Why did it take so long for France to conquer Brittany? (Short Animated Documentary)

The small Duchy of Brittany sat on the north-west frontier of France for over six centuries. Despite France being much larger and much more powerful, its king never managed to conquer the Bretons and instead had to wait to marry into its ruling family. So why not? Why didn't France conquer Brittany in such a long period of time. To find out watch this short and simple animated history documentary.
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[@jonbaxter2254]

If Elder Scrolls taught me anything, the Bretons were hard to defeat because they kept spamming magic and France was doing a melee-only run.

[@westrim]

Fools, they should have brought stealth archers.

[@sephikong8323]

​@@westrim What a fool you are, I'm a Breton, how could you kill a Breton ? What a grand and intoxicating innocence

[@jonbaxter2254]

@@westrim What are you, some kind of Bosmer?

[@Matakshaman]

@@jonbaxter2254 Damn elves

[@Neolazaro91]

Never should have come here

[@RmsOceanic]

We all know the real reason Brittany wasn't subdued earlier was a small village near the coast, existing all the way back to when it was known as Armorica, whose inhabitants fought off any incursion to their lands with amazing strength, almost like they had a magic potion.

[@jonbaxter2254]

Wasn't that on the Belgium border, not the other side?

[@joeallen9104]

@@jonbaxter2254 Nope, it's supposed to be located in Erquy on the Brittany coast.

[@michelarsenault4088]

and that a small blonde midget and a Huge Man with red hair always went on adventures to save the village, what were there names again? Asterix and Obelix? yeah those guys, great warriors

[@diney7085]

It's actually because James Bissonette wouldn't allow Brittany to be assimilated into the French kingdom

[@greyghost2492]

Ah, a fellow cultured Asterix and Obelix enjoyer

[@iattacku2773]

I think this video does a good job in showing how decentralized the Middle Ages were. Kings rarely if ever had true absolute power.

[@mrgalaxy396]

Difficult to project power over hundreds to thousands of kilometers when it takes so long for troops to reach that land. Many times this just wasn't economically sensible and economics are usually the underlying reason for war in the first place.

[@robinrehlinghaus1944]

True. Everything political in the middle ages was a matter of power balance, mediation and reputation. Soft power, negotiation and prestige were the key to peace and success. Being power hungry and petty would get a king no support.

[@GarkKahn]

People talk about hre but they were more like "everyone is the same, i just merely say it out loud"

[@AVKnecht]

In the case of France you could go so far that the Battle of Agincourt was a blessing in disguise because so many powerful French nobles lost their lives on that day. Less competition for the King.

[@theotakukaiser7892]

@@GarkKahnthe hre just didn’t progress when the others did. There’s a reason for why it was often called a relic of the feudal days

[@nv4217]

"Opted to spend some time in the afterlife" the monotony of telling history is how often saying someone died, his ability to keep it always clever is one of my favorite things about the channel

[@spk1121]

👻👍

[@mr9512]

Someone needs to make a list of, or a video of clips of, all his euphemisms for dying...

[@BuriedFlame]

@Ethanol 6565 *mmrrphh mmrrh mmh!* _"What?"_ *sound of hooves and clanging metal* _"I said, Ima conquering you!"_

[@kevinmahernz]

Another great one from another video of his is "he caught a mild case of death "

[@luisshorts.]

@@kevinmahernz”his mortal coil ran out”

[@HeisenbergFam]

The real reason is Brittany simply said "no" whenever France thought about conquering it aggresively

[@crumblingmasonry8961]

Waltuh. Good taste in videos, Waltuh.

[@jonbaxter2254]

France cannot legally invade you without consent.

[@myri_the_weirdo]

as a breton, I can confirm

[@LFC1122]

France cannot legally conquer you without your consent

[@breaderikthegreat3224]

And because of donations by duke James bisonette

[@gudmundursteinar]

I want to add the argument that Brittany is not on what might be described as any natural supply route from Paris. France is the three/four rivers. Seine, Loire, Rhone and nr 4 the Garonne. From Paris you can dominate the Seine, Loire and Rhone by river boat and a short land crossing Paris-Orleans and Rheims-Dijon. Getting to Brittany (or Gascony) is hard. You need to go to Le Havre, get on a large ship, sail into the atlantic ocean and not have any beef with english, basque, irish, dutch or any other pirates in the region. That's why it took so long, They couldn't run the place so letting somebody friendly run it was the only real option. When land communications improved the french eventually were able to run the region themselves. However, as late as the Napoleonic Era Brest found itself being isolated from the rest of france by the royal navy because the roads were so bad. It wasn't until railroads connected brittany to the rest of france that it could be ruled as anything other than an autonomous region.

[@genovayork2468]

This is dumb. Languedoc, le Massif Central, Foix, Béarn are much harder to access than Brittany. So you can teleport to the Garonne (which by the way flows in Gascony) but you can't take carriage or boat to Brittany? You're dumb. You could have just said infrastructure was undevelopped there and the sea route was vulnerable to the English, it would have made a sufficient explanation, without the brain rot.

[@VoltismProductions]

isn't that entire area pretty flat? What made the roads so bad?

[@gudmundursteinar]

@@VoltismProductions I'm confused, why would roads be good between the fall of the roman empire and the invention of tarmac? Hills, forests, swamps, rain, donkey carts.. everything made the roads terrible.

[@_blank-_]

@@gudmundursteinar I wonder if it's the reason why Brittany's roads were never taxed, a tradition that continues to this day.

[@gudmundursteinar]

@@_blank-_ No, probably no, all roads sucked balls in that period. If you couldn't get there by river or sea then you couldn't get very far and in the scheme of things the distance from cherbourg or nantes to brest is very far.

[@emsouemsou]

For a few hundred years the French kings watched the "Leave Brittany alone" video and thought the guy kind of had a point

[@GnomaPhobic]

Genuinely laughed at loud at this.

[@falcon5588]

Underrated comment

[@galanopouloc]

Damn. You went with a pre-2010 meme? Much respect.

[@danidejaneiro8378]

@@galanopouloc - yeah it’s almost like the world existed more than 13 years ago!

[@BOZ_11]

@@danidejaneiro8378 not to Gen Z it didn't

[@MatheusLB2009]

"This time, they DID have children" Her face...

[@GerardM1996]

As an archaeologist who works on the Early Middle Ages in Brittany, this video came close to what my dreams look like. Thank you for this!

[@fallendown8828]

Wow, cool

[@genovayork2468]

Nah, he skipped four centuries as "cause feudalism and England".

[@bcvetkov8534]

Dude, you have the coolest job ever.

[@MrBattlecharge]

You dream in blocky 2D?

[@cshelley5658]

Did you also wake up from a nightmare of someone wearing a Morion helmet in 1000 AD England?

[@mrterp04]

I heard they had really sharp weapons-nobody wanted to mess with Brittany’s spears

[@phil2544]

😅🤣😂

[@gregmiller9710]

😄

[@JohnSmith-rk6jy]

I see what ye did there.

[@PhadexLXIV_Greece]

It took me way too long to understand the joke. Good one tho!

[@mfaizsyahmi]

_slow clap_

[@williambrennan104]

Technically Brittany was held in personal union under the French king, but was not actually part of the Kingdom of France, until the Revolution. This had some practical effects, like exemption of Brittany from certain taxes, which allowed its economy to grow both directly and through being a tax haven. EDIT: See below. Feudalism was complicated.

[@nolanrichoux3538]

Not quite. While it's indeed true that Britanny held special privileges, and still does, the duchy was fused with the Kingdom of France during the 17th century, during the time when French kings desperately tried to centralize power. The reason for its privileges was the same reason as Catalonia got some from Spain : the population was quick to revolt. However, the Kingdom of Navarre was indeed held as a personnal union with the Kingdom of France until the revolution. All kings of France from Henry IV to Louis XVI styled themselves "Kings of France and Navarre". Afterwards, Navarre was fully absorbed in France.

[@xenotypos]

Britanny was actually de jure "part" of the kingdom of France during the entire process, all the way from West Francia's era. In practice, it was very different, but most territories in France were quasi-independent from the french kings during most of the middle ages. The royal domain was very small. France was basically a HRE-like entity that managed centralization by the end of the middle ages.

[@walideg5304]

Nah, After Francis 1st, Brittany was fully part of the Kingdom of France and no more a personal Union. It’s even displayed in Big in the Castle of the Brittany dukes in Nantes. 😊

[@guillaumelegouais6987]

@@xenotypos We are not in CKII.The britanny is completly independant in middle ages,there has never been a real concrete and lasting vassalization as it was for the other duchies of France, the French knights had to have safe-conducts to enter the Breton territory which would not be the case if it was a de jure province.

[@erwannthietart3602]

​@@guillaumelegouais6987"completely indepandant" No actually, the Kingdom of Britanny was indepandant yes so stuff around Solomon Alan I and post Charlemagne but we became a duchy and proclaimed fealty to the french king, making us part of the De Jure Kingdom of France. Ofc prior we had Viking incursions all around the coasts and in Naoned, and after the French kings were so weak we were de facto indepandant. But thats no differant than the other duchies. What saved us at first was that Brittany was worth around 1/10th of France by military economical and population and quite distant from Paris both culturally and physically, putting us more akin to Duchies like Aquitaine and Toulouse who just did whatever the f they wanted and the King had to deal with it. As much as we swore fealty, we didnt really care because really just like them we could just do whatever we wanted. Then when the King of France started centralising, we did our masterplay called "f*ck you im siding w8th the "English"/Angevin, Normand, and the absurdly large Duchy of Aquitaine". And when the Kings of England started centralising? "f*ck you im siding with the french" Along the way and a few civil wars later since France and England were tearing each other apart each with our support to protect our asses, we claimed indepandance, and that the only time in the middle ages since the beginning of the Duchy of Brittany that we were truly indepandant. Unfortunately England lost Fortunately, England lost meaning Brittany will never be ruled by Angevin or Normand, twould be the worst man lol

[@itzadam9359]

Video idea as a loyal Patreon supporter: Why did Finland 🇫🇮 gain autonomy in the Russian Empire?

[@mrsigmagrinder8737]

because Finland is cool

[@GwainSagaFanChannel]

Since Finland aint Russian so sooner or later it would have gotten independent

[@finnrattray]

Coz Sweden

[@murtumaton]

Money.

[@ringularitas]

Because Ukrainians can be considered pro Russians if compared to the Finns.

[@Mister-Red]

In French, the word that they use to refer to Brittany is the same word they use for Britain thus I taught that land was called Britain

[@lhistorienchipoteur9968]

That’s why it’s called « great » Britain. It’s to differentiate it from just Britain, or « Brittany » as the Anglo-saxons say.

[@TheBlaqOrder]

Yes, the island is Great Britain, the peninsular is Little Britain.

[@lhistorienchipoteur9968]

@@TheBlaqOrder Actually, we usually just say « Bretagne » without « little » in French to designate Brittany.

[@alexanderzippel8809]

If it wasn’t for the Groß (Great) in german, the only way to differentiate between the two is that Britanny is said without an „n“ at the end

[@bananenmusli2769]

don't you call Britain "Grande Bretagne" ?

[@calmkat9032]

One thing that comes to mind is the fact that Brittany being independent means just one more possible front of attack. Then I realized I was forgetting we're talking about Feudalism, where that kind of thinking was not really a factor due to small vassals (marches) bordering other countries being responsible, and usually able, to defend themselves, one of the only innovations of that system.

[@alexG106]

I'm going to pushback on that last point. When you say 'innovation' I'm going to go ahead and interpret that as 'improvement' seeing as how political systems are only as innovative as they need to be to survive. Feudalism was an absolute improvement over the decaying classical age Roman autocracy. Basically everyone who endured that transition became better off as the ruinous taxation and militarization of Rome ended, land ownership became less stratified and inefficient, and Feudalism enabled a process of technological innovations, particularly in agriculture that improved Europe and helped it to then transition to mercantilist and capitalist economic systems.

[@sleeexs]

​@@alexG106 We gonna go back to that shit

[@Admiral45-10]

To some extent it could also make sense even in Middle Ages - after all, it was a reason why Mesco I of Gnesnian Duchy married Bohemian Queen Dobrava and created an alliance - to prevent strong clan of Vieletes from forming a very dangerous anti-Polish alliance, forcing Polans to fight on both fronts. Attack from both sides meant that you'd have to: A) Divide your army to take care of both problems at the same time - leaving you with less men to fight each side B) Take care of each army one by one, which was both time-consuming and exhausting for the soldiers - not to mention by that time the army you didn't take care of can as well take your capital in this time. So even in Middle Ages it was a big advantage to attack from both sides. In case of Britanny it was a case of either France having to take care of wider front and thus more time-consuming siege (and with England just next door, ready to send a lot of men and other reinforcements), or being able to separate Southern French garrison and take it before English would be able to send reinforcements.

[@highgrounder5238]

@@alexG106 Wrong and false. Feudalism was a mess of an economic and societal system that only existed because nobody in Europe was able to collect enough taxes to train loyal tax collectors and bureaucrats to manage them for 1000 years, so they had to split land up so much and into so many layers that the lowest layers (barrons, counts, etc.) could tax the peasants directly. The moment they could centralise, they did so, and we see that in Europe after the invention of the cannon, which allowed kings to destroy the castles of the nobility and take the land for the crown to manage directly by force.

[@robinrehlinghaus1944]

​@@highgrounder5238 Centralisation and Absolutism screwed over the people and ultimately caused the downfall of monarchies.

[@crazeelazee7524]

So basically Brittany was too unimportant to bother while also being too important to anger them.

[@tomi2205]

basically

[@_blank-_]

Hannah Montana, the best of both worlds.

[@paarmenion3635]

Well yes and no. Let's say that at first the king of France was so weak that he couldn't even deal with petty counts 50km away from Paris whilst the duke of Brittany became insanely powerful. In the 14th and 15th century Breton wealth was more significant than Portugal's. Brittany was too far away from both England and France to be directly conquered but was too close to be ignored, so it just aligned with one or the other to avoid getting beat.

[@cptmiller132]

Soo they were the same as scotland was to England?

[@declangautier645]

Like Portugal and Spain

[@TheOGDisco]

Because James Bissounette refused to let France conquer it.

[@Palinghufter]

The French revolution started when James Bissonette stopped funding the French economy.

[@jamesbissonette8002]

Nah

[@Palinghufter]

@@jamesbissonette8002 Is that the legend himself?

[@henrikilis]

Kelly "the money maker" was a strong ally of Brittany, let us not forget

[@lexonfors]

​@@Palinghufter it is!

[@magnushultgrenhtc]

Her look at 2:44 is truly the realisation that life is not what she had hoped.

[@Iason29]

Lol yea being passed around from king to king like a lawn chair, not much of a life is it

[@eduardkantholz3725]

@@Iason29 actually it's bs because she couldn't decide it on her own but besides that it's still a better life than sitting 24/7 at home and scrolling tiktoks. What kind of life is that? xD sorry didn't mean to roast anybody but actually being her would be more interesting than what most people understand of a life in 2024. But surely the perfect life would be in peace.

[@authorofone]

@@eduardkantholz3725life back then was absolutely not better than it is now. You could pick out a million different excuses for why life back then was so much better, but I could refute every single one.

[@Hehstorian]

As a Breton I appreciate this video very much, thank you!

[@MuchWhittering]

"The marriage was done remotely." I'm just picturing the two of them saying their vows over Zoom.

[@3st3st77]

Actually, that was still possible at least in some countries in the 20th century. I remember my law teacher telling me that some soldiers in WW2 married remotely by having someone else be there during the ceremony with the necessary permission. Nowadays you have to be there in person, though.

[@tentathesane8032]

You may @ the bride

[@Iason29]

Wow and some people think such things only happen today, or in Vegas

[@Matthy63]

Anne of Brittany just saying "I do" to just, a painting of a massive chin

[@BangFarang1]

@@3st3st77 The French parents of my father's cousin where married remotely in 1941. His father was in the army in Tunisia and his mother was in Paris and pregnant. She got the authorisation to marry by postmail from the father's commander and she went to the townhall to get married.

[@xenotypos]

It's also important to emphacize that during all this time, it was still formally part of the kingdom of France, with varying degrees of autonomy depending on the period. It's important, because as opposed to what that blue map suggests, most of France's duchies and counties had a large autonomy during most of the middle ages. Maybe it was more pronounced in Britanny, but fondamentally the situation wasn't that unique. Normandy, Aquitaine, and other territories were also very free, France was a somewhat loose confederation in which the royal dynasty spent most of the middle ages centralizing power. Something that will be completely achieved in the early Renaissance.

[@thatguyfromwalmart]

I think one factor in this is that Brittany was culturally descended from the Celts of Cornwall and Wales, rather than being truly French like most of the other vassals. You are correct, but I think the Bretons just stand out more as a people to historians.

[@PipoZePoulp]

That's why I somehow disagree this the "independent" statement, "largely autonomous" fits better. And being willing and able to play France and England against each other to get a better deal for 500 years did help.

[@tibsky1396]

@@thatguyfromwalmart I don't think it's just a matter of culture, but more political. It was feudal times. Because technically, in your logic, Southern France (Aquitaine, Gascony, County of Toulouse, Provence, Lemosin, Auvergne etc...) was also not "French" as in the North (even if it was ruled by Frankish nobles of origins), but Occitan/Provencal. At the time, culturally, it's as if we were comparing France and Spain today. In the same principle as for Brittany later, the Northern Franks took advantage of the opportunity of the Albigensian crusade to conquer a large part of the south, and thus enlarge the Capetian royal domain. And I think that's what the author was talking about, bhe blue map was not set in stone over all of the medieval eras. It was very politically fractured, and so was the Holy Roman Empire. Seems huge and unified seen like this, but it was fractured too.

[@ebm9231]

@@thatguyfromwalmart "Brittany was culturally descended from the Celts of Cornwall and Wales" Only the east. The other part spoke Gallo which is a latin language but different from French. Note that only the northern part of the kingdom spoke french.

[@rheijm9201]

Now these authentic times are headstrong ly remembered. They have no peage. Life, 2023

[@alexanderyacht6483]

Brittany's independent streak continued even after it became part of France. It was one of the few provinces to retain its provincial estates until the revolution, and its parlement (court) was one of the more likely parlements to resist anything it saw as royal tyranny.

[@alanpennie8013]

There was a big quarrel in the 1760s when the royal governor tried to levy new taxes without the consent of The Bretons. All a bit reminiscent of what was going on in America at the same time but The French Government was eventually able to calm things down.

[@alanpennie8013]

In those days The Bretons had two representative bodies, The Estates (feudal assembly) and The Parlement (court of appeal). However both represented the nobility rather than the people.

[@jeangenie9597]

You’re completely wrong. All provinces had their own provincial estates and dozen were much more diligent in asserting that they were strictly personal union of the King (which Brittany wasn’t as it was a de jure vassal since it’s ceased to be a kingdom). During the general estates of 1615, the representatives of Dauphiné refused to be in the same room as the other because according to them, they were still part of the HRE.

[@alexanderyacht6483]

@@jeangenie9597 By estates I mean the provincial assemblies which originated in the medieval period, the primary function of which was to approve taxes. By the 18th century only a few survived, the major ones being in Brittany, Burgundy, Languedoc and Provence.

[@jeangenie9597]

@@alexanderyacht6483 There were still dozens of small provincial estates.

[@allanlank]

Jacques Cartier, who explored Canada for the king of France, was born in an independent Brittany. Many of the settlers to New France were from Brittany and have given Canada a Celtic base along with settlers from the British Isles.

[@bengoloitachi2565]

Most of french immigrant at the beginning were normans

[@domjuancourtleciel742]

Not true. Many settlers from the West of France but not from britanny. It s easy to see with french canadian Names for example in -eau wich is typical to Poitou and Loire. Moreover, about celtic origin, Julius Caesar explain in the war of the gauls that romans called them gauls but they calls themselves celts.

[@domjuancourtleciel742]

​@@bengoloitachi2565and from Poitou.

[@bengoloitachi2565]

@@domjuancourtleciel742 actually normandy is a part of France

[@vitorhugosantana7053]

They were from the whole Atlantic cost, from Normandy all the way to the Basque country.

[@VulcanLogic]

The other part that made it hard was the Bretons didn't speak French--they spoke Breton, a Celtic language like Welsh or Irish. It wasn't until radio and television that they started to lose their language in favor of French, but it's still a living language and the road signs are in both Breton and French. It is endangered, however, as most primary speakers are over 80 years old.

[@shzarmai]

Yeah, that's horrendous that the language is disappearing 😕 and of reminds me of the Occitan language.

[@SFCKNZSD]

Its sad that a beautiful language like breton is being replaced by an ugly horrible language like french i hope they manage to bring the speakers back up

[@ebm9231]

"The other part that made it hard was the Bretons didn't speak French--they spoke Breton" Only the western part. The other spoke Gallo.

[@monapon8169]

I've never heard of a medieval ruler that couldn't conquer a territory because the people there didn't speak his language though

[@VulcanLogic]

@@monapon8169 Could they? Sure. But it's going to be more expensive. And France was broke for most of the time they didn't.

[@cjraymond8827]

James Bisonnette gets all the credit, but Kelly Moneymaker is out there doing a lot too

[@benb6060]

Kelly Moneymaker supplies James Bisonnettte with the funding he needs to change history

[@haplon33]

Making money, for one!

[@Mikebumpful]

Fun fact: Kelly Moneymaker has been known to post in the comments!

[@kellymoneymaker3922]

🤔

[@YouTube]

brittany really said: no 😌

[@noidea5984]

Heil

[@_blank-_]

omg it's jewtube 😳

[@pizzatime8404]

Bruh

[@greatjoseon]

BLUD IS A FORTRESS🗣🗣🔥🔥

[@suueker169]

hi youtube

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

Britanny: the French Wales.

[@rennor3498]

And it is located on the western most part as well.

[@alanpennie8013]

Dauphine' is hurt.

[@clementdeazevedo5469]

As a Breton I must by law tell everyone here that the map of Bretagne at the beggining is the one of the administrative region as of today. Bretagne in terms of culture and entity misses a whole chunk in the south that was taken away by the fascist gouvernement collaborating with the nazis in 1941 and never given back.

[@TheStickman419]

I actually wondered this quite a lot, and before actually doing research on it for a recent video I made I used to watch those timeline videos showing the rulers of countries, and I saw that despite France absolutely ballooning in size they didn't conquer Brittany for almost 900 years or so...not even Charlemagne annexed it, he settled with it as a vassal. Its an amazing thing really, shows that you don't really have to be big and strong to really survive, especially when you realize that Brittany technically lasted longer than the western Roman empire and even the Roman Republic

[@alejandrotoro9676]

Wow kudos Bretons

[@mojewjewjew4420]

Brittany survived those 600 years because 2 hegemons fought over it but the fact that it was small and insignificant is what really allowed it to survive so much,Rome and the Republic were big,belligerent and rich and that usually puts a target on your back,your comment is just plain wrong.

[@Rofflestomper]

@@mojewjewjew4420 how is his comment wrong? He seemed to say exactly what you said.

[@mojewjewjew4420]

@@Rofflestomper He said that Brittany survived because it was small and it didn't need to be powerful,he missed the whole point of the video that states that it survived because of a strong state and played both against each other, england lost its power and France conquered it swiftly. Worst of all is comparing an insignificant state to Rome that was practically under siege or fighting off invasions for alot of time plus their colossal contributions to culture and technology that are the foundation of the world civilization we have now.

[@Rofflestomper]

@@mojewjewjew4420 I don’t think you or he watched the video either…this isn’t really what the video talked about.

[@paco2942]

As someone from brittany I am surprised history matters made a video about us

[@TheBlaqOrder]

Why? You're the Wales/Cornwall of France, how could he forget lol

[@windshipping]

@An very person Very few people speak Breton nowadays, but I've learnt it for a couple of years when I was in middle school. I don't speak Welsh but I've seen some sentences / hear some words and it's definitely closer to Welsh than it is to French.

[@JohnSmith-rk6jy]

As Someone from the other side of the planet, I've been waiting for someone to make a video on Brittany for Years. Soo many unanswered questions. This answered one of them. But yes, I've seen old maps and always wondered why Brittany was independant against its Powerful neighbours for soo soo long?? I Still want to know why it held out agsinst the Romans for so long even before the Bretons arrived? I mean is there some kinda truth to the Astrix stories?

[@paco2942]

​@@JohnSmith-rk6jy well the Bretons were also crushed by the romans but kept their beliefs and culture throughout the occupation of Gaul. Also one remnant of the Breton duchy is that you don't pay for roads in brittany, there is no toll

[@bartho4483]

​@An very person I'm currently learning the language at uni, but I wish I had been raised in Breton. There are some words borrowed from French, but having been shown what written Welsh looks like, it's the same relation as that is between Swedish and German

[@RhenishHelm]

I was dumbfounded earlier last week when I discovered that St. Pierre & Miquelon exists. For the uninitiated, this is an overseas territory of France that belongs to the French Republic and uses the Euro as its currency, but is a tiny archipelago just below the coast of Newfoundland. Its population of 6,000 people (of largely Basque, Breton, and Norman ancestry) inhabits two fishing villages whose economies are supported by tourism and lobster. It has a long history of being passed around by the Brits and French because of the former's conquest of New France, then the later problems posed by Napoleon and then Vichy France. Despite its proximity to Canada, the French spoken there is closer to Parisian rather than Quebecois. One oddity: in Quebec, "stop" signs say ARRÊT, but on St. Pierre & Miquelon (as with the rest of France), they say STOP.

[@Nassamest]

yeah, the quebecois need anything they can hold onto to stop them from instantly assimilating to anglo-canadian that's why they do this(fake ass people)

[@houssamassila6274]

where is the mandela effect in all this?

[@RhenishHelm]

@@houssamassila6274 I thought I knew the Canadian coastline pretty well. I was convinced that, USA aside, Canada's closest neighbour was Russia or Greenland. I swear I've looked at maps for 30+ years and never before seen a French territory a stone's throw from the Canadian coast.

[@MekarWB]

@@RhenishHelm Have you considered that it might be because St. Pierre and Miquelon is really fucking small?

[@houssamassila6274]

@@RhenishHelm I beg to differ, that's not what a Mandela Effect is, that just you not knowing something. Mandela Effect means that an event happened, that you and many other people remember as happened, (the name coming from remembering the event that Mandela Died in prison in 1980s and the media covering it) only for the event to be shown as if never happened later on (Mandela appears alive and well in the 1990s onward)

[@ravenwilder4099]

The thousand-yard-stare on Anne after that two forced marriages and one forced pregnancy is just the perfect touch.

[@zoetropo1]

Her Capetian descendants died out, I think. However, her living heirs include the Hapsburgs.

[@nikolaytsankov9066]

Truly answering the important questions of our time, especially for ck2 and eu4 players.

[@davidhouseman4328]

Yep, I thought the real reason was it allows your Norse to become Norman before heading to England without breaking France and letting in the Muslims.

[@nanimator0]

force vassalization CB is simple enough... why didn't the kings of France use it??

[@MonsieurToasteur]

​@@nanimator0too much AE

[@jeangenie9597]

⁠​⁠@@nanimator0 Cause it was already a vassal. The Kingdom of Britanny was invaded by the vikings in the Xth century. The Bretons then asked the king of the franks for help and in exchange, became one of his vassal, the Duchy of Britanny.

[@un_nainposteur6560]

Breton here, i think that for a 3 min video you did a really good summary ! You even did a better work than most of the French documentary about Britanny. The only thing i can maybe contest is when you show Britanny at the begining without the South East part. Even if the administrative region drawn by the French governement don't inculde this part we mostly consider it as a part of Britanny.

[@miserablySleepy]

I honestly can't believe The Celtic people have survived throughout the ages and that you guys are still around quite impressive

[@brewen_lmrch]

​@@miserablySleepyWe survived, and we will survive.

[@BzhToine]

@@miserablySleepy Just a matter of being stunnorn enougth. :)

[@_Twisty]

@@miserablySleepyI don’t know about the others but Brittany’s still fighting ! :)

[@arcrimeaball]

Thank you for the video! It'd great if you cover these topics in the next one: - Why did North Macedonia break away from SFR Yugoslavia without a fight? - Why Russian Empire lost in the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905) despite having a larger army? - Why did Kosovo declared independence only 9 years after the Kosovo War? - Why USSR annexed Tannu Tuva during the WW2? - Why did Croats fight on a German side in WW2?

[@brent.b.productions2015]

Nice suggestions! Would like to know that Kosovo one for sure...

[@arcrimeaball]

@@brent.b.productions2015 Thanks!

[@Briggie]

“Why Russian Empire lost in the Russo-Japanese war despite having a larger army.” Because their navy was dog shit, and when looking at a map, I can’t help to notice that Japan is an Island.

[@unicorngall1047]

As both an EU4 player and a very proud inhabitant of Brittany, I can only say thank you for this video. Long live Great Brittany!

[@Shaman42069]

Would you recommend playing Brittany in a defensive & tall (& colonial) playthrough? Seems like fun

[@gryfalis4932]

@@Shaman42069 only way to play Eu4 Brittany is jump into Ireland and conquer Britain

[@enderkatze6129]

Would you be in Support of Britton Independence then

[@unicorngall1047]

I will support breton independence as long as we can export our butter, kouign-ammans and crepes all over the world. Oh, and our flag too, but that's already the case. Fear the breton colonizers!

[@enderkatze6129]

@@unicorngall1047 deal

[@rkc62]

The "I have a meeting" with St Peter is my new favourite History Matters euphemism. Excellent.

[@cryptocsguy9282]

2:33 I love how he says Charles VII opted to spend some time in the afterlife instead of just saying he died 💀

[@dontbewrong7706]

You know France is always gonna have trouble dealing with something which has the word "Brit"

[@albevanhanoy]

Today the region of Brittany is very popular in France. We have a saying "La Bretagne, ça vous gagne" ("Brittany wins you over") because it is simply a very nice place to live and spend vacations.

[@Iason29]

there was this french comedy I watched once, Welcome to the Sticks, it really described quite well how nice life is in the north.

[@albevanhanoy]

@@Iason29 That's not Brittany, but yes, I know the movie you're referring to.

[@cryptocsguy9282]

@@albevanhanoy What's nice about it ? I bet t looks like England and has the same questionable weather as England lol

[@albevanhanoy]

@@cryptocsguy9282 No, it only rains on English tourists ;)

[@scorpixel1866]

​@@cryptocsguy9282Brittany and Normandy are essentially sunnier rural Britain. It's less densely populated than the East, meaning lots of nature, which is actually green year round due to mild weather ( mostly 10 - 20°C, -5 - 30 at worst) contrary to Southern France where it gets hot and dry as soon as mid spring.

[@danieloehler2494]

Brittany is the place where you find the village of Asterix. As long as the Gaules had their magic potion neither Romans nor barbarians could conquer the region. But once the current druid died before explaining the recipe to a successor it was all over.

[@domjuancourtleciel742]

It was armoric. Britanny was in great britan when caesar conquers celtic gals.

[@bretagnejean2410]

​@@domjuancourtleciel742armorica was yet linked with south england. That the reason why breton migrant came there and lot of very old location are in gaelic name in west brittany.

[@domjuancourtleciel742]

@@bretagnejean2410 not it is not. Armorica exist before briton invasion of the West of celtic gaul. It was all the coast from Finistera to actual Le Havre ( Seine). Caesar speaks about it 40 years BC.

[@bretagnejean2410]

@@domjuancourtleciel742 caesar said bullshit. Armorica isnt a folk. Roma governor in brittany said " they cross the channel with familly and.wifes in 2 sides. They go see familly . They do trade. Some rebellion there are ordered of albion. " North of brittany was the most inhabitted during many centuries due to link with breton of england. Rennes area was the less inhabitted. Now its the opposite since brittany is french. The rivality between france and england have destroy brittany economy which was became the poorest region of france. Naval trade is become very small. Rennes linked with paris star network economy have done a big developpement.

[@_Twisty]

@@bretagnejean2410then how do you explain the importance of Nantes when we were independent ? the french def weren’t the ones to make it a big city since they all love Rennes so much.

[@ArthurCSchaper]

Please do the following videos: 1. Why did the People's Revolution of 1848 fail in Spain and the Germanies? 2. Why do people drive on different sides of the road in different countries?

[@tomi2205]

on the first one, CallmeEzekiel has videos on it, both very good. one about the german counte-revolutionaries (forgot their names) and a recent one about the spanish civil war

[@konstantinosnikolakakis8125]

@Tomi Freikorps. Communism! Not in my Germany!

[@tomi2205]

@@konstantinosnikolakakis8125 yes exatly

[@realDanielAugustine]

I have wondered this for years. Great video.

[@owenb8636]

HM has mastered the art of picking topics that I always kind of wondered about myself but never enough to actually look up the answer

[@angelb.823]

Britanny, a land unconquered even for the Romans in the Asterix comics.

[@tentathesane8032]

ohhhh armorica is britanny?

[@erwannthietart3602]

​@@tentathesane8032 preeetty much? Like the only differance is the feudal system and the massive settlement of Briton that assimilated the Gallo-Romans and remaining Gaulish of Armorica

[@davidhouseman4328]

The slight flaw is that it was essential conquerored by the Bretons.

[@GrrAargh1]

There was a lot of migration in the late Roman/immediate post Roman period from what's now Devon and Cornwall, and to an extent Wales, to Brittany. The Breton language is considered one of the Insular Celtic languages, as opposed to Gaulish which was in the Continental Celtic branch.

[@AllanLimosin]

@@erwannthietart3602 What do you mean « remain Gaulish of Armorica »?

[@pabcu2507]

Brittany had special protection from James bissonette, but their warranty had expired

[@chakraborty1989]

Isn't Brittney was called "leaser Britain" as the area was settled by Roman Britton who were fleeing German invasion? That's why the island of Britannia is called "great Britain"

[@TheBlaqOrder]

Correct.

[@erwannthietart3602]

It was called Little Britain because England was Britain really Then England took over the whole island and it was named Great Britain Meanwhile little Britain became Britain although although called Britanny in english

[@msumode4493]

@@erwannthietart3602 Where did u learn this from? Tiktok?

[@erwannthietart3602]

@@msumode4493 ew no, actual history you know the kind you learn at school? im from Brittany Id know the basics of its history

[@JohnnyWindmill]

Man’s once again asking questions I’ve always had in the back of my mind

[@satanwithinternet2753]

Finally. The question whose answer i wanted to know for so long. Thank you history matters

[@Camarillian]

As a Welshman, I gotta hand it to the Bretons. They held out pretty well.

[@Iason29]

they also had bandits terrorising the local countryside with their singing, just like in wales

[@cryptocsguy9282]

@SirSirupy Longer than the Welsh did against the Anglos

[@jeangenie9597]

@@cryptocsguy9282 Yes and No. They effectly managed to not be completely integrated into the king personal domain for a longer time, but they submited to the King of the Franks to became his vassal much earlier (IXth century) than the welsh who maintained their independent Kingdom until the XIIIth century.

[@erwannthietart3602]

​​​@@jeangenie9597 they became nominal vassal for the most part The king had VERY little power in the IXth century. In fact thats pretty much why they were de facto indepandant. Because while sure they obeyed the King of France yada yada, they could afford not to give a sh** and go scot free, Wales... not so much

[@gwennblei]

​@@jeangenie9597now obviously, as you can see from the flag, I'm quite partial to this argument, but you can quite easily verify my claims. The Vassality claimed by Frankish sources is somewhat debatable, given the same sources also report raids after each concession. First, Franks get defeated at Ballon by Nominoe and agree to make the title of envoy of the emperor hereditary, but insist in the chronicles bretons remain their vassals. However Frankish chronicles then complain about Nominoë raiding their lands. Then when they get defeated by his son Erispoë at Jengland and he takes the Frankish kings royal attributes, they recognize him as a King, and grant him more lands, but insist he remains their vassals, yet again, complaining that he keeps raiding their land. Then the next king Salomon resumes the habbit of raiding Frankish lands, sometimes allying with Vikings, which led to a new treaty lending him more lands. This doesn't really look like a vassal's behavior and seem to indicate Frankish Chronicles where mainly trying to save face and explain the territory wasn't really lost, as it was just transferred to this Vassal state that kept attacking them. Later for the dukes, it's sometimes less questionnable, after the viking era, Brittany seems much poorer and it's neighbors are more powerful so we do have some of the dukes actually paying hommage, although not systematically, and French kings do have to send new expeditions at times to try and get hommage, and they do lose control officially to the Plantagenet King Henry II for a time as well.

[@ComfortsSpecter]

Thank You for This Incredible Work Simply and Trustworthily Answering and Explaining countless Lesser yet Important Questions Giving Alot of Historical Context to other Events Great Vibe Thank You Good Man

[@whothatJoe]

Cool video man

[@tomojr3674]

So basically, Brittany is the Wales of France

[@iliketea9122]

Are you open to doing a video on Sir General John Monash? Man's was a civic engineer that rose through the ranks during WWI even though influential people really didn't want him to and was a big pioneer of modern combined arms warfare. His story is super interesting and without him WWI would have been a very different war

[@Elitist20]

After the war he went back to civilian life, heading the Victorian State Electricity Commission and fixing its then-unreliable power generation. He's now on the Australian $100 note. (Dame Nellie Melba is on the other side.)

[@Casperdcvd]

I always wondered this, very informative, thank you

[@PeterPeadar]

Wow. That was a mouthful. Super job!

[@tibsky1396]

Duchy of Brittany was technically a vassal of the King of France, except they had more autonomy, and were not directly within the royal domain, like other duchies and counties at certain times in history (Normandy, Anjou, Toulouse, Burgundy, Aquitaine, etc...).

[@joesomebody3365]

I remember that Portugal was almost united with Spain due to a marriage but it fell apart soon after it started. The smaller countries of Europe that somehow held out against larger neighbors were always interesting.

[@muhammadhabibieamiro3639]

Another amazing video

[@Uzair_Of_Babylon465]

Fantastic video keep it up you're doing amazing

[@NelsonDiscovery]

Wow! That's a really good question. I've known that it took some time for the Franks to finally conquer Brittany and even then it wasn't really really incorporated into their Kingdom. But I never actually stood still and wondered if the few Briton tribes on the peninsula were so formidable a force to remain independent for so long. Nice to see you do a video not about modern history again BTW.

[@bretagnejean2410]

And brittany is stay a region of with a lot of millitary or gendarmerie. 3 times more per inhabitant that other region. During revolution brittany do a riot against revolutionnaires. In last century brittany have done riot against tax even in 2013 during tax carbon. Its a special region where inhabittant refuse to have tax for move. Actually issues are breton dont know their history and brittany become year after year just a territory of vacation and with globalization new inhabittant come but live as french or stranger. Politic breton party is ridiculous. France do all is possible for show them like nazi or outpaced views. Breton are too kind and too soft lefty. The best things breton have done in recent history is by the farmers or industrial of right.

[@dedrinzypool1209]

First, also Brittany has always been an intriguing region. Originally an area of Franco-Celts and still is considered one of the 6 or 7 Celtic Nations

[@heidirabenau511]

You're not first.

[@dedrinzypool1209]

@@heidirabenau511 cope

[@brigantiasmemerepository6439]

French people are still genetically Celtic, with a clear genetic continuity with Bronze Age Gallic populations.

[@pierren___]

All France is "franco-celts" lmao. Do you think people just popped ??

[@lacreaturedumarais]

They were the last to be celticized and the majority of the people in Gaul were celts, so Franco-Celts as you say are almost everywhere, French people, despite some changes like in Normandy with the vikings or other régions that have a différent blood, are technically Celts

[@joshlesure3196]

Another excellent video!

[@oldegrunt]

quick and very well done

[@jonathanwebster7091]

Also fun fact: the title (but not the Duchy) of Duke of Brittany continued to be granted to minor members of the French royal family, albeit sparingly. It was granted to two short-lived sons of the Duke of Burgundy (the grandson of Louis XIV, and they were thus the future Louis XV's older brothers), and the older brother (who died prematurely in 1984,aged 11) of the current Legitimist claimant to the French throne was also styled Duke of Brittany.

[@Matthy63]

which is funny (not that this child died ofc), but that the legitimist claimants barely speak French, let alone Breton. They've lived in Spain for decades as just sort of, extremely Catholic Someguys who end up on Spanish Strictly every so often.

[@GavTatu]

in jersey and the other channel islands, for almost a thousand years, the reigning British monarch has been known as 'the Duke of Normandy' .

[@seronymus]

Fun fact: Brittany had a strange minority of people who seemed to look almost Asian, which folklore painted as a regiment of Mongolian soldiers that got lost and mixed in. However it's more likely to be ancient admixture from fishing settlers distantly related to modern Finns. Also there's a ton of Breton saints still venerated in the Orthodox Church to this day.

[@robinrehlinghaus1944]

Are there any images of these unusual people?

[@ayrtonpavot3096]

any links or sources for these asian britannish?

[@freakrx2349]

Why don’t you back it up with a source?

[@dyvimtarkan2944]

My parents told me about that in the past (my family is from Brittany), and yes I have met 3 womens in my life who have a strange look of mixed mongols with white skin and blue eyes, one was even red-haired, all from Brittany (Quimper and Pontivy). Always thought that was an old legend and a coincidence.

[@seronymus]

@@dyvimtarkan2944 wow really? That's super fascinating and I'm honored to meet you, quelle magnifique. Do you mean they had eye folds despite looking white? Also red hair is beautiful and a flag of unique heritage too.

[@anthonylivesay6358]

I like you naming off your contributor's. It gives me time to like your content.

[@InviniteStudios]

Always answering the questions I didn’t know I had!

[@deprimiertSchwuchtel]

Love these videos 😄

[@ianpatterson6552]

During the C12th the heiress of Brittany was Constance. She married Geoffrey of England (Henry ll son). She had two kids by him, Arthur who was done in by bad uncle John and Eleanor. By later practice the heiress of English throne was Eleanor not Henry lll, as John the younger son of Henry ll. She was detained for about 40 yrs in various castles.

[@alanpennie8013]

It's amusing to imagine Arthur or Eleanor succeeding to the throne of England (with John or Henry dying or being killed). The Anglo - Breton Union goes on to achieve great things. What they are yet I know not. But they will be the terror of the earth.

[@ashcoria1268]

While formal title of Duke of Brittany was abolished, it still was an informal courtesy title for members of the French royal family in the 18th century.

[@howtoappearincompletely9739]

Do you know who the Duke/Duchess of Brittany would be today according to the original Breton laws of succession (which were different from French Salic law)?

[@EmmettMcFly55]

@@howtoappearincompletely9739 Based on a brief glance at Wikipedia that line should go through Henry II (of France's) daughter Elisabeth of Valois, then on to her daughter Catherine who married into the ducal family of Savoy, leading to the Breton line eventually merging with the Jacobite succession which would mean that the current heir would be Francis, Duke of Bavaria. Granted, that's based off pure agnatic-cognatic (male-preference) primogeniture; I know there was a 14th Century succession war in Brittany on male-preference primogeniture vs proximity of the blood, so I don't know which original Breton succession type you were asking for.

[@erwannthietart3602]

​​@@EmmettMcFly55 technically, as it has been absolished and merged with the Kingdom of France it would also follow its Salic law of straight up Agnatic, no women allowed, so wed be back with the son of the king of Spain

[@EmmettMcFly55]

@@erwannthietart3602 That wasn't the question asked, though. Obviously, if we acknowledge Brittany's annexation into France proper, we'd end up with the current pretender to the French kingship, be that Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou or Jean, Count of Paris, depending on your allegiances.

[@valentins.2637]

2:05 I just realized that there are no sound effects in this videos except when somebody kicks the bucket. I love it

[@nilocblue]

I love these videos about Crusader Kings 3, such a great game. Glad we have this channel to give it more exposure.

[@user-il1bm4mx7m]

Well actually since at least the beginning of the XIVth century, the dukes of Brittany recognized the king of France as their liege and the land of the duchy as a fiefdom granted by the king, making it a part of the kingdom, which is why the king only invaded/acted when the duchy was threatening to leave the kingdom, because of the English or of any other reason

[@savagedarksider2147]

Fun fact: Edward V was engaged to Anne of Brittany.

[@robbabcock_]

Great video!

[@philliprandle9075]

Another great video

[@SKIROW]

My grandparents spoke Breton. I wish I learned more from them. I miss Brittany.

[@skymaster4743]

It's a shame that almost all of the Celtic languages are dying.

[@breizhatao3561]

@@skymaster4743 Though you can blame France for the slow death that Breton is having right now

[@robertalaverdov8147]

Because France had too much AE from all their wars and didn't want to get a coalition forming too early.

[@HarvestStore]

Great video.

[@genericyoutubeaccount579]

Fun Fact: the name of the Jacobin club was originally just the "Breton Club" or the delegates to the Estates General who came from Brittany. After chopping off the King's head, the Girondin's heads, and the heads of anybody who didn't like the cult of the supreme being the Jacobins were ultimately beheaded in the Thermidorian Reaction although they continued to have post-mortem admirers up until the fall of the Paris Commune in 1871.

[@reygonzalez4719]

I hope he does a video on why Spain gave the U.S.A. Florida. Also, before anyone comments, I know why they gave it away, I just want to see a video on it.

[@ethandornton355]

Could you guys do a video on why Germany did not annex Denmark during the war of German unification? I’ve been trying to find information on it, and I have not been able to find very much.

[@prakashghumaliya2002]

Thank you for video sir

[@nolann2900]

I remember reading about the battle of Jengland. It was pretty fun.

[@petitthom2886]

Fun fact : when De Gaulle shouted « vive le Québec libre » at Montréal, Canadian PM Lester Person replied by saying he wondered what De Gaulle's reaction would've been if he said « la Bretagne aux Bretons » in Rennes

[@theguyfromwhereiam.3715]

So, effectively, it was just England spending a long time just repeatedly saying "Leave Brittany alone!"

[@alanpennie8013]

Kind of sad that bad king Henry VII abandoned this policy.

[@iangang9535]

Playing CK2&3 for a long time, I've had this silent question in my head but never truly read about it. Thanks to this video.

[@BadgerAviation]

I have never verbally said huh to a history matters vid but I've never thought of this great vid

[@sandstorm9305]

Because James bissonette paid a lot of money to keep it that way

[@jamesbissonette8002]

Nah

[@chheinrich8486]

Its because the people there where inspired by a small village stubornly resisting the Romans in 50 bc 😅😅 (asterix anyone)

[@evandavid2816]

Yep, I guess they finally ran out of Magic Potion...

[@daisukix2070]

Forgot I was asking this question months ago but too lazy to search and wow a video awesome

[@BaluBrew]

I love the casual Jeanne d'Arc being burned at the stakes in the background when mentioning the 100 years war.

[@ThijquintNL]

Sad that the britainy celtic culture is being swiped out, but cool that britainy never lost that touch of freedom.

[@gryfalis4932]

Brittany*, the qualitifive is "breton"

[@shadikhaled1730]

Your maps of Brittany are not always correct. The the region of Nantes is a part of Brittany, but sometimes you didn't include it, or sometimes only partially. Apart from that it's a nice video !

[@Erad_Prime]

I was going to say that. They are using the official French map and not the real map with out capital city.

[@erwannthietart3602]

​@Olivier Verdys disagree, the official map is an administrative one, meaning some historical regions were butchered to make for new completely artificial region. The Historical map of Brittany to this day remains the same, with a constant debate between the locals between those in favor of asking the governement to stay as is because Nantes (Historical capital of Brittany, but also biggest city in the Region Pays de la Loire) profits the most from being linked with further up the Loire of its current region, and those that wishes to link it back to Brittany as it is the litteral CAPITAL of Historical Brittany (Alongside Rennes). Debate which unfortunately is stuck in endless status quo because the locals are litteraly 50/50 and whenever they ask for the governement to yknow, stop this endless debate and decide, the sole answer is "deal with it between yourselves". As far as im concerned as a local, both maps are correct, but one is only to be used in administrative and geopolitics, and the other in anything cultural and Historical, which should be the one used in here due to historical nature

[@_Twisty]

@@erwannthietart3602It’s not really 50/50 in Naoned when you look more closely. The ones who are against the reunification are French people who settled there recently, the ones who are in favour are mostly Breton. That speaks for itself.

[@mythicdawn9574]

@@_Twisty You've got "Grand Remplaced" by Parisians lol. But since they are born and raised in Nantes too, and for multiple generations, aren't they just as much Nantais than the Breton inhabitants ?

[@math67000]

Same in alsace .

[@hyuga571]

History Matters I love your videos because I lerning new things by your channel sorry if spelling is bad

[@caterpillarh8490]

I was literally wondering this yesterday

[@paulofollowtheredsohes5180]

Could be nice to talk about the Plantagenêt empire with Henri II (father of Richard Coeur de Lion) one of the most powerful of European middle age. Coming from the pyrenees to the scotish border.

[@2-box]

0:54 Hearing the name “Alan” right next to “Æthelstan” is really off-putting and I don’t really know why

[@GCho733]

“When Charles VIII opted to spend some time in the afterlife.” Dry humor is the best kind.

[@AverageSyrianGeneral]

cool video keep it up