Conan III of Cornwall or the Fat (c. 1093-1096 – September 17, 1148), (Breton

Breton language

Breton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...

 Konan III a Vreizh, and Konan Kerne) was duke of Brittany

Duke of Brittany

The Duchy of Brittany was a medieval tribal and feudal state covering the northwestern peninsula of Europe,bordered by the Alantic Ocean on the west and the English Channel to the north with less definitive borders of the Loire River to the south and Normandy to the east...

, from 1112 to his death. He was son of Duke Alan IV

Alan IV, Duke of Brittany

Alan IV was Duke of Brittany, from 1084 until his abdication in 1112. He was also Count of Nantes and Count of Rennes. He was son of Hawise, Duchess of Brittany and Duke Hoel II. He was known as Alan Fergant, which in Breton means "Alan the Strong"...

 and Ermengarde of Anjou

Ermengarde of Anjou (d. 1146)

Ermengarde of Anjou was a member of the comital House of Anjou and by her two marriages was successively Duchess of Aquitaine and Brittany. Also, she was a patron of Fontevraud Abbey...

.

Conan III allied himself with Stephen of England

Stephen of England

Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...

 in his war against the dispossessed Empress Matilda

Empress Matilda

Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...

. For his support, Stephen created for Conan's son-in-law Alan the title 1st Earl of Richmond

Earl of Richmond

The now-extinct title of Earl of Richmond was created many times in the Peerage of England. The earldom of Richmond was held by various Bretons, Normans, the royal families of Plantagenet, Capet, Savoy, Tudor and Stuart.-History:...

.

He married, before 1113, Maude, an illegitimate daughter of King Henry I of England

Henry I of England

Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...

. With Maude he had three children, Hoel, Bertha

Bertha, Duchess of Brittany

Bertha of Cornwall , also known as Bertha of Brittany , was hereditary Duchess of Brittany between 1148 until her death. Bertha was the eldest daughter of Conan III of Brittany by Maude, the illegitimate daughter of King Henry I of England...

 (b.c. 1114), and Constance. Later, when his son-in-law Alan died in 1146, Bertha returned home from England.

On his death-bed in 1148, Conan III disinherited Hoel from succession to the Duchy, stating that he was illegitimate and no son of his. By this surprise move Bertha became his heiress and successor. However, Hoel was to retain the county of Nantes

Nantes

Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....

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See also

• Dukes of Brittany family tree
  Dukes of Brittany family tree
  This is a family tree of the Dukes of Brittany from the 9th century, to the annexation of Brittany by France in 1532.See also: Brittany - List of family trees...