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Source: Long Live the Dead-A chronology of the Rulers of Brittany

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Titre	Long Live the Dead-A chronology of the Rulers of Brittany

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King SOLOMON I ap Gradlon Of Brittany

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This may be time consuming, but I must try, at least, to give you a chronology of the rulers of Brittany. At the same time, I will keep a tally of the related Houses of Dumnonia, in Britain. In many cases, the two went hand-in-hand, with joint rulerships. Brittany was settled by the remnants of the army of Magnus Maximus, with Conan Meriadog of Dumnonia as its first ruler. There are varying accounts as to how the peninsula was colonized by Britons (who came to be known as Bretons). The army must have been reinforced with many common folk from Dumnonia, including many women sent over to wed the troops. King Donaut of Dumnonia sent his daughter to be the wife of Conan, where I am sure many others took local Amorican Celts as wives. In Dumnonia, the failure of their fighting men to return from Gaul must have been devastating, leaving Southwest Britain open to attack. Over the following decades, thousands would flee Britain for new homes in Brittany. The aristocracy and the Romano/Celtic city dwellers left. So, too, did much of the ecclesiastic cadre, fleeing the monasteries in advance of the Saxon invasions. There were so many emigrants by the 440’s that Brittany was divided into two parts: the west was set aside for the Brittani, or Celtic speaking Western British, and the east was allotted to the Romani groups from the east of Britain. The Romani evolved into a French-speaking segment of Brittany and became the districts of Rennes and Nantes. 406AD, Constantine, a Breton/British Lord, raised a large army in Britain and set sail for Gaul. As with the army of Magnus Maximus, there was as much in-fighting amongst Constantine’s Generals (which again included Gerontius) as there was fighting the Visigoths. Constantine even proclaimed himself Emperor Constantine III of Britain and Gaul, but he lost the war. By 410AD, his now rag-tag army split apart and dissolved into Gaul. One leader, Chief Ivomadus, with 1000 of his men, chose the region, which became Anjou. He settled his men near Bloise, just east of Brittany. 436AD, bands of Gaulish Celtic Alamanni (Alans) also began settling Armorica, in south and western Brittany. They were warlike cousins of the Gaulish Cymbrii and included the Vannetaii groups. 469AD, yet another British/Breton king, Riothamus, raised an army of 12,000 men. He was an ally of the Emperor Anthemius, and he went to war against Euric the Visigoth. The Visigoths annihilated the British army, but Riothamus escaped and fled into the lands of the Burundians. It is from the remnants of his army that I think the House of Pohier could have arisen, if they remained in the Picardy region around Ameines. 491AD, the Frankish King, Clovis, captured the town of Bloise, Anjou. The Bretons of Chief Ivomadus fled westward, into what was already the region called the Vannetais. This territory was rapidly being sub-divided into even smaller districts. Brittany, as a whole, operated as an independent kingdom, administered mainly from Cornouailles from 383-509AD. Cornouailles occupied the entire eastern end of the peninsula. Between 511-534AD, Riwald Mawr (the Great), whose family had evolved from the Domnonii and Welsh of Dyfed, arrived from Wales and founded the Kingdom of Domnonee. Domnonee included the northern portion of the peninsula, eastward to St. Marlo. Under the Meroviginian Kings of the Franks, the kingship of Brittany became a countship, but the Franks continued to recognize a single “King of the Bretons” as a sovereign ruler of Brittany. Conomor, also called Cono-Mark (Welsh, Cynfarch) and Cunomorus, was born around 520AD, the son of King Tudwal of Cerniw. He ruled in Cerniw from his castles of Tintagel and Dore. His lineage went back to his great-great-grandfather, Conan Meriadog, through the ruling House of Dumnonia. Many of his predecessors and descendants claimed direct marital ties with the family of King Arthur. Many legends were born out of the turmoil of the Saxon wars in Britain during this time. Conomor appears to have been the brother of Iona (Jonas), King of Domnonee. He had dual thrones as King of Cerniw and Prince of Poher, but he sought to claim all of Brittany as his own. In the ensuing civil war, his brother Jonas was killed in Domnonee. Conomor claimed the Domnonee throne, and married Jonas’ widow, Triphine of Brorec. Because Triphine was the sister of Canao (the old King of Domnonee), her son, Judual, was heir to the throne; she took Judual into exile at Paris. While the Prince grew to manhood, Conomor went on and conquered Brittany, proclaiming himself their king. He ruled from his Principality of Poher, in eastern Cornouailles. Prince Judual finally returned and challenged Conomor for the throne. Public support was on the side of the prince, and Conomor was driven into exile, returning to Cornwall and his castle by the sea. He retained, though, his lands at Poher in Brittany. From there, he left for the last time in 560AD, to fight against the Franks of King Clotaire. Judual became Count of Domnonee and King of Brittany, for a short time. 845, the Franks, under Louis the Pious, recognized Nominoe of Domnonee as King of Brittany. He worked closely with the Frankish King, as did his son and successor, Erispoe. The two leaders jointly founded the abbey of Landevannec, near Poher. It was a time of constant warfare. The Bretons fought against the Counts of Rennes and Nantes, while they all fought the ever-increasing bands of Vikings (Normans, who had been granted their own duchy in Normandy). The old political system of the Bretons began to fall apart. Brittany began to be parceled out to the stronger Counts of eastern Brittany. Around 850, King Erispoe founded the “Kingdom” of Rennes and Nantes, as well as the ricaria of Relz. He shares joint rule of Brittany with his cousin, Solomon. 857, his uncle Rivallon’s son, Solomon, murdered King Erispoe, becoming Solomon III of Brittany. The Countess Roiantdreh had adopted the new king. She was a Breton (who appears to have been King Erispoe’s daughter), who had married Gurwnt, Count of Rennes. Thus began a transition of power from the Breton counties of Cornouailles, Poher and Domnonee to the eastern counties of Rennes and Nantes, through inter-marriage. Out of the union of the Breton royal family and that of the Counts of Rennes and Nantes came Alain III the Great or Grand, surnamed le Poher, Duke of Brittany. At his death in 909, joint succession fell to his son-in-law Count Mathuedoi of Poher and his cousin Gurmhailion (Geoffrey) who was Count of Cornouailles. Mathuedoi renounced his claim and exiled himself to England, but his son Alain Barbe-tort (Red Beard), reclaimed the duchy around 970. In 992, Geoffrey I, Count of Rennes proclaimed himself Duke of Brittany. From this point onward, the proper lineage and timelines break down. I have varying accounts showing Alain III being the son of Geoffrey I, and both living a century later, well into the time of William of Normandy. I don’t believe that this can be possible, unless some very important Alains have been bypassed along the way. The proper placement of Duke Alain III is critical to the story, for he was Count of Poher and Leon, as well as Duke of Brittany. He chose “Le Poher” as his personal surname and his descendants would go on to become the Poher, Poer, Poore, Poor, Pouer and Power lines of Brittany, Britain, Ireland and America. For my own list of the many Alains and Alans of Brittany, see ‘Alain, Alain, Alan’ later in the book. This narrative about the kings of Brittany and Dumnonia can go on and on, but it has little bearing on the overall purpose of this book. At this point, it is far easier to list the lines of the two Houses of Brittany and Dumnonia, concentrating mainly upon the lineage of the succeeding kings, princes, counts and dukes. There are hundreds of lesser names that are purposely omitted, the associated princes of Cornouailles and Domnonee, for instance. There were just too many of them to record in a simple list. As an example, Lancelot du Lac, knight of Arthur’s court, is listed as a Prince of Cornouailles. I have also tried to stay away from dates; many sources are not reliable enough to accurately place times to the reigns of these early rulers. For what it is worth, here is my rendition of the Houses of Dumnonia and Brittany. Wherever possible, I show the Welsh spelling of the names, along with the English, Latin, or Continental variants. HOUSE OF DUMNONIA: HOUSE OF BRITTANY:1. Cynan (Conan) Meriadog, King of Dumnonia and Brittany1. Cynan Meriadog, King of Brittany2. Gadfan (Gadeon) ap Cynan, King of Dumnonia. His daughter, Ystradwel, married Coel Hen (the Old), King of Britain and last Roman Dux Britanumorum, of York.2. Gradlon Mawr (the Great), called Erbin3. Gwrfawr (Guoremor) ap Gadfan, King of Dumnonia3. Selyfan (Solomon I) ap Gradlon4. Tudwal ap Gwrfawr, King of Dumnonia4. Aldwr (Aldrien, Alain) ap Selyfan5. Cynfarch (Conomor) ap Tudwal, King of Cerniw, Domnonee and Brittany; Prince of Poher.5. Cynfarch (Conomor) ap Tudwal6. Custennin Corneu (Constantine), King of Dumnonia and reputed father of Uther Pendragon and grandfather to King Arthur of Britain.6. Judaul ap Jonas of Domnonee7. Erbin ap Custennin Corneu, King of Dumnonia, also held dual rule as King of Domnonee, Brittany.7. Budig I ap Aldwr (Aldrien)8. Gereint Llyngesog (the Fleet Owner) ap Erbin, friend of King Arthur and dual King of Domnonee.8. Daniel Unua of Cornouailles9. Caradog Freichfras (Strong-Arm) ap Erbin, King of Gwent and the Vannetais (Broerec), Brittany.9. Gereint (Erich) ap Aldwr (Aldrien)10. Cadwy (Cado, Cador) ap Gereint, King of Dumnonia andDomnonee, cousin of King Arthur of Britain.10. Riothamus of Britain and Brittany11. St. Custennin (Constantine) ap Cadwy, King of Dumnonia11. Budig II ap Budig, Emyr Llyldaw

This may be time consuming, but I must try, at least, to give you a chronology of the rulers of Brittany. At the same time, I will keep a tally of the related Houses of Dumnonia, in Britain. In many cases, the two went hand-in-hand, with joint rulerships.
Brittany was settled by the remnants of the army of Magnus Maximus, with Conan Meriadog of Dumnonia as its first ruler. There are varying accounts as to how the peninsula was colonized by Britons (who came to be known as Bretons). The army must have been reinforced with many common folk from Dumnonia, including many women sent over to wed the troops. King Donaut of Dumnonia sent his daughter to be the wife of Conan, where I am sure many others took local Amorican Celts as wives. In Dumnonia, the failure of their fighting men to return from Gaul must have been devastating, leaving Southwest Britain open to attack. Over the following decades, thousands would flee Britain for new homes in Brittany. The aristocracy and the Romano/Celtic city dwellers left. So, too, did much of the ecclesiastic cadre, fleeing the monasteries in advance of the Saxon invasions. There were so many emigrants by the 440’s that Brittany was divided into two parts: the west was set aside for the Brittani, or Celtic speaking Western British, and the east was allotted to the Romani groups from the east of Britain. The Romani evolved into a French-speaking segment of Brittany and became the districts of Rennes and Nantes.
406AD, Constantine, a Breton/British Lord, raised a large army in Britain and set sail for Gaul. As with the army of Magnus Maximus, there was as much in-fighting amongst Constantine’s Generals (which again included Gerontius) as there was fighting the Visigoths. Constantine even proclaimed himself Emperor Constantine III of Britain and Gaul, but he lost the war. By 410AD, his now rag-tag army split apart and dissolved into Gaul. One leader, Chief Ivomadus, with 1000 of his men, chose the region, which became Anjou. He settled his men near Bloise, just east of Brittany.
436AD, bands of Gaulish Celtic Alamanni (Alans) also began settling Armorica, in south and western Brittany. They were warlike cousins of the Gaulish Cymbrii and included the Vannetaii groups.
469AD, yet another British/Breton king, Riothamus, raised an army of 12,000 men. He was an ally of the Emperor Anthemius, and he went to war against Euric the Visigoth. The Visigoths annihilated the British army, but Riothamus escaped and fled into the lands of the Burundians. It is from the remnants of his army that I think the House of Pohier could have arisen, if they remained in the Picardy region around Ameines.
491AD, the Frankish King, Clovis, captured the town of Bloise, Anjou. The Bretons of Chief Ivomadus fled westward, into what was already the region called the Vannetais.  This territory was rapidly being sub-divided into even smaller districts.
Brittany, as a whole, operated as an independent kingdom, administered mainly from Cornouailles from 383-509AD. Cornouailles occupied the entire eastern end of the peninsula.  Between 511-534AD, Riwald Mawr (the Great), whose family had evolved from the Domnonii and Welsh of Dyfed, arrived from Wales and founded the Kingdom of Domnonee. Domnonee included the northern portion of the peninsula, eastward to St. Marlo.
Under the Meroviginian Kings of the Franks, the kingship of Brittany became a countship, but the Franks continued to recognize a single “King of the Bretons” as a sovereign ruler of Brittany.
Conomor, also called Cono-Mark (Welsh, Cynfarch) and Cunomorus, was born around 520AD, the son of King Tudwal of Cerniw. He ruled in Cerniw from his castles of Tintagel and Dore. His lineage went back to his great-great-grandfather, Conan Meriadog, through the ruling House of Dumnonia. Many of his predecessors and descendants claimed direct marital ties with the family of King Arthur.  Many legends were born out of the turmoil of the Saxon wars in Britain during this time.
Conomor appears to have been the brother of Iona (Jonas), King of Domnonee. He had dual thrones as King of Cerniw and Prince of Poher, but he sought to claim all of Brittany as his own. In the ensuing civil war, his brother Jonas was killed in Domnonee. Conomor claimed the Domnonee throne, and married Jonas’ widow, Triphine of Brorec. Because Triphine was the sister of Canao (the old King of Domnonee), her son, Judual, was heir to the throne; she took Judual into exile at Paris. While the Prince grew to manhood, Conomor went on and conquered Brittany, proclaiming himself their king. He ruled from his Principality of Poher, in eastern Cornouailles.
Prince Judual finally returned and challenged Conomor for the throne. Public support was on the side of the prince, and Conomor was driven into exile, returning to Cornwall and his castle by the sea. He retained, though, his lands at Poher in Brittany. From there, he left for the last time in 560AD, to fight against the Franks of King Clotaire.  Judual became Count of Domnonee and King of Brittany, for a short time.
845, the Franks, under Louis the Pious, recognized Nominoe of Domnonee as King of Brittany. He worked closely with the Frankish King, as did his son and successor, Erispoe. The two leaders jointly founded the abbey of Landevannec, near Poher. It was a time of constant warfare.  The Bretons fought against the Counts of Rennes and Nantes, while they all fought the ever-increasing bands of Vikings (Normans, who had been granted their own duchy in Normandy). The old political system of the Bretons began to fall apart. Brittany began to be parceled out to the stronger Counts of eastern Brittany. Around 850, King Erispoe founded the “Kingdom” of Rennes and Nantes, as well as the ricaria of Relz. He shares joint rule of Brittany with his cousin, Solomon.
857, his uncle Rivallon’s son, Solomon, murdered King Erispoe, becoming Solomon III of Brittany. The Countess Roiantdreh had adopted the new king. She was a Breton (who appears to have been King Erispoe’s daughter), who had married Gurwnt, Count of Rennes. Thus began a transition of power from the Breton counties of Cornouailles, Poher and Domnonee to the eastern counties of Rennes and Nantes, through inter-marriage.
Out of the union of the Breton royal family and that of the Counts of Rennes and Nantes came Alain III the Great or Grand, surnamed le Poher, Duke of Brittany. At his death in 909, joint succession fell to his son-in-law Count Mathuedoi of Poher and his cousin Gurmhailion (Geoffrey) who was Count of Cornouailles. Mathuedoi renounced his claim and exiled himself to England, but his son Alain Barbe-tort (Red Beard), reclaimed the duchy around 970. In 992, Geoffrey I, Count of Rennes proclaimed himself Duke of Brittany. From this point onward, the proper lineage and timelines break down. I have varying accounts showing Alain III being the son of Geoffrey I, and both living a century later, well into the time of William of Normandy. I don’t believe that this can be possible, unless some very important Alains have been bypassed along the way. The proper placement of Duke Alain III is critical to the story, for he was Count of Poher and Leon, as well as Duke of Brittany. He chose “Le Poher” as his personal surname and his descendants would go on to become the Poher, Poer, Poore, Poor, Pouer and Power lines of Brittany, Britain, Ireland and America. For my own list of the many Alains and Alans of Brittany, see ‘Alain, Alain, Alan’ later in the book.
This narrative about the kings of Brittany and Dumnonia can go on and on, but it has little bearing on the overall purpose of this book. At this point, it is far easier to list the lines of the two Houses of Brittany and Dumnonia, concentrating mainly upon the lineage of the succeeding kings, princes, counts and dukes.  There are hundreds of lesser names that are purposely omitted, the associated princes of Cornouailles and Domnonee, for instance. There were just too many of them to record in a simple list. As an example, Lancelot du Lac, knight of Arthur’s court, is listed as a Prince of Cornouailles. I have also tried to stay away from dates; many sources are not reliable enough to accurately place times to the reigns of these early rulers. For what it is worth, here is my rendition of the Houses of Dumnonia and Brittany. Wherever possible, I show the Welsh spelling of the names, along with the English, Latin, or Continental variants.

HOUSE OF DUMNONIA:   HOUSE OF BRITTANY:1.      Cynan (Conan) Meriadog, King of Dumnonia and Brittany1.   Cynan Meriadog, King of Brittany2.      Gadfan (Gadeon) ap Cynan, King of Dumnonia. His daughter, Ystradwel, married Coel Hen (the Old), King of Britain and last Roman Dux Britanumorum, of York.2.   Gradlon Mawr (the Great), called Erbin3.      Gwrfawr (Guoremor) ap Gadfan, King of Dumnonia3.   Selyfan (Solomon I) ap Gradlon4.      Tudwal ap Gwrfawr, King of Dumnonia4.   Aldwr (Aldrien, Alain) ap Selyfan5.       Cynfarch (Conomor) ap Tudwal, King of Cerniw, Domnonee and Brittany; Prince of Poher.5.   Cynfarch (Conomor) ap Tudwal6.      Custennin Corneu (Constantine), King of Dumnonia and reputed father of Uther Pendragon and grandfather to King Arthur of Britain.6.   Judaul ap Jonas of Domnonee7.      Erbin ap Custennin Corneu, King of Dumnonia, also held dual rule as King of Domnonee, Brittany.7.   Budig I ap Aldwr (Aldrien)8.      Gereint Llyngesog (the Fleet Owner) ap Erbin, friend of King Arthur and dual King of Domnonee.8.   Daniel Unua of Cornouailles9.      Caradog Freichfras (Strong-Arm) ap Erbin, King of Gwent and the Vannetais (Broerec), Brittany.9.   Gereint (Erich) ap Aldwr (Aldrien)10.   Cadwy (Cado, Cador) ap Gereint, King of Dumnonia andDomnonee, cousin of King Arthur of Britain.10. Riothamus of Britain and Brittany11.   St. Custennin (Constantine) ap Cadwy, King of Dumnonia11.  Budig II ap Budig, Emyr Llyldaw