Alan II, Duke of Brittany

Refuge in Britain Alan had to take refuge, along with his father Mathuedoi I, with King Æthelstan of England because the Norsemen had invaded Armorica. The Chronicle of Nantes reports: : Alan became ruler of Brittany at the end of a 33-year interregnum after the death of his maternal grandfather, Duke Alan the Great. Return to Brittany Alan landed at Dol in 936, at the invitation of a monk, Jean de Landévennec, and with the aid of Æthelstan. By 937 Alan was master of most of Brittany, having forced the Norsemen back to the Loire. : In 938, Alan was elected Brittonum dux. On 1 August 939, with the aid of Judicael (Berengar), count of Rennes, and Hugh I, Count of Maine, his victory was made complete by defeating the Norse at the Battle of Trans-la-Forêt. Alan declared that date a national holiday. ==Louis IV of France and other alliances==

Alan II was closely allied with King Louis IV of West Francia, as both were exiles in England together at the court of Edward the Elder and Edward's son and successor Æthelstan. Alan renounced the Cotentin, Avranchin and Mayenne and paid homage to Louis IV in 942. He was also allied to Theobald the Old, the count of Chartres. ==Family==

Alan II was the grandson of Alan I, King of Brittany and the great-grandson of Ridoreth, Count of Vannes. He was the grand-nephew of Pascweten. His wife was a sister or a daughter of Count Theobald I of Blois. Their son, and Alan's immediate successor, was Drogo, Duke of Brittany. He also had at least two illegitimate sons, Hoël and Guerech, who would each succeed Drogo during the fractured rule of Brittany after Drogo's death. ==Death==

Alan was buried in his capital, Nantes, in the church which he constructed to honor the Virgin Mary for his victory in liberating Nantes, initially known as la Chapelle de la Très Sainte Mère de Dieu, now known as the Basilique Notre Dame in the parish of St Thérèse in Nantes. He was succeeded by his son Drogo. ==Notes==

• Flodoard, Annales, ed. Philippe Lauer, Les Annales de Flodoard. Collection des textes pour servir à l'étude et à l'enseignement de l'histoire 39. Paris: Picard, 1905. Available from Internet Archive and Google Books • Chronicle of Nantes, ed. Peter Merlet, La chronique de Nantes. Paris, 1896. ==Further reading==