began to call themselves Cymry (compatriots), for Welsh and Cumbrians, Kernewek for Cornish, and Breizhek for Bretons. The British language (now referred to as Brythonic Celtic) is the ancestor tongue of Welsh, Breton, and Cornish. It was similar and mutually intelligible with Gaulish on the European mainland. Its divergence into the three languages that have survived into more recent times began during the sixth and seventh centuries. At this time the Anglo-Saxon invasion had split the British Celts into isolated pockets, hence the language separation. Cumbrian became extinct in the fourteenth century.

Brittany

In the fifth and sixth centuries a.d., refugees from Britain, escaping the invasion and westward movement of the Anglo-Saxons, fled to the Armorica peninsula and joined their Gaulish cousins. The peninsula was renamed “Little Britain.” They quickly merged with these native Celts into a strong kingdom. But for the next few centuries, the Bretons had to contend with the westward expansion of the Franks, seeking to exert their dominion throughout Gaul and renaming it “land of the Franks”—France.

The Bretons held their own and on November 22, a.d. 845, the Breton King Nominoë defeated the Franks at Ballon, forcing Charles le Chauve to sign a treaty recognising Breton independence. Brittany lost its complete independence six centuries later when the armies of Francis II were defeated on July 28, 1488, at Saint Aubin-du-Cormier by the French of Charles VIII. There followed a “Union of Crowns” by the enforced marriage of Anne of Brittany with Charles VIII in 1491. After the death of Charles in 1498, Anne was forced into marriage with Louis XII.

On September 18, 1532, a Treaty of Union between France and Brittany was signed at the Chateau du Plesis-Macé, Angers. This agreed that Brittany should remain a self-governing entity within the broader French state, retaining its ancient Parliament (États). Brittany settled down to its new position with a sullen acceptance, sometimes bursting into insurrection against French centralisation. Breton sympathies were with the Americans during the American War of Independence, and many Bretons, such as Lafayette, Count Guichen, and Colonel Armand (Armand Tuffin de la Rouerie) played leading roles in the American revolutionary forces. In fact, 333 Breton officers are listed fighting for the Americans and 16 warships were fitted out in Brittany in 1778 to help them.