{{Short description|Bretons who fled Saxon-conquered England to France}} {{hatnote|'Domnonia' redirects here. For the Sub-Roman kingdom, see Dumnonia. For the modern area of England, see Devon.}} {{Infobox former country | native_name = {{lang|br|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"; {{langx|br|Domnonea, Devnon}}), 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.<ref name="HookerCoriosolite">{{cite web |title=Celtic Improvisations: An Art Historical Analysis of Coriosolite Coins (abstract) |url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/issue.xhtml?recordId=1080177&recordType=MonographSeries |website=Archaeology Data Service |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="CorseulTourism">{{cite web |title=Corseul: Gallo-Roman immersion in the heart of Brittany! |url=https://www.dinan-capfrehel.com/en/experiences/unavoidable/corseul/ |website=Office de tourisme Dinan-Cap Fréhel |date=18 April 2023 |language=en |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref> Domnonée is said{{who|date=March 2019}} 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.<ref name="HistoBzh">{{cite web |title=Le temps des rois |url=https://www.histoiredelabretagne.bzh/periodes/le-temps-des-rois |website=Histoire de la Bretagne |language=fr |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="CunliffePast">{{cite web |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |title=Bretons and Britons: exploring prehistoric Britain's French connection |url=https://the-past.com/feature/bretons-and-britons-exploring-prehistoric-britains-french-connection/ |website=The Past |date=11 March 2021 |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref> Domnonée retained close political links between the Celtic territories in Great Britain (Wales, Cornwall, Devon), and the newly created Brittany.<ref name="GeneaDomnonee">{{cite web |title=Alma Pompea de DOMNONEE – Situations géographiques |url=https://gw.geneanet.org/pat7766?lang=fr&n=de+domnonee&p=alma+pompea |website=Geneanet |language=fr |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="Merdrignac2010">{{cite journal |last=Merdrignac |first=Bernard |title=Présence et représentations de la Domnonée et de la Cornouaille de part et d'autre de la Manche |journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest |volume=117 |issue=4 |year=2010 |pages=83–119 |doi=10.4000/abpo.1842 |url=https://journals.openedition.org/abpo/1842 |language=fr |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref> Many kings, princes, clerics and other leaders came over from Great Britain.<ref name="GeneaDomnonee"/><ref name="Merdrignac2010"/> The sea was a unifying rather than divisive factor.<ref name="GeneaDomnonee"/><ref name="Merdrignac2010"/> In the traditions relating to the settlement of Brittany by the Bretons there are several kingdoms of this kind.<ref>Nora Kershaw Chadwick, ''Celtic Kingdoms''.</ref> A number of legends and lives of Breton saints contain references to the close political ties between religious communities in Wales and Brittany.<ref name="BrettSaints">{{cite journal |last=Brett |first=Caroline |title='You read it here first': early traditions of Welsh saints in Brittany |journal=Kathleen Hughes Memorial Lecture |volume=19 |year=2022 |pages=1–26 |url=https://www.asnc.cam.ac.uk/publications/Hughes/KH%20Vol%2019%202022%20Brett.pdf |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="Merdrignac2010"/> The close proximity resulted in possessions on both sides of the Channel by some religious orders.<ref name="GeneaDomnonee"/><ref name="BrettSaints"/><ref name="Merdrignac2010"/> For example, the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Beauport, before Henry VIII, had parishes on the coast of Goélo and in Devon.<ref name="GeneaDomnonee"/><ref name="BalliniBeauport">{{cite web |last=Ballini |first=Annie-Claude |title=Beauport, une abbaye prémontrée en Bretagne |url=https://amisdebeauport.fr/index.php/2018/04/23/beauport-une-abbaye-premontree-en-bretagne/ |website=Association des Amis de l'Abbaye de Beauport |language=fr |date=23 April 2018 |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref>
It has been suggested that the British and Breton branches were unified for a period.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Breton Bluebeard |website=A Blast From The Past |date=28 December 2015 |url=https://mikedashhistory.com/2015/12/28/the-breton-bluebeard/ |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=3 Dark Age Kings of Britain Confirmed by Archaeology |website=The Collector |date=21 June 2025 |url=https://www.thecollector.com/britain-dark-age-kings/ |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref> Conomor, who was killed fighting Chlothar I, king of the Franks, is referred to in stories from both Great Britain and Brittany.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fleuriot |first=Leslie |title=Les origines légendaires de Conomor |journal=Études Celtiques |volume=12 |year=1970 |pages=145–168 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Breton Bluebeard |website=A Blast From The Past |date=28 December 2015 |url=https://mikedashhistory.com/2015/12/28/the-breton-bluebeard/ |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Desbordes |first=Olivier |title=Conomor et les traditions de Domnonée |journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest |volume=87 |issue=1 |year=1980 |pages=33–56 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=3 Dark Age Kings of Britain Confirmed by Archaeology |website=The Collector |date=21 June 2025 |url=https://www.thecollector.com/britain-dark-age-kings/ |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bachrach |first=Bernard S. |title=Merovingian Military and Political Power: The Case of Childebert I |journal=Francia |volume=7 |year=1979 |pages=23–40}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Merlet |first=Lucien |title=La maison de Penthièvre (XIe–XIVe siècles) |journal=Bulletin de la Société Archéologique du Finistère |volume=8 |year=1881 |pages=241–260 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k207748s/f249.item |language=fr |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Comté de Penthièvre |url=https://www.toutankharton.com/monographies/penthievre/ |website=Toutankharton – Histoire de Bretagne |language=fr |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref> The name disappeared shortly after.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kerboul-Vilhon |first=Anne de |title=Les anciennes divisions de la Bretagne: Domnonée, Cornouaille, Broërec |journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest |volume=91 |issue=4 |year=1984 |pages=439–455 |doi=10.3406/abpo.1984.2720 |doi-broken-date=9 March 2026 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/abpo_0399-0826_1984_num_91_4_2720 |language=fr |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref>
== 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fleuriot |first=Leslie |title=Les origines de la Bretagne armoricaine |journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest |volume=68 |issue=3 |year=1961 |pages=413–446 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/abpo_0003-391x_1961_num_68_3_2015 |language=fr |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Merdrignac |first=Bernard |title=La Domnonée et les traditions hagiographiques bretonnes |journal=Études Celtiques |volume=36 |year=2004 |pages=169–194 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/ecelt_0373-1928_2004_num_36_1_2271 |language=fr |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref> The three Armorican principalities were all subservient to the King of Brittany.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fleuriot |first=Leslie |title=Les royaumes celtiques armoricains |journal=Ogam |volume=17 |issue=1 |year=1965 |pages=3–22 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5722043t/f11.item |language=fr |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref> Until the reign of Jonas, the rulers of Domnonia were titled princes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Domnonée |website=Encyclopédie de l’Arbre Celtique |url=https://www.arbre-celtique.com/encyclopedie/domnonee-1441.htm |language=fr |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref> After that, they supplied the Kings of the Bretons, and Domnonia itself was elevated as a result.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Desbordes |first=Olivier |title=Les princes de Domnonée et l'évolution du pouvoir breton (VIIe–IXe siècle) |journal=Bulletin de la Société Archéologique du Finistère |volume=110 |year=1982 |pages=45–62 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k207753g/f49.item |language=fr |access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref>
==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== {{reflist}}
{{Historic lands of Brittany}} {{coord missing|France}} {{Barbarian kingdoms}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Domnonee}} Category:Medieval Brittany Category:States and territories established in the 4th century Category:States and territories disestablished in the 1030s Category:Dumnonia Category:Geography of Brittany Category:History of Devon Category:Barbarian kingdoms Category:Armorica