10 Facts About Conan Meriadoc

Conan Meriadoc is a legendary British Celtic leader credited with founding Brittany.

Conan Meriadoc's story is known in two major versions, which appear in the Welsh text known as The Dream of Macsen Wledig, and in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.

Conan Meriadoc appears in the prologue to the Latin Life of Saint Goeznovius, though the date of this text is disputed.

The story of Conan Meriadoc is attested in several medieval sources, the most substantial versions being those included in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and the Welsh tale known as The Dream of Macsen Wledig.

In Geoffrey, Conan Meriadoc is the nephew of Octavius, King of the Britons, and a potential heir to the throne.

Conan Meriadoc chooses Armorica, where he kills all the men and replaces them with his own soldiers.

The Conan Meriadoc story became a dominant founding myth for the Bretons for hundreds of years.

Conan Meriadoc is venerated as the ancestor of the Rohans, according to the Life of Saint Meriadoc, the protagonist of which is said to have been descended from him.

Conan Meriadoc appears in one of the genealogies from Jesus College MS 20, which traces the descent of Geraint mab Erbin, king of Dumnonia in the West Country, back to "Cynan map Eudaf Hen".

However, in the 17th century the Rohans used their supposed descent from Conan Meriadoc to seek status as "foreign princes" at the French court; King Louis XIV recognised their pedigree, but denied their foreign status.