The Charters of Duchess Constance of Brittany and her Family, 1171-1221

Ducal charters illuminate politics, external relations, and the conduct of government, and also Breton society and institutions. The indispensable charter collection for the Breton lands in the complex period of the break-up of the Angevin hegemony. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW Around 1200, sovereignty over the duchy of Brittany was disputed by the Angevin kings of England and the Capetian kings of France. With few local chronicle sources concerning Brittany in this important period, ducal charters provide crucial evidence for politics, external relations, and the conduct of government. They are also an essential source for Breton society and institutions in a period of rapid change and development. Collected here for the first time are the acts of Duchess Constance (1171-1201), her mother, dowager-duchess Margaret of Scotland, Constance's three husbands, Geoffrey, son of King Henry II, Ranulf III, earl of Chester, and Guy de Thouars, and her three children, Eleanor, Arthur of Brittany, and Alice, who succeeded in 1213 toa duchy under Capetian sovereignty. The subject matter concerns not only Brittany, but also the Breton rulers' extensive lands in England, the honour of Richmond, and even the counties of Anjou, Maine and Touraine while they wereunder Arthur's rule. The charters are also of wider general significance for the light they cast on the exercise of political power by female rulers. MICHAEL JONES is Emeritus Professor of Medieval French History at theUniversity of Nottingham.