Alan II (c. 900–952), nicknamed Wrybeard or Twistedbeard, Alan Varvek in Breton, was Count of Vannes, Poher and

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

, and Duke of Brittany from 938 to his death. He was the grandson of King Alan the Great by Alan's daughter and her husband Mathuedoï I, Count of Poher. He expelled the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

/Norsemen from Brittany after an occupation that lasted from 907 to about 939. 205px, Statue of Alan Twistedbeard, work of Amédée Ménard, in the courtyard of the castle of the Dukes of Brittany in Nantes (1976)

The Vikings

Refuge in Britain

Alan had to take refuge, along with his father Mathuedoi I, with King

Æthelstan Æthelstan or Athelstan (; ; ; ; – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Modern histori ...

of England because the

Norsemen The Norsemen (or Northmen) were a cultural group in the Early Middle Ages, originating among speakers of Old Norse in Scandinavia. During the late eighth century, Scandinavians embarked on a Viking expansion, large-scale expansion in all direc ...

had invaded Armorica. The '' Chronicle of Nantes'' reports: : Alan became ruler of Brittany at the end of a 33-year

interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...

after the death of his maternal grandfather, Duke Alan the Great.

Return to Brittany

Alan landed at Dol in 936, at the invitation of a monk, Jean de Landévennec, and with the aid of Æthelstan. By 937 Alan was master of most of Brittany, having forced the Norsemen back to the

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

. : In 938, Alan was elected ''Brittonum dux''. On 1 August 939, with the aid of Judicael (Berengar), count of Rennes, and Hugh I, Count of Maine, his victory was made complete by defeating the Norse at the Battle of Trans-la-Forêt. Alan declared that date a national holiday.

Louis IV of France and other alliances

Alan II was closely allied with King Louis IV of West Francia, as both were exiles in England together at the court of Edward the Elder and Edward's son and successor

. Alan renounced the Cotentin, Avranchin and

Mayenne Mayenne ( ) is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Il ...

and paid homage to Louis IV in 942. Michael Jones, ''The Creation of Brittany: A Late Medieval State'', (Hambledon Press, 1988), 4; "''Alan Barbetorte performed homage to Louis IV Outremer in 942...''". He was also allied to Theobald the Old, the count of Chartres.

Family

Alan II was the grandson of Alan I, King of Brittany and the great-grandson of Ridoreth, Count of Vannes. He was the grand-nephew of Pascweten. His wife was a sister or a daughter of Count Theobald I of Blois. Their son, and Alan's immediate successor, was Drogo, Duke of Brittany. He also had at least two illegitimate sons, Hoël and Guerech, who would each succeed Drogo during the fractured rule of Brittany after Drogo's death.

Death

Alan was buried in his capital,

, in the church which he constructed to honor the Virgin Mary for his victory in liberating Nantes, initially known as la Chapelle de la Très Sainte Mère de Dieu, now known as the Basilique Notre Dame in the parish of St Thérèse in Nantes. He was succeeded by his son Drogo.

Notes

References

Primary sources

* Flodoard, ''Annales'', ed. Philippe Lauer, ''Les Annales de Flodoard''. Collection des textes pour servir à l'étude et à l'enseignement de l'histoire 39. Paris: Picard, 1905
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*'' Chronicle of Nantes'', ed. Peter Merlet, ''La chronique de Nantes''. Paris, 1896.