Duke of Brittany, he repelled William the Conqueror and set out on the First Crusade. He was probably the last duke to speak Breton.
At the turning point between the early and high Middle Ages, Alan Fergant embodies a Brittany that resists — the Normans, then the English.
A duke facing the Conqueror
Born in 1067, Alan IV, known as Fergant, became Duke of Brittany in 1084. He had much to contend with from his powerful neighbour: William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England, whose ambitions over Brittany he managed to repel.
The crusader
A man of his time, Alan Fergant set out on the First Crusade, leaving the government of the duchy to his wife Ermengarde of Anjou — a woman of character who left her own mark on Breton history.
The last Breton-speaking duke
Alan Fergant is probably the last Duke of Brittany to have spoken the Breton language. With him ended a certain Brittany, that of the origins. Exhausted, he gave up power and withdrew to the Abbey of Redon, where he died in 1119.
At the roots of the duchy
Two centuries before Martin de Rezay had Briord raised into a seigneury of high justice, men like Alan Fergant were building the framework — the Duchy of Brittany — within which Briord would take its place.