Alan IV, Duke of Brittany

Alain IV ( * before 1072, † 1119 ) was Duke of Brittany and Count of Rennes, Count of Nantes. He is also known as Alain Fergant, which means in the Breton language " Alain the Younger ".

He was the son of the Duke Hoël II out of the house and the Cornwall Havise of Brittany († 1072 ) from the house Rennes. When his father's death in 1084 he inherited coming from the right of his mother Duchy of Brittany, while his brother Matthias II inherited the paternal county Nantes. In the same year, his great-uncle Gottfried Grenonat, who was a vassal of the Duke of Brittany, Count of Rennes, whereupon Alain moved the county and incorporated it into his duchy died. When his brother Matthias died without heirs in 1103 was Alain Count of Nantes.

Alain IV faced an invasion of William the Conqueror, following which he had to give up his duchy in 1086. The closed in the same year peace was associated with Alain's marriage to William's daughter Constance, which is why he is suspected of being responsible for her death by poison in 1090: William of Malmesbury reported that she had been killed because they too conservative for the Breton yard was.

He married again in 1093, Ermengard of Anjou, daughter of Count Fulk IV of Anjou and Tours ( † 1146 ), divorced wife of the Duke William IX. of Aquitaine. With her he had three children:

  • Conan III. († 1148 ), heir to the Duchy;
  • Havise, ∞ Count Baldwin VII of Flanders;
  • Gottfried ( † 1106 in Jerusalem).

1096 he took part along with Duke Richard II of Normandy in the First Crusade. By the time he returned in 1101, his wife Ermengard led the regency in Brittany. He was not a popular Duke, which is why he found himself in 1112 forced to abdicate in favor of his son Conan. He retired to the monastery of Redon, where he died in 1119.

In addition to his legitimate children had at least one illegitimate son, namely Brien FitzCount.

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