Portrait of the photographer Laureen Keravec dedicated to Ar Bard (for the Lyre) and Alan Stivell (for the Celtic Harp).
Author: Kergonan22. Source: Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0
On the ‘literary’ side, the Bretons make their historic first appearance in the oldest European narrative: the Irish Lebor Gabála Érenn. We will use the translation by Henri Lizeray (French author, 1844–1905) published in 1884 under the title Leabar gabala, Livre des invasions de l’Irlande. The action would be slightly later than the reign of Pharaoh Nectanebo II around 350 BC.
(FR-Lizeray) ‘Criomtan du Clair-Bouclier leur raconta ses malheurs, et un remède lui fut indiqué par le druide des Cruitnéacs, pour le temps où il serait en guerre avec les peuples de Fidga, dans les forêts ; c’était un peuple de Bretons qui étaient continuellement en engagement de bataille avec Criomtan.’
(EN-Free translation) ‘Criomtan of the Light Shield told them of his misfortunes, and a remedy was indicated to him by the druid of the Cruitneacs, for the time when he would be at war with the peoples of Fidga, in the forests; they were a people of Bretons who were continually engaged in battle with Criomtan.’
Criomtan is a chief of ancient Ireland and the Cruitneacs were a population originating from the continent and allied to the Irish ruler Erimon. The earliest known Bretons were therefore ‘Fidga’ and did not reside in the lands of Ireland. These Fidga seemed to behave like an expeditionary force.
Historians believe that the Bretons appeared at about the same time in present- day Wales as the Kymry (be pronounced kumri), Cymri or Cymraeg. The earliest known texts of the Kymry date from the 6th century AD and were inspired or even written by Welsh bards. The best-known text is Y Gododdin or Book of Aneirin (a bard). The poems of the bard Taliesin are also collected in the Book of Taliesin. Finally, we can also mention the poems of Myrddin, who inspired the Merlin’s character.
The second wave of texts is later. The major writing is the Mabinogion (also called the Four Branches of the Mabinogi). It contains four texts developed from two 14th century manuscripts: the White Book of Rhydderch and the Red Book of Hergest. These texts are Pwyll, Prince of Dyved, The Mabinogi of Branwen, Manawydan son of Llyr and Math son of Mathonwy.
Of course, Welsh literature of the time is known for the Arthurian legend, but this cannot help us in the quest for the origins of the Bretons. In short, we have only four books: those of Aneirin, Taliesin, Rhydderch (the ‘White’ book) and Hergest (the ‘Red’). Unfortunately, these texts do not do much better: they are short on information about the origin of the Bretons.