Conan Meriadoc

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Conan Meriadoc , (* around 305; † around 395), also Cynan , is the legendary first Duke of Brittany and has been the ancestor of the House of Rohan since the 18th century .

Lore history

According to the Welsh fairy tale Breuddwyd Macsen ("Macsen's Dream") from the Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch ("The White Book of Rhydderch", 14th century) Conan (Cynan) is the son of the British King Eudaf Hen (Octavius), son of Caradawc ( Caradog) and brother of Elen Luyddawg (Helena). The Roman Emperor Macsen Wledig (Maximus, 383-388 usurper Kaiser von Westrom) falls in love with Elen in a dream.

After his messengers found her in the castle of Aber Sain in Arvon ( Wales ), he conquered all of Britain, married Helena and stayed with her for seven years. Meanwhile the Romans have appointed a new emperor against whom Macsen (Maximus) takes to the field. Conan and his brother Adeon conquer Rome for Macsen Wledig during their lunch break, as a reward they receive an army from him.

With this they conquer many countries, castles and cities, and the men kill them, but the women let them live. After all, the young men they came with have gray beards. Adeon returns to Britain, Cynan settles in Brittany ( Aremorica ). So that “their language stays pure”, they cut off the tongues of the abducted women. Because of the silence of the women, the inhabitants have been called Bretons in their language since then.

Gildas

The British historian Gildas Badonicus mentions around 540 the troops that went out with Maximus and never returned, but not what happened to them. He also describes that because of the devastation of the Saxons, many British flee across the sea while singing psalms (Chapter 25), a passage that Beda Venerabilis takes over in his "History of the English Church" (written in 731).

Nennius

Nennius , who presumably relies on Gildas, reports that Maximus withdraws all his troops from Britain, defeats Gratian, the "King of the Romans" and becomes lord of all Europe. Because he did not want his warlike comrades to return to their wives, children and possessions in Britain, he gave them numerous possessions in Brittany, “from the lake on the summit of Mons Jovis to the town called Cant Guic, and to the western burial mound, that is to Cruc Occident. ”These“ Armorican British ”, Nennius continues, live there to this day. Because of her absence, however, Britain herself is now being overrun by enemies.

The story makes more sense when one knows that while Magnus Maximus was made emperor in Britain in 383 and rose to rulership of Gaul and Spain and invaded Italy in 387, he was defeated by Theodosius in 388 and killed by his soldiers. His son Flavius ​​Victor was defeated in Gaul by the Frankish magister militum Arbogast that same year . It would have been scattered Roman soldiers who settled in Brittany.

Gregory of Tours mentions Maximus, Victor and Arbogast in his history of the Franks, but not Conan.

Geoffrey of Monmouth

The name Conan does not appear until the 12th century with Geoffrey von Monmouth in the Historia Regum Britanniae , which also contains a decorated version of the Arthurian legend. According to Geoffrey, Maximus appoints the leader of his soldiers, Kynan Medriadec, as king before he is defeated in 388. The men settle between Quentovic , St. Bernhard and Penmarch. Later, Conan conquered Rennes and had all the men killed. With 30,000 warriors and 100,000 civilians, Conan founds "another Britain" on it.

Adaptations

  • La Legende de Kynan, by Jean-Luc Sala, drawings by Henri Joseph Recule (Lombard, 1993). ISBN 3930160218

See also

literature

  • Geoffrey Ashe: Mythology of the British Isles. Methuen, London 1990, ISBN 0-413-62990-2 .
  • Nora K. Chadwick : The colonization of Brittany from Celtic Britain. In: Proceedings of the British Academy. Vol. 51, 1965, ISSN  0068-1202 , pp. 235-299, ( digital version (PDF; 4.01 MB) ).
  • Nora K. Chadwick: Early Brittany. University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1969, ISBN 0-900768-26-6 .
  • André Chédeville, Hubert Guillotel: La Bretagne des Saints et des rois. Ve – Xe siècle. Ouest-France, Rennes 1984, ISBN 2-85882-613-7 .
  • Frederik Hetmann (ed.): Celtic fairy tales. Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany (= fisherman. 1593). Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1975, ISBN 3-436-02096-6 (slightly "defused" version of Macsen Wledig's dream).
  • Arthur Le Moyne de la Borderie: Histoire de la Bretagne. Volume 1. Plihon et Hommay, Rennes 1905, pp. 280-392, (Réimpression offset. Manutention, Mayenne 1985; thorough compilation of the written sources).
  • Brynley F. Roberts: Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae and Brut y Brenhinedd. In: Rachel Bromwich, AOH Jarman, Brynley F. Roberts (Eds.): The Arthur of the Welsh. The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature (= Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages. 1). University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1991, ISBN 0-7083-1107-5 , pp. 97-116.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Conan Meriadoc
BRIEF DESCRIPTION first duke of Brittany
DATE OF BIRTH at 305
DATE OF DEATH at 395