of gold, rubbed poison into
the inside of the horn which his master sounded when hunting, and, to
make his evil measures doubly sure, he poisoned in like manner the
Duke's gloves and his horse's bridle. Conan died a few days after his
envoy's return, and his successor, Eudo, took especial care not to
imitate his relative in giving offence to William with regard to the
validity of his right; on the contrary, he formed an alliance with
him, a thing unheard of betwixt Breton and Norman, and sent his two
sons to William's camp to serve against the English.

These two youths, Brian and Alain, repaired to the rendezvous of the
Norman forces, accompanied by a body of Breton knights, who styled
them Mac-tierns.[5] Certain other wealthy Bretons, who were not of the
pure Celtic race, and who bore French names, as Robert de Vitry,
Bertrand de Dinan, and Raoul de Gael, resorted likewise to the Court
of the Duke of Normandy with offers of service.

Later Brittany became a bone of contention between France and
Normandy. Hoel, the native Duke, claimed the protection of France
against the Norman duchy. A long period of peace followed under Alain
Fergant and Conan III, but on the death of the latter a fierce war of
succession was waged (1148-56). Conan IV secured the ducal crown by
Norman-English aid, and gave his daughter Constance in marriage to
Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of Henry II of England. Geoffrey was crowned
Duke of Brittany in 1171, but after his death his son Arthur met with
a dreadful fate at the hands of his uncle, John of England. Constance,
his mother, the real heiress to the duchy, married again, her choice
falling upon Guy de Thouars, and their daughter was wed to Pierre de
Dreux, who became Duke, and who defeated John Lackland, the slayer of
his wife's half-brother, under the walls of Nantes in 1214.

_French Influence_

The country now began to flourish apace because of the many
innovations introduced into it by the wisdom of its French rulers. A
new way of life was adopted by the governing classes, among whom
French manners and fashions became the rule. But the people at large
retained their ancient customs, language, and dress; nor have they
ever abandoned them, at least in Lower Brittany. On the death of John
III (1341) the peace of the duchy was once more broken by a war of
succession. John had no love for his half-brother, John of Montfort,
and bequeathed the ducal coronet to his niece, Joan of Penthievre,