Breton

The Bretons are a Celtic people of the Armorican peninsula, descended from Britons who crossed from Cornwall and Devon in waves between the third and ninth centuries, most densely around 450 to 600, and gave their homeland its name of Brittany. Their language, Breton, is a Brittonic tongue closely related to Welsh and Cornish, divided into four dialects and strongest in the western peninsula called Lower Brittany.

The migrant kingdoms coalesced into the Duchy of Brittany around 939, which long balanced between its French and English neighbours; the Breton War of Succession of 1341 to 1364 was fought with English and French backing. The marriage of Duchess Anne to King Charles VIII began the duchy's absorption, and the Estates of Brittany voted union with the French crown in 1532.

Breton identity was sustained by the cults of the seven founder saints, parish pardons and Ankou death folklore, as French gained ground after 1539.