Domnonée

Quality 0.50 · 3 views · Updated 2 months ago

Bretons who fled Saxon-conquered England to France

title: "Domnonée" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["medieval-brittany", "states-and-territories-established-in-the-4th-century", "states-and-territories-disestablished-in-the-1030s", "dumnonia", "geography-of-brittany", "history-of-devon", "barbarian-kingdoms", "armorica"] description: "Bretons who fled Saxon-conquered England to France" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domnonée" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Bretons who fled Saxon-conquered England to France ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox former country"]

FieldValue
native_nameDomnonea
conventional_long_nameKingdom of Domnonée
common_nameDomnonée
eraEarly Middle Ages
statusKingdom
government_typeMonarchy
year_startc. 5th century
year_end9th century
event_startMigration of Britons from Dumnonia
event_endIntegration into the Kingdom of Brittany
p1Sub-Roman Britain
s1Kingdom of Brittany
capitalDol-de-Bretagne (traditional)
languagesOld Breton, Latin
religionCeltic Christianity
todayFrance — Brittany
::

| native_name = Domnonea | conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Domnonée | common_name = Domnonée | era = Early Middle Ages | status = Kingdom | government_type = Monarchy | year_start = c. 5th century | year_end = 9th century | event_start = Migration of Britons from Dumnonia | event_end = Integration into the Kingdom of Brittany | p1 = Sub-Roman Britain | s1 = Kingdom of Brittany | capital = Dol-de-Bretagne (traditional) | languages = Old Breton, Latin | religion = Celtic Christianity | today = France — Brittany

Domnonée is the modern French form of Domnonia or Dumnonia (Latin for "Devon"; ), a historic kingdom in northern Armorica (modern Brittany). It was founded by British immigrants from Dumnonia in Sub-Roman Britain who fled the Saxon invasions of Britain in the early Middle Ages. Headed by the same ruling dynasty, Domnonée was at times separate from, and at other times united with, its British motherland, and the Latin name Domnonia was applied to both regions interchangeably. On the continent, Domnonée encompassed the areas of Trégor, Dol-de-Bretagne, Goélo, and Penthièvre.

History

At the time of the Roman conquest of Gaul, the rough area of later Domnonée was held by the pagan Curiosolite Gauls. Domnonée is said to have been founded in the 4th century by Christian Briton immigrants; it greatly expanded in the wake of subsequent waves of refugees from the Saxon invasions of Britain. Domnonée retained close political links between the Celtic territories in Great Britain (Wales, Cornwall, Devon), and the newly created Brittany. Many kings, princes, clerics and other leaders came over from Great Britain. The sea was a unifying rather than divisive factor. In the traditions relating to the settlement of Brittany by the Bretons there are several kingdoms of this kind. A number of legends and lives of Breton saints contain references to the close political ties between religious communities in Wales and Brittany. The close proximity resulted in possessions on both sides of the Channel by some religious orders. For example, the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Beauport, before Henry VIII, had parishes on the coast of Goélo and in Devon.

It has been suggested that the British and Breton branches were unified for a period. Conomor, who was killed fighting Chlothar I, king of the Franks, is referred to in stories from both Great Britain and Brittany. He would have been a British military leader who was guarding the English Channel from attacks by pirates, perhaps in alliance with Childebert I, son of Clovis I.

In 1034, the term was used to designate the comté of Penthièvre said to be the preserve of Eudes, second son of Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany. The name disappeared shortly after.

History of the Principality of Dumnonia or Domnonée ¹

Situated to the north-east of Brittany, the earliest princes are mentioned in several Lives of the Saints. The three Armorican principalities were all subservient to the King of Brittany. Until the reign of Jonas, the rulers of Domnonia were titled princes. After that, they supplied the Kings of the Bretons, and Domnonia itself was elevated as a result.

List of rulers

  • St. Fracan
  • Riwal I.
  • Conan
  • ?–513: Conothec
  • 513–520: Riwal II, brother of Saint Pompeia of Langoat
  • 520–530: Deroch
  • 530–535: Riathen
  • 535–540: Jonas
  • 540: St. Judual
  • 540-554: Conomor, regent and usurper
  • 554–580: St. Judual (again)
  • 580–605: St. Judhael
  • 605–610: Judicaël († 652)
  • 610–615: Haeloch
  • 615–640: Judicael (again; † 652)

References

References

  1. "Celtic Improvisations: An Art Historical Analysis of Coriosolite Coins (abstract)". Archaeology Data Service.
  2. "Corseul: Gallo-Roman immersion in the heart of Brittany!".
  3. "Le temps des rois".
  4. Cunliffe, Barry. (11 March 2021). "Bretons and Britons: exploring prehistoric Britain's French connection".
  5. "Alma Pompea de DOMNONEE – Situations géographiques".
  6. Merdrignac, Bernard. (2010). "Présence et représentations de la Domnonée et de la Cornouaille de part et d’autre de la Manche". Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l’Ouest.
  7. Nora Kershaw Chadwick, ''Celtic Kingdoms''.
  8. Brett, Caroline. (2022). "'You read it here first': early traditions of Welsh saints in Brittany". Kathleen Hughes Memorial Lecture.
  9. Ballini, Annie-Claude. (23 April 2018). "Beauport, une abbaye prémontrée en Bretagne".
  10. (28 December 2015). "The Breton Bluebeard".
  11. (21 June 2025). "3 Dark Age Kings of Britain Confirmed by Archaeology".
  12. Fleuriot, Leslie. (1970). "Les origines légendaires de Conomor". Études Celtiques.
  13. (28 December 2015). "The Breton Bluebeard".
  14. Desbordes, Olivier. (1980). "Conomor et les traditions de Domnonée". Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l’Ouest.
  15. (21 June 2025). "3 Dark Age Kings of Britain Confirmed by Archaeology".
  16. Bachrach, Bernard S.. (1979). "Merovingian Military and Political Power: The Case of Childebert I". Francia.
  17. Merlet, Lucien. (1881). "La maison de Penthièvre (XIe–XIVe siècles)". Bulletin de la Société Archéologique du Finistère.
  18. "Comté de Penthièvre".
  19. Kerboul-Vilhon, Anne de. (1984). "Les anciennes divisions de la Bretagne: Domnonée, Cornouaille, Broërec". Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l’Ouest.
  20. Fleuriot, Leslie. (1961). "Les origines de la Bretagne armoricaine". Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l’Ouest.
  21. Merdrignac, Bernard. (2004). "La Domnonée et les traditions hagiographiques bretonnes". Études Celtiques.
  22. Fleuriot, Leslie. (1965). "Les royaumes celtiques armoricains". Ogam.
  23. "Domnonée".
  24. Desbordes, Olivier. (1982). "Les princes de Domnonée et l’évolution du pouvoir breton (VIIe–IXe siècle)". Bulletin de la Société Archéologique du Finistère.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

medieval-brittanystates-and-territories-established-in-the-4th-centurystates-and-territories-disestablished-in-the-1030sdumnoniageography-of-brittanyhistory-of-devonbarbarian-kingdomsarmorica