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...

This is a political history of Brittany between 1158 and 1203, when it was ruled by the Angevin king of England, Henry II, and his successors. The book examines the process whereby Henry II gained sovereignty over Brittany, and how it was governed thereafter. This is the first study of this subject, offering an important contribution to the historiography of both Brittany and the "Angevin empire." It also offers a corrective to previous scholarship by suggesting that the Angevin regime in Brittany was neither alien nor opppressive to the Bretons.