著者

中田 稔彬 Nakada Toshiaki

出版者

名古屋大学大学院人文学研究科図書・論集委員会

雑誌

名古屋大学人文学フォーラム (ISSN:24332321)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.2, pp.157-171, 2019-03-31

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This article reviews recognition of France and French people from perspective of the historiography of late medieval Brittany. Stimulated by the argument of nationalism and ethnicity, the study of medieval historiography in Brittany shows that the formation of Breton identity traced back to medieval society. It also verifies that Celtic culture in the present Brittany has been artificially created in modern times. However, as historiography tends to deal with self-consciousness of a social community, the concept of self and others has not been discussed deeply. Since the beginning of 21st century, there has been increasing research into alterity, that is to say estranger. After all, based on the concept of self and others, scholars simply viewed estranger as those who arouse patriotism. Such a framework was also applied to recognition of France and French people, though they have had some political and cultural influence on Brittany. There was possibility of neglecting the similarity between the identities of France and Brittany. This paper thus does not define estranger as the entire alterity, but takes account of the flexibility of meaning. It deals with the terms françoys, francs and gallois written in the chronicle Les Grandes Croniques de Bretaigne, which was compiled by Alain Bouchart early in 16th century. Words are redefined according to the expanse of meaning and ambiguity. This examines how the chronicle describes the Franks, and then follows how the image of the Franks changes and connects up to françoys, who lived in the kingdom of France, in view of political context Breton War of Succession. Under the framework of the flexibility of françoys, the similarity beween France and Brittany is emphasised. The françoys and Bretons shared common cultural aspects, such as the Christian religion, the French language and Trojan-origin myths. During the Succession, the image of françoys was no longer that of the Franks, and it seemed substantial enough for contemporaries to recognise françoys. The relations between France and Brittany were regarded as siblings. The placement of the two countries into sisterly relationship plays an important role in the rhetoric. Brittany, actually annexed into France in 16th century, could exercise some privileges until 18th century. The retention of privileges in Brittany might have been attributed to the reconsideration of identity by the Breton chroniclers.