The Bretons

The French province of Brittany was called Armorica by the Celts and this meant roughly the "land near the waters and the area offered alot of harbors for trade and commerce from prehistoric days to the present.this book has a great section about the hundred years war between France and England.I had previously saw this struggle only in regard to the 2 powers but after this read i see how all the little dukedoms on the continent played England and France against each other.The reason for it was to maintain their provincial independence.A large part of the book is devoted to the Montfort family and their squeeze on Brittany"s sovereignty.The Breton Monforts were finally nuetralized by the rising power of the French and their much deeper pockets.The first part of the book is devoted to the neolithic and it progresses to the periond of Ages(Bronze and Iron)showing this Celtic area of today's coastal France as a warrior/farmer type culture in this period.The big change comes with the advent of the Roman Empire.The Roman Empire according to my read,takes over so much of Europe that alot of these unique Celtic cultures are pretty much gobbled up.The Romans use politics,economics,and civilzed convenience so well that alot of these tribes don't even care for or remember their former existence.But there is another reason for the Roman takeover of these areas often overlooked but given space in this book. That is the Celtic religious and ascetic view of the world,closely parralleled the Roman,likewise the Romans and the Celts absorbed the new "Christian movement" and made it theirs and not necessarily the other way around.The Bretons are also shown as a somewhat litiguous people,only too willing to defend even the slightest offenses so Roman law would have been a useful tool to be used and (abused)?So the question arises ,Whom takes over whom? No answer ever for that one although the technologically superior usually wins. According to this book,Roman military might although important is only used as a last resort in subjecting the Celtic tribes. Apparently the Bretons had a thriving economy based on the manufacture of "fishpaste" during a period of this era.the author points out also the commerce and immigration and emigration between this current area of France and England,the Bretons were not "stay at home" agriculturalists but made the big bids for wealth and power sometimes winning,sometimes losing,but always and still right there on the stage.This book has alot of info on Medieval Britanny,including Black Death statistics and this type middle age goodies.