Between France and England Politics, Power and Society in Late Medieval Brittany

'Between France and England' characterises the role played by most rulers of the duchy of Brittany during the late Middle Ages, before it was finally united with Valois France. These essays (including three appearing for the first time in English) explore political and institutional aspects of the changing relationship between France and Brittany, within the context of Anglo-French relations, as well as social consequences of the development of a largely autonomous state within the larger French kingdom during a period dominated by war and economic crisis. The transformation of medieval France into an early modern state changed the traditional relationship between the king and his great feudal princes. But some princes reacted by imitating the crown, creating their own more advanced administrations and an ideological base for claims to exercise 'regal rights' within their lordships, often expressed in striking visual and symbolic form. These trends are evident in the late medieval duchy of Brittany where the Montfort dynasty all but succeeded in nullifying royal control.

Contents: Introduction; Tradition, history and the French: a case of tunnel vision; The Capetians and Brittany; Nantes au début de la guerre civile en Bretagne; Ancenis, Froissart and the beginnings of the War of Succession in Brittany (1341); Edward III's captains in Brittany; Politics, sanctity and the Breton state: the case of the Blessed Charles de Blois, duke of Brittany (d. 1364); Between France and England: Jeanne de Navarre, duchess of Brittany and queen of England (1368-1437); Notaries and notarial practice in medieval Brittany; The late medieval state and social change: a view from the duchy of Brittany; Aristocracy, faction and the state in 15th-century Brittany; 'En son habit royal': le duc de Bretagne et son image vers la fin du Moyen Âge; Les signes du pouvoir. L'Ordre de l'Hermine, les devises et les hérauts des ducs de Bretagne au XVème siècle; Index.

Michael Jones is Emeritus Professor of Medieval French History, University of Nottingham, UK