Alain IV (Brittany)

Alain IV.

Alain IV. (* Before 1072, † 1119 ) was Duke of Brittany and Count of Rennes and Count of Nantes . He is also known as Alain Fergant , which means “Alain the Younger” in the Breton language .

He was the son of Duke Hoël II from the House of Cornouaille and the Havise of Bretagne († 1072) from the House of Rennes . When his father died in 1084, he inherited the Duchy of Brittany, which came from his mother's rights, while his brother Matthias II inherited the paternal county of Nantes. In the same year, his uncle Gottfried Grenonat , who was Count of Rennes as a vassal of the Duke of Brittany, died, after which Alain moved the county and incorporated it into his duchy. When his brother Matthias died in 1103 without an heir, Alain also became Count of Nantes.

Alain IV was faced with an invasion of William the Conqueror , due to which he had to give up his duchy in 1086. The peace made in the same year was linked to Alain's wedding to Wilhelm's daughter Konstanze, which is why he is suspected of being responsible for her death by poison in 1090: Wilhelm von Malmesbury reports that she was killed because she was too conservative for the Breton Yard was.

He married again in 1093, Ermengard of Anjou , daughter of Count Fulko IV of Anjou and Tours († 1146), divorced wife of Duke Wilhelm IX. of Aquitaine . He had three children with her:

• Conan III. (1095–1148), heir to the duchy;
• Havise, ∞ Count Baldwin VII of Flanders ;
• Gottfried († 1106 in Jerusalem).

In 1096 he took part in the First Crusade with Duke Robert II of Normandy . Until he returned in 1101, his wife Ermengard led the regency in Brittany. He was not a popular duke, which is why he was forced to abdicate in 1112 in favor of his son Conan. He retired to the monastery of Redon , where he died in 1119.

In addition to his legitimate children, he had at least one illegitimate son, Brian FitzCount .

literature

• Patrick André et al. (Ed.): Dictionnaire d'histoire de Bretagne. Skol Vreizh, Morlaix 2008, ISBN 978-2-915623-45-1 .
• André Chédeville, Noël-Yves Tonnerre: La Bretagne féodale. XIe-XIIIe siècle (= Université. ). Ouest-France, Rennes 1987, ISBN 2-7373-0014-2 .
• Arthur de La Borderie, Barthélemy Pocquet: Histoire de la Bretagne. 6 volumes. Editions régionales de l'Ouest et al., Mayenne 1998, ISBN 2-85554-089-5 , (especially vol. 3).
• Arthur de La Borderie (ed.): Recueil d'actes inédits des Ducs et princes de Bretagne. (XIe, XIIe, XIIIe siècles). Catel, Rennes 1888, ( digitized version ).
• Arthur de La Borderie (ed.): Nouveau recueil d'actes inédits des ducs et princes de Bretagne XIIIe et XIVe siècles. Impr. Eug. Prost, Rennes 1902, ( digitized version ).

Web links

• Alain de Cornouaïlle at fmg.ac (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Hoël I. (de iure uxoris)	Duke of Brittany 1084–1112	Conan III.
Gottfried Grenonat	Count of Rennes 1084	incorporated into the Duchy of Brittany
Matthias II	Count of Nantes 1103–1112	Conan III.