Aquitaine
Aquitaine, archaic Guyenne/Guienne was a traditional region of France, and was an administrative region of France until 1 January 2016. It is now part of the new region Nouvelle-Aquitaine and it is situated in the south-western part of Metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It is composed of the five departments of Dordogne, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes, in the Middle Ages, Aquitaine was a kingdom and a duchy, whose boundaries fluctuated considerably. This has been demonstrated by various Aquitanian names and words that were recorded by the Romans, whether this Aquitanian language was a remnant of a Vasconic language group that once extended much farther, or whether it was generally limited to the Aquitaine/Basque region is not known. The original Aquitania at the time of Caesars conquest of Gaul included the area bounded by the Garonne River, the Pyrenees, the name may stem from Latin aqua, maybe derived from the town Aquae Augustae, Aquae Tarbellicae or just Aquis or as a more general geographical feature.
In 392, the Roman imperial provinces were restructured and Aquitania Prima, Aquitania Secunda, accounts of Aquitania during the Early Middle Ages are a blur, lacking precision, but there was much unrest. The Visigoths were called into Gaul as foederati, legalizing their status within the Empire, eventually they established themselves as the de facto rulers in south-west Gaul as central Roman rule collapsed. Visigoths established their capital in Toulouse, but their tenure on Aquitaine was feeble, in 507, they were expelled south to Hispania after their defeat in the Battle of Vouillé by the Franks, who became the new rulers in the area to the south of the Loire. The Roman Aquitania Tertia remained in place as Novempopulania, where a duke was appointed to hold a grip over the Basques and these dukes were quite detached from central Frankish overlordship, sometimes governing as independent rulers with strong ties to their kinsmen south of the Pyrenees. As of 660, the foundations for an independent Aquitaine/Vasconia polity were established by the duke Felix of Aquitaine, a united Basque-Aquitanian realm reached its heyday under Odo the Greats rule.
Odo was required to pledge allegiance to the Frankish Charles Martel in exchange for help against the advancing Arabic forces, Basque-Aquitanian self-rule temporarily came to a halt, definitely in 768 after the assassination of Waifer. Seguin, count of Bordeaux and Duke of Vasconia, seemed to have attempted a detachment from the Frankish central authority on Charlemagnes death, the new emperor Louis the Pious reacted by removing him from his capacity, which stirred the Basques into rebellion. Before Pepins death, emperor Louis had appointed a new king in 832, his son Charles the Bald, however scarce, some Frankish population and nobles settled down in regions like Albigeois, Carcassone and Provence and Lower Rhone. After the death of the king Dagobert I, the Merovingian tenure south of the Loire became largely nominal, with the power being in the hands of autonomous regional leaders. The Franks may have largely assimilated to the preponderant Gallo-Roman culture by the 8th century. Still, in the Battle of Toulouse, the Aquitanian duke Odo is said to be leading an army of Aquitanians, on the other hand, the Franks didnt mix with the Basques, keeping separate paths.
Recorded evidence points to their deployment across Aquitaine in a capacity as a mainstay of the Dukes forces. Romans are cited as living in the cities of Aquitaine, as opposed to the Franks, in 1058, the Duchy of Vasconia and Aquitaine merged under the rule of William VIII, Duke of Aquitaine
Coronation of the French monarch
The accession of the King of France was legitimized by coronation ceremony performed with the Crown of Charlemagne at Notre-Dame de Reims. The most important part of the French coronation ceremony was not the coronation itself, the Carolingian king Pepin the Short was the first anointed monarch in Europe, which occurred in Soissons to legitimize the accession of the new dynasty. A second coronation of Pepin by Pope Stephen II took place at the Basilica of St Denis in 754, the first coronation performed by a Pope. Since this Roman glass vial containing the balm due to be mixed with chrism, was brought by the dove of the Holy Spirit. All succeeding Kings of France were anointed with this same oil—mixed with chrism prior to their coronation, French queens were crowned either together with their husband at Rheims or alone at Sainte-Chapelle or Abbey of St. Denis. The king is crowned by the Archbishop of Reims who is assisted by four bishops of his ecclesiastical province. The established order of six bishops is, The Archbishop of Reims anoints, the Bishop of Laon carries the holy ampulla.
The Bishop of Langres carries the scepter, the Bishop of Beauvais carries and shows the coat of arms or royal mantle. The Bishop of Chalons carries the royal ring, the Bishop of Noyon carries the belt. To these are added the Abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Remi, guardian of the ampulla. Peers are cited for the first time in 1203 and 1226, their first recorded participation in the coronation is made on the occasion of the coronation of Philip V of France on 9 January 1317. These are the six aforementioned ecclesiastical peers and the six lay peers, in order of protocol, the six lay peers are, The Duke of Burgundy carries the royal crown, girds the kings sword, and gives him the order of chivalry. The Duke of Normandy carries the first square banner, the Duke of Aquitaine carries the second square banner. The Count of Toulouse carries the spurs, the Count of Flanders carries the royal sword. The Count of Champagne carries the banner of war, the spiritual peerages were perpetual, and were never extinguished during the existence of the Kingdom of France.
But as early as 1204, the roster of the lay peerages had been incomplete, Normandy had been absorbed into the French crown, Toulouse in 1271, Champagne in 1284. Aquitaine was several times forfeited and restored, Burgundy became extinct in 1361 and again in 1477, more often than not, princes of the royal blood and high-ranking members of the nobility acted as representatives of the ancient lay peerages. Spiritual peers were represented if their see is vacant or they are unable to attend
Francia
The kingdom was founded by Clovis I, crowned first King of the Franks in 496. The tradition of dividing patrimonies among brothers meant that the Frankish realm was ruled, even so, sometimes the term was used as well to encompass Neustria north of the Loire and west of the Seine. Most Frankish Kings were buried in the Basilica of Saint Denis, modern France is still named Francia in Spanish and Italian. The Franks emerged in the 3rd century as a confederation of smaller Germanic tribes, such as the Sicambri, Ampsivarii and Chattuarii, in the area north and east of the Rhine. Some of these peoples, such as the Sicambri and Salians, already had lands in the Roman Empire, in 357 the Salian king entered the Roman Empire and made a permanent foothold there by a treaty granted by Julian the Apostate, who forced back the Chamavi to Hamaland. As Frankish territory expanded, the meaning of Francia expanded with it, after the fall of Arbogastes, his son Arigius succeeded in establishing a hereditary countship at Trier and after the fall of the usurper Constantine III some Franks supported the usurper Jovinus.
Jovinus was dead by 413, but the Romans found it difficult to manage the Franks within their borders. The Frankish king Theudemer was executed by the sword, in c, around 428 the Salian king Chlodio, whose kingdom included Toxandria and the civitatus Tungrorum, launched an attack on Roman territory and extended his realm as far as Camaracum and the Somme. The kingdom of Chlodio changed the borders and the meaning of the word Francia permanently, Francia was no longer barbaricum trans Rhenum, but a landed political power on both sides of the river, deeply involved in Roman politics. Chlodios family, the Merovingians, extended Francia even further south, the core territory of the Frankish kingdom came to be known as Austrasia. Chlodios successors are obscure figures, but what can be certain is that Childeric I, possibly his grandson, Clovis converted to Christianity and put himself on good terms with the powerful Church and with his Gallo-Roman subjects. In a thirty-year reign Clovis defeated the Roman general Syagrius and conquered the Roman exclave of Soissons, defeated the Alemanni, Clovis defeated the Visigoths and conquered their entire kingdom with its capital at Toulouse, and conquered the Bretons and made them vassals of Francia.
He conquered most or all of the neighbouring Frankish tribes along the Rhine, by the end of his life, Clovis ruled all of Gaul save the Gothic province of Septimania and the Burgundian kingdom in the southeast. The Merovingians were a hereditary monarchy, the Frankish kings adhered to the practice of partible inheritance, dividing their lands among their sons. Cloviss sons made their capitals near the Frankish heartland in northeastern Gaul, Theuderic I made his capital at Reims, Chlodomer at Orléans, Childebert I at Paris, and Chlothar I at Soissons. During their reigns, the Thuringii and Saxons and Frisians were incorporated into the Frankish kingdom, the fraternal kings showed only intermittent signs of friendship and were often in rivalry. Theuderic died in 534, but his adult son Theudebert I was capable of defending his inheritance, which formed the largest of the Frankish subkingdoms and the kernel of the kingdom of Austrasia. Theudebert interfered in the Gothic War on the side of the Gepids and Lombards against the Ostrogoths, receiving the provinces of Rhaetia and part of Venetia
Hincmar
Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, the friend and propagandist of Charles the Bald, was one of the most remarkable figures in the ecclesiastical history of the Carolingian period. He belonged to a family of northern Francia. Destined to the life, he was brought up at Saint-Denis under the direction of the abbot Hilduin. After the death of Louis the Pious Hincmar supported Charles the Bald, in 845 he obtained through the kings support the archbishopric of Reims, and this choice was confirmed at the synod of Beauvais. Archbishop Ebbo, whom he replaced, had deposed in 835 at the synod of Thionville for having broken his oath of fidelity to the emperor Louis. After the death of Louis, Ebbo succeeded in regaining possession of his see for some years and it was in these circumstances that Hincmar succeeded, and in 847 Pope Leo IV sent him the pallium. One of the first cares of the new prelate was the restitution to his see of the domains that had been alienated under Ebbo. From the beginning of his episcopate Hincmar was in constant conflict with the clerks who had been ordained by Ebbo during his reappearance and this conflict, bred an antagonism of which Hincmar was to feel the effects.
During the next thirty years the archbishop of Reims played a prominent part in church. His authoritative and energetic will inspired, and in great measure directed and his first encounter was with Gottschalk, whose predestinarian doctrines claimed to be modelled on those of St Augustine. Hincmar placed himself at the head of the party that regarded Gottschalks doctrines as heretical, for a part at least of his doctrines Gottschalk found ardent defenders, such as Lupus of Ferrières, Prudentius of Troyes, the deacon Florus, and Amolo of Lyons. Gottschalk died in prison in 868, the question of the divorce of Lothair II, king of Lorraine, who had repudiated his wife Theutberga to marry his concubine Waldrada, engaged Hincmars literary activities in another direction. In the middle of the century there appeared in Gaul the collection of false decretals commonly known as the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals. The importance assigned by these decretals to the bishops and the councils, as well as to the direct intervention of the Holy See.
Rothad, bishop of Soissons, one of the most active members of the party in favour of the pseudo-Isidorian theories, deposed in 863 at the council of Soissons that was presided over by Hincmar, Rothad appealed to Rome. Hincmar experienced another check when he endeavoured to prevent Wulfad, one of the deposed clerics ordained by Ebbo, after a synod held at Soissons, Pope Nicholas I pronounced himself in favour of the deposed clerics, and Hincmar was constrained to submit. He was more successful in his contest with his nephew Hincmar, bishop of Laon, the bishop of Laon was sent into exile, probably to Aquitaine, where his eyes were put out by order of Count Boso. In Hincmars eyes this was an encroachment on the jurisdiction of the archbishops, at the same time he wrote a life of St Remigius, in which he endeavoured by audacious falsifications to prove the supremacy of the church of Reims over the other churches
French denier
The denier or penny was a medieval coin which takes its name from the Frankish coin first issued in the late seventh century, in English it is sometimes referred to as a silver penny. Its appearance represents the end of coinage, which, at the start of Frankish rule, had either been Byzantine or pseudo-imperial. Silver would be the basis for Frankish coinage from on, around AD755, amid the Carolingian Reforms, Pepin the Short introduced a new currency system which was eventually adjusted so that 12 pence equaled one shilling and 20 shillings equaled one pound. Later, three deniers equaled one liard, only the denier was an actual coin, the rest were money of account. This system and the denier itself served as the model for many of Europes currencies, including the British pound, Italian lira, Spanish dinero, in Ancien Régime France, the denier was used as a notional measure of interest rates on loans. Thus, a rate of 4% would be expressed as denier 25, a rate of 5% as denier 20, and so forth
Wilfred the Hairy
Wilfred or Wifred, called the Hairy, was Count of Urgell, Barcelona, Besalú and Ausona. On his death in 897, his son, Wilfred Borrell, Wilfred was the Catalan Count of Barcelona who created the tradition of hereditary passage of titles. His son, Wilfred Borrell, inherited the county without any interruption, a number of primitive feudal entities developed in the Marca Hispanica during the 9th century. They were generally self-sufficient and agrarian, but ruled by a military elite. The pattern seen in Catalonia is similar to found in similar border lands or marches elsewhere in Europe. Traditionally the Count of Barcelona was appointed directly by the Carolingian emperor, for example the appointment of Bera in 801, the appointment of heirs could not be taken for granted. However, with the rise of strong counts such as Sunifred and Wilfred, and the weakening of Carolingian royal power and this trend resulted in the counts becoming de facto independent of the Carolingian crown under Borrell II in 985.
Wilfred remained obscure until drawn into the net by Sir Richard Southern. Wilfred was of Gothic lineage from the region of Carcassonne, tradition claims he was born near Prades in the County of Conflent, now Rià, in Roussillon, France. According to legend, he was the son of Wilfred of Arriaount and his father was murdered by Salomón and Wilfred became his avenger, killing the assassin. Wilfreds mother may have been named Ermesende, Sunifred may have been the son of Belló, Count of Carcassonne during the reign of Charlemagne, or more probably, his son-in-law. Thus, as a descendant of Sunifred and his brother, Sunyer I, count of Empúries and Roussillon, Wilfred is considered to be a member of a Bellonid dynasty by Ramon dAbadal and other historians. The Bellonid lineage lost its power when Sunifred and Sunyer died in 848, later, at an assembly at Attigny in June 870, Charles the Bald made their cousins, Wilfred the Hairy and his brother Miró, counts of Urgell and Cerdanya, and Conflent, respectively.
For in that year, the poorly-chronicled Solomon, count of Urgell, after becoming Count of Urgell and Cerdanya in 870, Wilfred received the counties of Barcelona and Besalú in 878 from the Carolingian king of France, Louis the Stammerer. His reign coincided with the crumbling of Carolingian authority and unity, Wilfred was thus the last count of the Hispanic March appointed by the French king and the first to pass his vast holdings as an inheritance to his sons. Wilfred came into possession of Barcelona through his service to Charles the Bald against the rebel Bernard of Gothia, Count of Barcelona and numerous other Septimanian counties. Wilfred, Miró, their brother Sunifred, and Lindoí, the Viscount of Narbonne, marched against Bernard on behalf of King Charles and his son, Louis the Stammerer. In March and April 878, they defeated the nobles loyal to Bernard, including Sigebuto, Bishop of Narbonne, on 11 September 878, Bernard was dispossessed of all his titles
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reims
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reims is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. Erected as a diocese around 250 by St. Sixtus, the diocese was elevated to an archdiocese around 750, the archbishop received the title primate of Gallia Belgica in 1089. In 1023, Archbishop Ebles acquired the Countship of Reims, making him a prince-bishop, it became a duchy, the archdiocese comprises the arrondissement of Reims and the département of Ardennes while the province comprises the région of Champagne-Ardenne. The suffragan dioceses in the province of Reims are Amiens, Beauvais and Senlis, Châlons, Soissons and Saint-Quentin. The archepiscopal see is located in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims, in 2014 it was estimated that there was one priest for every 4,760 Catholics in the diocese. Pope John Paul II appointed Thierry Romain Camille Jordan as Archbishop of Reims in 1999, on June 28,2013, Pope Francis appointed Father Bruno Feillet as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Reims.
Reims was taken by the Vandals in 406, according to Flodoard, on Holy Saturday,497, Clovis was baptized and anointed by Archbishop Remigius of Reims in the cathedral of Reims. In 719 the city took up arms against Charles Martel, who besieged the city, took it by assault, the First Council of Reims took place in 625, under the presidency of Archbishop Sonnatius. It produced at least twenty-five canons, in 816, Pope Stephen IV crowned Louis the Pious as Emperor at Reims. On 28 January 893, Charles III the Simple was crowned King of West Francia at Reims, King Robert I was consecrated and crowned Rex Francorum at Saint-Remi in Reims on 29 June 922 by Archbishop Hervée. Hugh Capet was crowned at Reims on Christmas Day 988, by Archbishop Adalberon, in 990 the city was attacked by Charles of Lorraine, the rival of Hugues Capet, who seized the city and devastated the area. In 1049, from 3 to 5 October, a Council of the Church took place at Reims under the presidency of Pope Leo IX, with twenty bishops and some fifty abbots in attendance.
The Pope was in Reims for the dedication of the church of the monastery of Saint-Rémi, in 1657, the Chapter of the Cathedral of Reims contained nine dignities and sixty-four Canons. The dignities included, the Major Archdeacon, the Minor Archdeacon, the Provost, the Dean, the Cantor, the Treasurer, the Vicedominus, the Scholasticus, and the Poenitentiarius. The two archdeacons were already in existence in 877, when they are mentioned at the head of the Capitulations issued by Archbishop Hincmar and they were both appointees of the Archbishop. Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae, quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro apostolo, Typis et Sumptibus Georgii Josephi Manz. Pouillés de la province de Reims, recueils des historiens de la France, Pouilles. Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi V. Patavii, Messagero di S. Antonio, hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi VI
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. From an autocracy in Carolingian times the title evolved into an elected monarchy chosen by the Prince-electors, until the Reformation the Emperor elect was required to be crowned by the Pope before assuming the imperial title. The title was held in conjunction with the rule of the Kingdom of Germany, in theory, the Holy Roman Emperor was primus inter pares among the other Catholic monarchs, in practice, a Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances made him. Various royal houses of Europe, at different times, effectively became hereditary holders of the title, after the Reformation many of the subject states and most of those in Germany were Protestant while the Emperor continued to be Catholic. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by the last Emperor as a result of the collapse of the polity during the Napoleonic wars, from the time of Constantine I the Roman emperors had, with very few exceptions, taken on a role as promoters and defenders of Christianity.
In the west, the title of Emperor was revived in 800, as the power of the papacy grew during the Middle Ages and emperors came into conflict over church administration. The best-known and most bitter conflict was known as the Investiture Controversy. After Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III, no pope appointed an emperor again until the coronation of Otto the Great in 962. Under Otto and his successors, much of the former Carolingian kingdom of Eastern Francia fell within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, the various German princes elected one of their peers as King of the Germans, after which he would be crowned as emperor by the Pope. After Charles Vs coronation, all succeeding emperors were called elected Emperor due to the lack of papal coronation, the term sacrum in connection with the medieval Roman Empire was first used in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa. Charles V was the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Pope, the final Holy Roman Emperor-elect, Francis II, abdicated in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars that saw the Empires final dissolution.
The standard designation of the Holy Roman Emperor was August Emperor of the Romans, the word Holy had never been used as part of that title in official documents. In German-language historiography, the term Römisch-deutscher Kaiser is used to distinguish the title from that of Roman Emperor on one hand, the English term Holy Roman Emperor is a modern shorthand for emperor of the Holy Roman Empire not corresponding to the historical style or title. Successions to the kingship were controlled by a variety of complicated factors, elections meant the kingship of Germany was only partially hereditary, unlike the kingship of France, although sovereignty frequently remained in a dynasty until there were no more male successors. The Electoral council was set at seven princes by the Golden Bull of 1356, another elector was added in 1690, and the whole college was reshuffled in 1803, a mere three years before the dissolution of the Empire. After 1438, the Kings remained in the house of Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine, with the exception of Charles VII.
Maximilian I and his successors no longer travelled to Rome to be crowned as Emperor by the Pope, Maximilian therefore named himself Elected Roman Emperor in 1508 with papal approval. This title was in use by all his uncrowned successors, of his successors only Charles V, the immediate one, received a papal coronation
Girona
It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès. It is located 99 km northeast of Barcelona, Girona is one of the major Catalan cities. The first historical inhabitants in the region were Iberians, Girona is the ancient Gerunda, the Romans built a citadel there, which was given the name of Gerunda. The Visigoths ruled in Girona until it was conquered by the Moors in 715, Charlemagne reconquered it in 785 and made it one of the fourteen original counties of Catalonia. It was wrested temporarily from the Moors, who recaptured it in 793, from this time until the moors were finally driven out,1015, the city repeatedly changed hands and was sacked several times by the moors. Wilfred the Hairy incorporated Girona into the County of Barcelona in 878, Alfonso I of Aragón declared Girona a city in the 11th century. The ancient county became a duchy when King Pero III of Aragon gave the title of Duke to his first-born son, in 1414, King Ferrando I in turn gave the title of prince of Girona to his first-born son, Alfonso.
The title is currently carried by Princess Leonor of Asturias, the second since the 16th century to do so, the 12th century saw the Jewish community of Girona flourish, having one of the most important Kabbalistic schools in Europe. The Rabbi of Girona, Moshe ben Nahman Gerondi was appointed Great Rabbi of Catalonia, the presence of the Jewish community of Girona came to an end in 1492, when the Catholic Monarchs expelled all the Jews from Catalonia. Today, the Jewish ghetto or Call is one of the best preserved in Europe and is a major tourist attraction, on the north side of the old city is the Montjuic, where an important religious cemetery was located. Girona has undergone twenty-five sieges and been captured seven times and it was besieged by the French royal armies under Charles de Monchy dHocquincourt in 1653, under Bernardin Gigault de Bellefonds in 1684, and twice in 1694 under Anne Jules de Noailles. Finally, the French conquered the city in 1809, after 7 months of siege, Girona was center of the Ter department during the French rule, which lasted from 1809 to 1813.
The defensive city walls were demolished at the end of the 19th century to allow for the expansion of the city, in recent years, the missing parts of the city walls on the eastern side of the city have been reconstructed. Called the Passeig de la Muralla it now forms a tourist route around the old city, in the Köppen climate classification, Girona has a humid subtropical climate, with cool winters and hot summers. In winter, temperatures can drop to below −3 °C, in summer, temperatures often soar to 30–35 °C. Although rainfall is spread throughout the year, it is more common in spring. Girona is a destination for tourists and Barcelona day-trippers - the train journey from Barcelona Sants to Girona takes approximately forty minutes on express trains. The old town stands on the hill of the Capuchins to the east of the river Onyar
Duchy of Brittany
The Duchy of Brittany was a medieval feudal state that existed between approximately 939 and 1547. The Duchy was established after the expulsion of Viking armies from the region around 939, the Duchy, in the 10th and 11th centuries, was politically unstable, with the dukes holding only limited power outside their own personal lands. The Duchy had mixed relationships with the neighbouring Duchy of Normandy, sometimes allying itself with Normandy, Henry II of England invaded Brittany in the mid-12th century and became Count of Nantes in 1158 under a treaty with Duke Conan IV. Henrys son, became Duke through his marriage to Constance, the Angevins remained in control until the collapse of their empire in northern France in 1204. The French Crown maintained its influence over the Duchy for the rest of the 13th century, civil war broke out in the 14th century, as rival claimants for the Duchy vied for power during the Breton War of Succession, with different factions supported by England and France.
The independent sovereign nature of the Duchy began to come to an end upon the death of Francis II in 1488, the Duchy was inherited by his daughter, but King Charles VIII of France had her existing marriage annulled and married her himself. As a result, the King of France acquired the title of Duke of Brittany - jure uxoris, the Duchy was finally merged into the Kingdom of France in 1532 through a vote of the Estates of Brittany. The Ducal crown became united with the French crown in the person of Henry II of France, in modern times the departments have joined into administrative regions although the administrative region of Brittany does not encompass the entirety of the medieval duchy. The Duchy of Brittany that emerged in the early 10th century was influenced by several earlier polities and these Gallic tribes – termed the Armorici in Latin – had close relationships with the Britonnes tribes in Roman Britain. The reasons for these migrations remain uncertain and these migrations from Britain contributed to Brittanys name.
Brittany fragmented into small, warring regna, each competing for resources, the Frankish Carolingian Empire conquered the region during the 8th century, starting around 748 taking the whole of Brittany by 799. The Carolingians tried to create a unitary administration around the centres of Rennes and Vannes using the local rulers, Carolingian technology and culture began to influence Brittany, and the church in Brittany began to emulate the Frankish model. The greatest influence on the Duchy, was the formation of a unitary Brittany kingdom in the 9th century, in 831 Louis the Pious appointed Nominoe, the Count of Vannes, ruler of the Bretons, imperial missus, at Ingelheim in 831. After the death of Louis in 840, Nominoe rose to challenge the new emperor, Charles the Bald, Charles the Bald created the Marches of Neustria to defend Western Francia from the Bretons and the Vikings. Erispoe fought Charles the Bald, who felt that an attack would successfully challenge the new Breton leader. Erispoe won a victory at the Battle of Jengland and, under their Treaty of Angers in 851, the new kingdom proved fragile and collapsed under Viking attack.
In 853 the Viking Godfried left the Seine with his fleet, sailed around the Breton peninsula, Erispoe entered into an alliance with the leader of another Viking fleet, who betrayed him, resulting in Erispoes defeat at the hands of the Vikings. A weakened Erispoe ruled until 857 when he was assassinated and followed as Breton ruler by his cousin and rival, Alan Is military success resulted in a period of peace from Viking invasions and few raids from the Vikings were recorded from 900 through to 907
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 34.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the 
