The Viking age in Bretagne

During the late years of the VIII (8th) century, the Scandinavian raiders were already sailing throughout the seas of the known world. They have settled in many places, and raided even more. The first recorded attack in Brittany was when the Vikings pillaged the monastery of Saint Philbert on the island of Noirmoutier. After such an event, few were the incursions until the 830's. Charlemagne at the time built defences along the coast, which provided ample protection for the rising western Frankish Empire. However, the defences briskly faded due to the poor leadership of Louis the Pious.

That region had a strong sense of Breton identity and frequently revolted against the Frankish Empire. By the early 9th Century, the Bretons had won their independence under the leadership of Nominoé. Unfortunately for the Bretons the timing could not have been worse for the Vikings were about to come into their recently independent lands. 

According to the Annales d’Angoulême, in the year of 843, Brittany experienced what might be interpreted as the end of days. The events of the 24th of June of 843 caught the Bretons by surprise during the celebrations of the festival of Saint John. The city of Nantes wasn't fortified, for the denizens of Brittany had not imagined that such a thing, which was about to happen, would disturb their festivities. When the people of Nantes realized what was happening, it was already too late for them to organize any kind of defences, let alone any resistance. The Viking raiders had entered the city posing as merchants, but under their clothes they bore their weapons. The bishop of Nantes (Gerhardus), continued his sermon on the steps of the cathedral until he was violently killed before the townsfolk. The Norsemen killed everyone they could get their hands on (or rather their axes). The city was brought to ruin.

The scandinavians attacking the city of Nantes were raiders of Westfold (a region on the continental coast of the Fjord of Oslo). Their movements had been traced and recorded as far as the Hebrides, and they ostensibly travelled through the Bay of Saint George to arrive in the Bay of Biscay where they led a raid on the Saint John festival. They continued along the Loire River and terrorized the Pays de Retz further inland. Once they had filled their ships they returned to the coast, but not without incident. Two of the fleet’s ships wrecked along the river, too heavy from their booty to keep afloat. Finally, the Northmen established a base on the nearby island of Noirmoutier where they stored and split their spoils. Some returned north, while others continued their voyage south. They avoided returning to the Loire thereafter, for the new count of Nantes, Lambert, fortified the Loire River’s banks to prevent a repeat of the monumental catastrophe in Nantes.

It is well known that some of the Norse people sailed as far as the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), which unfortunately little is known about the Viking raids there, safe a few sea battles and raids to the northern christians and the southern muslims. The Viking terror reverberated across the Carolingian Empire, and nearly all the Annales, or chronicles, of the time make reference to the carnage of the sack of Nantes, so everyone across Europe already knew what these Norse men were capable of.

By 847 C.E. it became clear that the Viking invaders of Western Europe had developed political ambitions beyond the sporadic raiding of the previous three decades. Their sights moved beyond Britain and Normandy to other, less defended lands such as Ireland and Brittany. The Vikings used Noirmoutier, an island in the Bay of Biscay, as their base to launch a massive invasion attempt and to supply the warriors involved. The resources of the island (salt) was a necessary resource for any army of the time, and the Vikings were no exception. The Vikings exploited the rift along the Breton March between the Franks and the Bretons. A struggling Breton army even solicited the help of the Vikings to help defeat the Frankish army on two separate occasions. With Nantes under Scandinavian control, the great citadels of Brittany suffered the same fate. Cornouaille, Broweroch, Poutrocoët, Domnoée, and finally Saint-Brieuc were brutally raided. The Vikings expertly divided the lands and conquered them. By 854 C.E. a state of full military occupation was in place. So it would seem what Brittany would remain under Viking dominion.

In Normandy, the heavy influence and frequent raids of Vikings changed the political landscape. The Vikings themselves became divided and often tried to raid each other. Charles the Bald (the king of France of the time), began a campaign to use the variable alliances of the Vikings against themselves. On the Seine, Charles hired Vikings to defend certain areas of the river. Once secured, Charles turned his attention to Brittany where a powerful warlord (Salomon) ruled over a large area of the region. At first, Salomon appeared keen on an alliance with Charles; the Vikings in the Loire themselves had recently been troubled by raids from other groups of Vikings. Charles offered Salomon land rights and the status of vassal. Unfortunately for Salomon, a simultaneous Danish raid on Chartres and Tours following the new alliance sent the counts of Neustria (Western France) into revolt. Charles was forced to cancel his promises to Salomon. Free of the protectorship of Charles the Bald, the Vikings on the Loire suffered a heavy defeat by Robert the Strong, the leading Neustrian Count who had had enough of the Scandinavians invading his lands. The conflict ended in a stalemate. For the next 20 years, more or less, a similar political and military climate dominated the region. Along the Seine the Vikings continued to sack and pillage, and the Franks continued to rebuild and attempt to mount a resistance.

Salomon was finally murdered by his rival in 874. The ensuing power vacuum caused a civil war between the Vikings in which a Breton-Frankish alliance emerged to weaken the invadors. The raids intensified after Salomon's death. An internal struggle again erupted between the Bretons and the Franks, causing the resistance to dissolve. One leader remained with a guerrilla force to fight the Vikings - a man named Alain of Broweroch. Alain mounted an effective resistance and fought the invaders constantly. His greatest opportunity came when the Carolingians successfully pushed out the Seine Vikings who fled into Brittany and disrupted the power structure there. With a renewed civil war between the Vikings, Alain fielded two Breton armies and led them to repeated victories. By the year of 892, Alain had completely expelled the Vikings from Brittany. Along the Seine things for the Vikings weren't good either. The Great Danish Army left mainland Europe and sailed for England to focus on the kingdom of Wessex.

Alain the Great ruled over Brittany after the expulsion of the Vikings as a sovereign king not loyal to Charles the Bald. The Bretons saw the Franks as incapable of defending them, and thus loyalty to the empire served them no benefit. A period of peace ensued. Through military endeavor, judicious alliances, and payment of Tribute, Alain kept the peace in his lands. Upon his death in 907 C.E., his successor - Gurmhailon - would have no trouble keeping this peace. The system put in place by Gurmhailon’s predecessor quickly fell to pieces. Scandinavian invaders again sacked the Breton coast and began deep incursions into Breton lands. The Bretons began a long period of restoration to repair damage done by the Vikings. Still, the overlords from the north seemed a new permanent feature to the Breton landscape. Raids intensified in the continuing decades after Alain the Great  died without a suitable or qualified heir. The situation grew more difficult when a Viking force comprised primarily of Danes sacked and occupied Nantes a second time. Defeated, the Bretons retreated to their countryside where they squabbled in civil war over who should lead them to victory against the invaders.

In 913 C.E. the grandson of Alain the Great was born. The child received an invitation from his godfather, King Athelstan of Wessex, to live under the protection of his kingdom. The child was named Alain Barbetorte (Barbe-Torte). Upon Alain's return he laid claim to the throne of Brittany. The little resistance he encountered was squashed. It took little more than a fortnight for Alain to gain support from the entire kingdom. Thus began one of the more aggressive and seldom known military campaigns held during the Viking Age. Alain led an army beginning in Normandy where many Vikings entered into Brittany having been forced out of the Seine river valley by Charles the Bald. After cleansing the northern territories of Brittany of the Vikings, Alain marched south straight for Nantes. As they passed through Viking held villages Alain’s troops left a wake of devastation behind them. Further and further they marched into the Loire river territory. A fresh fleet of Vikings had sailed up the river to sack the city of Nantes. Alain recruited these Vikings to help him sack the city. His agreement with them included something unusual: a settlement charter. The agreement was that if these Northmen joined him in battle, Alain would grant them rights to fertile lands in the Loire River Valley; so long, of course, they also convert to Christianity. With a deal brokered, the two armies converged on a heavily fortified Nantes. Within two days the city was taken.

Thus the end of the Viking Age in Brittany was near. The Bretons had reclaimed their independence. Breton Sovereignty lasted until the 15th Century when the dukes of Brittany finally accepted to join the kingdom of France.

Roman Britain : Offerings to the Gods

In the year of 2010 a metal detectorist belonging to a club of metal detectorists in Selby in Yorkshire, found two pots stuffed full with coins. He called in the archaeologists to take a look at his finding.

Before I go any further with this subject, I would like you to take notice that Metal detectorists in Great Britain are extremely helpful when it comes to the finding of archaeological sites where metal can be found of course. There are thousands of groups of metal detectorists all over Britain, and it is actually a profession; they always cooperate with the professionals of archaeology, history and anthropology. In other countries, a metal detectorist is the same as a tomb raider, burglar, grave robber, well... a thief. They do not cooperate with anyone but themselves, they steal and sell whatever they find in the black market, or anyone else interested in antiquities. There is a constant struggle between archaeologists and metal detectorists. But have in mind, that in Great Britain it isn't the case, and metal detectorists are quite useful.

Going back to the subject, such a large find of coins was instantly classed as a treasure and the British Museum had a chance to buy it and put it on public display. Astonishingly, the solid mass of coins could still be identified through the process  called Microtomographic Volume Imaging, which means using X-rays to identify every coin singularly. From this, researchers could tell each pot contained 201 (unbroken pot) and 99 (broken pot) Roman denarii, the silver coins of their daily usage, dating from the last years of the Republic right through to coins dating to AD 181. It seems remarkable that so many historical coins would have still been circulating so long after minting, so it is possible they had been collected and kept for many years.

Initially, the find was reported as a chance loss of somebody’s life savings, buried in the ground for safe keeping but, unfortunately for the owner, never retrieved. This seems to be the standard approach to all coin hoards, at least initially, as it is hard for modern people to imagine giving away so much wealth for any other reason. We no longer offer such gifts to the Gods but there is something the X-rays found in both pots that suggest this may have been the true intention of whoever buried it.

In between the coins, the X-rays revealed small organic material (preserved only because the coins were so tightly fused), which turned out to be chaff from spelt-wheat grains. This was the grain from which Romans and Romano-Britons made their daily bread. But why put grain in with a coin hoard, unless both were intended to be a gift to the Gods. Could these grains represent the first harvest of the year, offered in thanks for a successful year of farming? - Perhaps.

Roman historian Siculus tells us that the inhabitants of Britain burnt their “first fruits” on a bonfire as an offering to the Gods in thanks for the harvest. The Greek historian Arrian adds that Celtic people always offer the first fruits of the hunt to the Gods in a similar gesture of thanks. Perhaps the grain in the jars was the “first fruits” of the harvest, not burnt but buried in the ground. If grain was a usual offering to the Gods from the first take from the harvest, then this particular year it was boosted by the addition of a small fortune in silver denarii. 

The only event that occurred around 181 AD (the date of the last coin in the hoard and hoards are usually deposited close to the date of the last coin) is the overthrow of the Antonine Wall by the northern tribes and the retreat of the Romans to Hadrian’s Wall. It’s possible this may have caused repercussions further south, especially if it led to increased militarisation of the area.

Maybe the farmer at Selby, probably an estate owner given the sheer wealth he or she gave away, had had a good harvest but with the unrest in the north the person feared for the future. So this year, as well as giving his or her first fruits to the Gods, he or she added the family’s greatest treasure, an heirloom passed down and added to across generations. It would have been a momentous event, seeing so much money disappear into the ground and perhaps gave the family hope that they would be safe from the turmoil.

Orkney - 5,000-year-old temple complex

More or less 5 months ago I read on a National Geographic magazine, about the Orkney excavation side and the archaeological works held there. It's a really interesting subject that I would like to share with you. Our ancestors never cease to surprise me.

The excavation of the prehistoric temple complex on the Scottish island of Orkney, has revealed that the Neolithic inhabitants of that same island were far more advanced than initially realised. It was also found a large collection of ancient artifacts that reflect a complex and culturally rich society, archaeologists also discovered that the three major monumental structures on the island  (the Ring of Brodgar, the Stones of Stennes, and the Maes Howe tomb) were linked in a way, connected for the same purpose.

The archaeological site, known as the Ness of Brodgar, covers an area of over six acres and consists of the remains of housing, remnants of slate roofs, paved walkways, coloured facades, decorated stone slabs, a massive stone wall with foundations, and a large building described as a Neolithic "cathedra" or "palace", inhabited from at least 3,500 BC to the close of the Neolithic period more than a millennium and a half later.

The workmanship of these people was impeccable. The imposing walls they built would have done credit to the Roman centurions who, some 30 centuries later, would erect Hadrian’s Wall in another part of Britain. Cloistered within those walls were dozens of buildings, among them one of the largest roofed structures built in prehistoric northern Europe. It was more than eighty feet long and sixty feet wide, with walls of thirteen feet thick.

The archaeological excavation, which has so far only unearthed around 10% of the original site, has yielded thousands of incredible artifacts including a few ceremonial mace heads, polished stone axes, flint knives, a human figurine, miniature thumb pots, beautifully crafted stone spatulas, highly-refined coloured pottery, and more than six hundred and fifty (650) pieces of Neolithic art. It is by far the largest collection ever found in Britain.

The three monumental sites mentioned before, Ring of Brodgar, the Stones of Stenness and the Maes Howe tomb, are all located within several miles of the Ness, used to be seen as isolated monuments with separate histories but as the excavations at the Ness have progressed, archaeologists have come to believe that the megalithic sites in the surrounding region were all connected in some way with the Ness of Brodgar, although its purpose remains unknown. What the Ness is telling us is that this was a much more integrated landscape than anyone ever suspected. The people who built all those monuments were a far more complex and capable society than has usually been portrayed.

Menhirs in Agriculture

As we already know, menhirs and dolmens and all the other megalithic monuments are placed in specific places where the ley lines pass, with various purposes, one of those is to help in the fertilization of the soils for a better agriculture, concentrating the energy of the earth on those places, which makes the land around the monumento a proper place to grow food.
There is a well known report on this subject, counted by L. Charpentier in a dialogue  with a peasant in France who had one erected menhir with 4m in one of his meadows, and so he said:
 
"I do not know if it's because of the stone, but it's my best meadow and what has the best grass for the animals and they love it. If I knew, i would also put stones on the other meadows. If the ancients put this one here, they ought to have had some idea in mind. Perhaps they were smarter than what we think .. "
 
For this farmer and for many others like him, some stones properly placed, were beneficial for agriculture. As the human body is  traversed  by energy currents, and the land is covered by telluric currents, thus we can make a connection between acupuncture needles with the needles of Stone (Menhirs) that influence the vegetation.
 
Ancient legends say that in the vicinity of Mont Saint Michel, northern France, existed in some farmlands, menhirs with very strange names such as one called "Pierre Bonde", where it is said that it"Was blocking the entrance of the abyss", which means that if this menhir was removed, the waters from the ocean would invade the land. In olde times, Mount Saint Michel, now threatened by the waters, was once a fertile Hill. It is known that when the Britons expelled from Britain, took refuge in the country of Armor later Brittany (Northern France), already had been Christianized. Equally we know that they had to fight in the region of Mount Saint Michel, a religious war against autochthonous pagans who worshiped the standing stones. The Christian invaders destroyed a large number of these stones, and among them, the huge dolmen that crowned the hill and it was a place of pilgrimage in Gaul. Shortly after this invasion, by coincidence or not, the sea invaded the bay of Mont St Michel. Is it just coincidence that, after the invasion of these Christians in Britain, the sinking of the Gulf of Morbihan started, which did not exist in the time of Caesar.
This leads us to believe that the invaders, by ignoring the local traditions and ancestral knowledge about the science of megaliths have destroyed some vertical stone - menhir - which provided the important bio-energetic balance that exists there.
The fact is that the storming waters invaded the cultivated land that until then had been a fértile land for agriculture.

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