page_title: Duchy of Brittany
section_title: Folklore and legends
hierarchical_section_title: Duchy of Brittany / Society, culture and governance / Folklore and legends
caption_attribution_description: English: Tristan and Iseult at the fountain, King Mark spying upon them, detail from a casket panel. Ivory, Paris, 1340–1350. Français&#160;: Tristan et Iseut à la fontaine, épiés par le roi Marc, détail d'un panneau de coffret. Ivoire, Paris, 1340-1350.
context_page_description: The Duchy of Brittany was a medieval feudal state that existed between approximately 939 and 1547. Its territory covered the northwestern peninsula of Europe, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the English Channel to the north. It was less definitively bordered by the Loire River to the south, and Normandy and other French provinces to the east. 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, and at other times, such as the Breton-Norman War, entering into open conflict.
  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. Henry's son, Geoffrey, became Duke through his marriage to Constance, the hereditary Duchess. 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.
context_section_description: In the 12th century, legends of Conan Meriadoc became popular in North-West Europe. By the 18th century these accounts had been described as mythical.
  A reference is made by the chronicler Jordanes to a commander named Riothamus – the Celtic for "supreme leader" – fighting in the region on behalf of the Roman emperor around 470 but little other evidence exists for this period.
  The chroniclers of Viking raids in Brittany and Normandy recounted that St Olaf raided the northern coast of Brittany in the area of the town of Dol.
caption: 14th-century depiction of the Breton romance Tristan and Iseult
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