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Governor under LOUIS THE PIOUS (RIN 1212) beggining in 826.
Sources quoted in Moriarty are Winkhaus, Ahnen zu Karl dem Grossen
und Wiederkind (1950), Brandenburg, Die Nachkommens Karl des Grossen
(1935), and others. In the notes after the table, he states "Accounts of
the early descent vary; the above taken from Winkhaus is the latest and
best."
Turton's "Plantagenet Ancestry" calls his father Erispoe, but this may be
a mistake derived from his son's name.
Extracted from the Book, "The Bretons", by Galliou and Jones:
"Although Nomenoe was a native Breton (one of the very few
facts about him that can be definitely established), more important than
his ethnicity was the manner in which he came to power, the way he
maintained it and the legacy he left to his immediate successors.
Virtually nothing is known about him before his appointment as missus
imperatouris in Brittany around 1 May 831. La Bordcrie's argument that
he was already count of Vannes in 819 and 'governor' of Brittany in 826
must be rejected following a critical re-examination of acta in the
cartulary of Redon which show Guy, a member of the Widonid family, as
count at Vannes until January 830 at least. When appointed Nomenoe
was, or certainly became, an imperial vassal (fidelis); he was probably
first drawn to LOUIS' [THE PIOUS (RIN 1212)] attention during the
campaigns of the 820s. Through benefices then conferred upon him or as
a result of later promotion he came to possess land that once belonged
to the imperial fisc as grants to Saint-Sauvetlr de Redon demonstrate.
Of his own patrimony nothing is known though since he was related
(probably by marriage) to Rivallon, count of Pohet in 844, this may have
lain in Cornouaille. As missus the main centre of his own power was the
Vannetais: two Redon documents of 832 and 834 style him comes
or princeps Velnetice civitatis. Other acta from the same source
show that he exercised his authority both in that county and
beyond. As missus this was extremely wide-ranging. It included
ecclesiastical as well as civil, judicial and military matters, which
perhaps explains his high-handed dismissal of all the Breton
bishops in 849 (below p. 154). In addition to missus, he is some-
times styled dux or magister, and described as 'ruling' (gubernans,
regnans.. nominans). Contrary to normal Carolingian practice , he
does not appear to have shared his missaticum with an ecclesiastic
but he had several subordinate officials, also styled missi, to assist
him. The novel feature of his missaticum was that territorially it
included lands which the Carolingians had never succeeded in mastering
and a county (Vannes) detached from the former Frankish March. It was
thus LOUIS THE PIOUS (RIN 1212) himself rather than Nomenoe who first
created a union which remained fundamental to the Breton state; during
his lifetime Nomenoe did not seriously betray THE EMPORER's trust.
His loyalty to the Carolingians began to waver in 843 during the
civil wars between the sons of LOUIS THE PIOUS. After first supporting
CHARLES THE BALD (840-77) (RIN 1620), whose share of the empire in
the sequence of partitions, culminating in the treaty of Verdun (843),
always included suzerainty over Brittany, Nomenoe became embroiled in
quarrels over the county of Nantes. Here a scion of the Widonids, Lambert
[Not our ancestor (RIN 1697) as he died in 936)], was disputing
possession with Renaud, count of Herbauge. In May 843 a Breton army led
by Nomenoe's son ERIPSOE and Lambert defeated Renaud at Messac
(I-et-V), where the Roman road from Angers to Carhaix crosses the
Vilaine. A month later, taking advantage of these divisions among the
Neustrian aristocracy, the Vikings sacked Nantes. By the autumn
CHARLES THE BALD, hoping to restore order in the west, was at
Rennes but his campaign was a failure. In 844 Nomenoe and
Lambert continued their feud with the heirs of Count Renaud and
raided as far afield as Maine. After a brief truce, military
operations began again and on 22 November 845 CHARLES THE BALD
was defeated at Ballon, near Redon (I-et-V), when he went to
succour those opposing Nomenoe in Brittany. For a few days
Lupus of Ferrieres feared CHARLES himself had been killed.
Relations between Nomenoe and CHARLES were temporarily
patched up in 846 when Nomenoe deserted Lambert. By now the
Viking presence was making itself felt and there are hints of a challenge
to Nomenoe's own authority in Brittany. Around Christmas 846 a Breton
army was ravaging the Bessin, contrary to a truce with CHARLES which
Nomenoe seems personally to have kept until 849. In 847 he also
suffered three reverses at the hands of the Vikings before bribing them
to look elsewhere for booty. Two years Inter, however, Nomenoe was at
the height of his powers. In a synod held at Coitlouh (M?) in May 849 he
dismissed the five Breton bishops (Alet, Dol, Quimper,
Saint-Pol-dec-Lon and Vannes) for simony and replaced them with
nominees 'of his own race and language'. A damaging schism with the
Frankish church began that was to rumble on during the reigns of his two
immediate successors. Then, reconciled with Count Lambert, who had
returned from exile hoping to re-establish himself again at Nantes,
Nomenoe launched a series of vigorous military assaults on Rennes,
Nantes and Le Mans. Lupus of Ferrieres, writing on behalf of a synod of
Carolingian bishops in August 850, urged Nomenoe to repent and make
peace with CHARLES but to no avail. A raid on Nantes resulted in the
destruction of its walls and gates. In the depths of winter Nomenoe
pressed on. Then, unexpectedly on 7 March 851 he died deep in Fankish
territory at Vendome. His achievements - the establishment of personal
dominance in Breton secular and religious affairs, the beginnings of an
administration which united both Frankish and Breton lands - hung in the
balance.
Whatever advantages his origins may have conferred (and the
silence of the records is total), the career of Nomenoe as it can now
be traced demonstrates how much he owed to imperial patronage
as a fidelis and missus. It was this that had elevated his authority above
that of other Bretons; it provided the territorial basis for his power. In
seeking to extend this he acted within the political framework of the
empire by alliances with other families of the Reichsavistokratie.
Quarrels between the sons of LOUIS THE PIOUS, local disputes and the
havoc caused by the Vikings furnished ideal circumstances for Nomenoe's
power to grow as the transition from loyal lieutenant in the 830s to
independent leader with expansionist policies after 843 shows. But
there were limitations to his ambitions: despite a later tradition that
after deposing the Breton bishops Nomenoe had himself crowned at Dol,
which he allegedly wished to turn into a metropolitan see, there is no
contemporary warrant for this."