Bretonism, was limited to an intellectual elite and provincial notables, it did allow the Breton people to survive as a distinct ethnic group. Bretonism was closely linked to Catholicism and it used history as an important tool in sustaining a national identity. The movement entered a political stage in 1911 with the establishment of Camille Le Mercier d’Erm’s Parti Nationaliste Breton. The movement for Breton survival was subordinated to larger French national interests during both World Wars I and II. After 1945 the Parti Nationaliste Breton enjoyed a hesitant renaissance, although it never gained substantial support among Breton voters.

More recently, Breton identity has been expressed in other ways. Thus, the Breton language is once again being taught in schools in Brittany, and sixteen new bilingual (French-Breton) classes started up in the fall of 1993. Breton has also become an optional credit leading to the baccalauréat. At more advanced levels, the Université de Brest now has a Breton and Celtic research centre, while there has been a university-diploma program in Breton civilization at the Université de Rennes since 1981.