Conomor (fl. c540+), also known as
Conomor the Cursed, was an early medieval ruler of
BrittanyBrittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Brittany was previously a kingdom and then as a duchy it was a fief of the Kingdom of France. It was at one time called Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. His name, which has the Welsh cognate Cynfawr, means "great dog". Conomor became notorious for his cruelty. He is widely regarded as one of the probable sources for the legend of
Bluebeard"Bluebeard" is a French literary fairy tale written by Charles Perrault and is one of eight tales by the author first published by Barbin in Paris in January 1697 in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a violent nobleman in the habit of murdering his wives and the...
and possibly also of
Tristan Tristan is one of the main characters of the Tristan and Iseult story, a Cornish hero and one of the Knights of the Round Table featuring in the Matter of Britain...
.
Conomor was king of Domnonée, which at this time was expanding to claim control over all Brythonic territory in
ArmoricaArmorica or Aremorica is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul that includes the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic coast...
(Brittany).
Conomor (fl. c540+), also known as
Conomor the Cursed, was an early medieval ruler of
BrittanyBrittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Brittany was previously a kingdom and then as a duchy it was a fief of the Kingdom of France. It was at one time called Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. His name, which has the Welsh cognate Cynfawr, means "great dog". Conomor became notorious for his cruelty. He is widely regarded as one of the probable sources for the legend of
Bluebeard"Bluebeard" is a French literary fairy tale written by Charles Perrault and is one of eight tales by the author first published by Barbin in Paris in January 1697 in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a violent nobleman in the habit of murdering his wives and the...
and possibly also of
Tristan Tristan is one of the main characters of the Tristan and Iseult story, a Cornish hero and one of the Knights of the Round Table featuring in the Matter of Britain...
.
Conomor was king of Domnonée, which at this time was expanding to claim control over all Brythonic territory in
ArmoricaArmorica or Aremorica is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul that includes the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic coast...
(Brittany). It is difficult to disentangle the Conomor of legend from the historical ruler. As with other early Breton rulers most written information about him comes from the lives of Breton saints.
Historical record
Conomor is mentioned in Cornish genealogies, and may have established himself in Brittany after a youth in Cornwall. He is mentioned by
Gregory of ToursSaint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
as a Breton count; he is listed as "prefectus du roi des Francs" in the life of St Tugdal and in the life of St Paul Aurelian he is called ruler of "different peoples of four languages", which may suggest that his territory included both Brittany and Cornwall. Conomor is said to been count of Carhaix and to have become king by murdering his predecessor Jonas. He married Jonas' widow, but she later fled from him to seek asylum in the Frankish court with her son Judael. He is later said to have come into conflict with
WarochWaroch was an early Breton ruler of the Vannetais. Waroch gave his name to the traditional French province of Broërec . However, it is possible that there were several successive local leaders with this name....
, count of
VannesVannes is a commune in the Morbihan department in Bretagne in north-western France. It was founded over 2000 years ago.-Geography:Vannes is located on the Gulf of Morbihan at the mouth of the Vannes River. It is around 100 km northwest of Nantes and 300 km west of Paris...
, whose daughter
TréphineSaint Tryphine is a semi-legendary Breton saint whose life is often considered to be the basis of the story of Bluebeard. In Brittany she is widely revered as a patron saint of sick children and those whose birth is overdue...
he had married after his first wife's death. In unclear circumstances he is said to have murdered Tréphine and later his son by her, Trémeur.
Eventually the local bishops were persuaded by
Saint SamsonSaint Samson of Dol was a Christian religious figure who is counted among the seven founder saints of Brittany. Born in southern Wales, he died in Dol-de-Bretagne, a small town in north Brittany.-Life:...
to excommunicate Conomor. Samson also prevailed on the Frankish king
Childebert IChildebert I was the Frankish king of Paris, a Merovingian dynast, one of the four sons of Clovis I who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death in 511...
to abandon his support for Conomor as protector of the
English channelThe English Channel is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest, to only in the Strait of Dover...
and to release Judael. Judael gathered an army supported by Childebert's brother Chlothar I and killed Conomor in a battle in the
Monts d'ArréeThe Monts d'Arrée are an ancient mountain range in western Brittany which forms part of the Armorican massif. Historically it marked the border of the regions of Cornouaille and Léon....
near Le Relecq,
Plounéour-MénezPlounéour-Ménez is a commune in the Finistère department in Bretagne in north-western France.-References:* ;* -External links:*...
, which is named from the relics of the victims.
The Cynfawr (Conomor) of medieval Welsh tradition is probably unrelated. An obscure figure with the epithet "
Cadgaddug" ("Battle-winner"), he appears in the genealogies and one of the
Welsh TriadsThe Welsh Triads are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three....
as a descendant of Coel Hen from the
Hen OgleddYr Hen Ogledd is a Welsh term used by scholars to refer to those parts of what is now northern England and southern Scotland in the years between 500 and the Viking invasions of c. 800, with particular interest in the Brythonic-speaking peoples who lived there.The term is derived from heroic...
. It is also unclear whether Cornish evidence points to the same individual as the Breton leader, or to an earlier relative with the same name.
Myth of Tréphine and Trémeur
In legend Conomor's villainy is extended to include the murders of three wives before Tréphine. Tréphine refuses to marry him because of his reputation, but when he threatens to invade her father's lands she agrees, to spare the lives of her father's people. While Conomor is away Tréphine finds a secret room containing relics of the deceased wives. She prays for their souls, and their ghosts appear to her warning her that Conomor will kill her if she becomes pregnant, since a prophecy states that he will be killed by his own son. When he returns he discovers that she is pregnant. Tréphine escapes with magical aid from the dead wives and gives birth in a forest. She hides her son before Conomor catches her and beheads her. However Saint Gildas finds her and miraculously restores her to life. She and her son both live lives of saintly retirement, but after Tréphine's death Conomor eventually finds Trémeur and kills him.
Both Tréphine and her son Trémeur are deemed saints in Brittany, and there are many churches dedicated to them. The village of
Sainte-TréphineSainte-Tréphine is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Bretagne in north-western France. It is named for Saint Tryphine.-References:* -External links:*...
is named for the former. It has been suggested that the story of Bluebeard derives from this myth.
Myth of Tristan
An inscription in Cornwall which includes the names of Conomor and Tristan has led to the suggestion that Conomor is the origin of the figure of King Mark in the Tristan legend. It states "
Drustanus hic jacit cunomori filius" (here lies Tristan, son of Conomor). The historian
Léon FleuriotLéon Fleuriot was a French academic specializing in Celtic languages and in history, particularly that of Gallo-Roman Brittany and of the Early Middle Ages....
argues that Conomor probably held sway in both Cornwall and Brittany:
He is often presented as a vassal of Childebert: a praefectus, said the Chronicle of Saint Brieuc: "Comorus tyrannus, praefectus Francorum regis." Comonor appears to have been a Britto-Roman. The Life of St. Paul refers to "king Marc", or princeps Marc, or, in his full name, Marcus Quonomorius.
The writer
Jean MarkaleJean Markale was the pen name of Jean Bertrand, a French writer, poet, radio show host, lecturer, and Paris high school French teacher. He lived Brittany, France....
developed this argument, suggesting that the Tristan legend originated in Ireland, but that the names of the characters derive from actual people in Cornish history whose lives involved "the rivalry of a father and son for the same woman", the father being Conomor/Mark and the son Tristan. However, it has also been argued that this Cornish Conomor was probably the Breton leader's great grandfather.