BRETON - 9 reference results
Cape Breton Island, island (1991 pop. 161,686), 3,970 sq mi (10,282 sq km), forming the northeastern part of N.S., Canada, and separated from the mainland by the narrow Gut, or Strait, of Canso. The easternmost point is called Cape Breton. The center of the island is occupied by the Bras d'Or salt lakes. Gently sloping in the south, the island rises to rugged hills in the wilder northern part. The inhabitants are mainly of Scottish Highlander descent. There are many summer resorts on the lakes and fishing villages on the coast. In the northeast are steelworks, once fueled by the extensive Sydney coal fields, which were worked from the 1720s to 2001. The Cabot Trail, a scenic road through Cape Breton Highlands National Park, commemorates the discovery of Cape Breton Island in 1497 by John Cabot. The island was a French possession from 1632 to 1763. After the Peace of Utrecht (1713) many Acadians migrated there from mainland Nova Scotia, which was ceded to the English. They renamed the island Île Royale and established the fortress at Louisburg. With the final cession of Canada to the British (1763), Cape Breton was attached to Nova Scotia. It was made a separate colony in 1784, with Sydney as its capital, but was rejoined to Nova Scotia in 1820.
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Cape Breton Highlands National Park, 367 sq mi (951 sq km), N Cape Breton Island, N. S., Canada; est. 1936. It covers a large tableland and includes sections of the rugged Atlantic coastline.
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Breton, Nicholas, 1551?-c.1623, English author, a prolific and versatile writer of verse and prose. His best work, written in a lyrical and pastoral vein, appeared in The Arbor of Amorous Devices (1597), England's Helicon (1600), and The Passionate Shepherd (1604).
See his poems (ed. with biography by J. Robertson, 1952); A Mad World My Masters and Other Prose Works (ed. by U. Kentish-Wright, 1929).
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Breton, Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis, 1827-1906, French painter of rustic scenes and peasant life. His works frequently reflect a social and humanitarian concern. Breton was the author of two autobiographies.
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Breton, André, 1896-1966, French writer, founder and theorist of the surrealist movement. He studied neuropsychology and was one of the first in France to publicize the work of Freud. At first a Dadaist, he collaborated with Philippe Soupault in automatic writing in Les Champs magnétiques (1921). He then turned to surrealism, writing three manifestos (1924, 1930, 1934) and opening a studio for "surrealist research." Breton helped to found several reviews: Littérature (1919), Minotaure (1933), and VVV (1944). His other works include Nadja (1928, tr. 1960), a semiautobiographical novel; What is Surrealism? (1934, tr. 1936); Ode à Charles Fourier (1946); and L' Art Magique (1957).
See biography by M. Polizzotti (1995); study by A. E. Balakian (1971); A. E. Balakian and R. E. Kuenzli, ed., André Breton Today (1989).
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Breton literature, in the Celtic language of Brittany. Although there are numerous allusions in other literatures of the 12th to 14th cent. to the "matter of Brittany," which includes the stories of Tristan and King Arthur, no Breton texts remain from this period. The earliest ones date from the 15th cent. Until the 19th cent., texts included songs, stories, and plays, all popular and mostly of unknown authorship. The plays were imitations of late medieval French miracles. As elsewhere in Europe, serious collecting of Breton folk literature began in the 19th cent. Jean François Le Gonidec (1775-1838) pioneered with a dictionary of the language in 1821. Théodore Hersart de La Villemarqué assembled an anthology of folk poems but was attacked for his dubious scholarship. A more sophisticated collector was François Marie Luzel (1821-95). The mid-19th cent. saw the birth of a cultivated literature, mainly in stories and verse. Auguste Brizeux (1803-58) was the best known of the poets who wrote in their native Breton. Others were J. Guillome and Prosper Proux (1811-73). In the late 19th cent. an intensification of the campaign to revive local literary traditions resulted in the establishment of several folk theaters and in the expansion and modification of the vocabulary by writers. Among the leading writers of the late 19th and the 20th cent. are the poets Emil Ernault (b. 1852), Jean Pierre Calloc'h, and Robert Le Masson; the storytellers Louis and Louise Herrieu, Louis Héno, and Jakez Riou; and the playwright Tanguy Malemanche. During the 19th and 20th cent. a large number of Breton folk tales and songs have been collected. The diversity and richness of this collection make it unique in world literature.
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Breton Succession, War of the, 1341-65, an important episode of the Hundred Years War. Duke John III of Brittany died in 1341 without heirs. The succession was contested by his half brother, John de Montfort, who was backed by Edward III of England, and by Charles of Blois, who had married Jeanne de Penthièvre, a niece of the late duke. Charles and Jeanne were supported by Philip VI, John II, and Charles V of France. The resulting war continued through several truces. In the battle of Auray (1364), Charles of Blois was defeated and killed, despite the support of his faithful follower, Bertrand Du Guesclin. The issue was settled by the Treaty of Guérande in 1365, when the Montfort heir was recognized by France as ruler of Brittany. An attempt (1378-79) by Charles V to confiscate Brittany for the French crown met the resistance of the Bretons and of Jeanne de Penthièvre. Du Guesclin, who commanded the royal army, made no serious effort to subdue the Bretons, and the attempt failed.
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Island, (pop., 2001: 109,330), eastern part of Nova Scotia, Canada. Separated from the mainland by the Strait of Canso, it is 110 mi (175 km) long and up to 75 mi (120 km) wide, with an area of 3,981 sq mi (10,311 sq km). It contains the Bras d'Or salt lakes. Originally called Île Royale as a French colony, it later took the name of its eastern cape, probably the first land visited by John Cabot on his 1497–98 voyage and probably named by Basque fishermen from Cap Breton, France. It was ceded to the British by the 1763 Treaty of Paris and joined to Nova Scotia. In 1784 it became a separate British crown colony, but it was rejoined to Nova Scotia in 1820. In 1955 the island was linked to the mainland by a causeway. Cape Breton Highlands National Park was established in 1936. Tourism is an important industry on the island.
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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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