Bretonnian Timeline

The following contains a chronological list of major events within the kingdom of Bretonnia, as well as the corresponding Imperial date (978 years before Gilles le Breton's coronation).

Prehistory

 * c. -1978 (-1000) -- The Bretonni, proud and warlike horsemen, arrive to the lands west of the Grey Mountains and north of Tilea. They begin a centuries-long war against the roaming Greenskins.


 * c. -1678 (-700) -- The Bretonni lands become dominated by twenty main tribes, who absorb or destroy the rest, and keep fighting among themselves for control over the territory - although they keep allying against the Orcs and Goblins. They build many great strongholds and castles.


 * -401 (577) -- An increase in the Greenskin raids see four of the major tribes destroyed - the other sixteen manage to claim their lands, establishing regions that would remain relatively stable to this day, although Glanborielle and Cuileux will later be destroyed and absorbed by others.

Dark Age of Bretonnia (900 to 977 IC)

 * -48 (930) -- A massive horde of Orcs, led by the warlord Gragabad, pours out of the Massif Orcal and overruns the lands of Cuileux. The horsemen of Cuileux ride out in a last, desperate battle, and though the Greenskins fall like wheat before the scythe, there are too many, and the knights perish to the last man. In the wake of this disaster, the armies of Quenelles and Brionne ride forth and rout the weakened Orcs. The two Bretonni armies then face each other but refrain from warring over the lands of Cuileux. Instead, the two Dukes choose to duel, the winner taking Cuileux as part of his dukedom. The lord of Brionne is cut down, and Quenelles is expanded.


 * -46 (932) -- Balduin, the young Duke of Brionne, leads his armies to victory, defeating the hordes of Gragabad and slaying the warlord in single combat. In the battle, Gragabad's great axe becomes lodged fast in Balduin's shield, and the lord fights the entire battle with the axe in place. Afterwards, the axe is adopted as the symbol of Brionne in memory of this event.


 * -44 (934) -- Gilles d'Bastonne slays the Red Dragon Smearghus in the Forest of Châlons. Though sorely wounded, he manages to drag the beast's severed head back to Castle Bastonne, where it still hangs above Gilles Gate, named in his honour. Gilles takes to wearing the dragon's skin as a cloak and adopts the beast as his personal heraldry.


 * -31 (947) -- The northern lands are overrun by Greenskin tribes, as well as Beastmen pouring forth from the Forest of Arden. Around this time, the Norse begin to raid the northern coastal regions and the northern Bretonni tribes are isolated from each other and their lands ravaged.


 * -28 (950) -- Bastonne strikes an alliance with Lyonesse through the wedding of Lord Thierulf and Rosalind, sister of Gilles d'Bastonne. The Lord of Lyonesse and the heir to Bastonne become close friends, and the ties between the two realms grow strong.


 * -4 (974) -- Orcs pour from the mountains and forests in numbers never seen before or since. The Bretonni are unable to come to each other's aid, and the Dukedom of Glanborielle is utterly destroyed, its lands later taken by Carcassonne.


 * -3 (975) -- The Duke of Bastonne is killed repelling the attack on his lands by Orcs, and is succeeded by Gilles d'Bastonne. Landuin d'Mousillon joins with Gilles and Thierulf d'Lyonesse to fight the Greenskins attacking Bastonne.


 * -2 (976) -- Gilles is blessed by the Lady of the Lake while resting in the Forest of Châlons, becoming one of the first Grail Knights alongside Landuin and Thierulf, who in turn become the first of the Grail Companions.


 * -1-0 (977-978 IC) -- The Twelve Great Battles.

Founding of a Kingdom (978 to 1448 IC)

 * 0 (978) -- The Ninth Great Battle of Gilles the Uniter (also the Victory of Landuin). Gilles and his Companions ride upon a host of the Undead that invaded Mousillon. Landuin rides alone into the horde and slays the Necromancer who called the horde forth, whereupon the other Companions charge into the horde and destroy it.


 * 1 (979) -- With Gilles' unification of Bretonnia complete, each of the Grail Companions is made a Duke, and swears allegiance to the newfound kingdom.


 * 17 (995) -- Death of Gilles Le Breton. His son, Louis, becomes the first Questing Knight, earning the moniker Louis the Rash as he travels in search of the Holy Grail.


 * 23 (1001) -- Louis returns to court, riding a purebred charger and shining with light. None can deny he has drunk from the Grail, and he is welcomed as King.


 * 25 (1003) -- Landuin and Thierulf fight a duel over a matter long since forgotten and the subject of much conjecture. Landuin wounds Thierulf and never again visits the courts of the Companions.


 * 67 (1045) -- Death of Landuin.


 * 164 (1142) -- King Guillaume defeats a large Orc army at the Battle of Armandur and drives out the last of the Greenskins from northern Bretonnia.

The Crusades (1448 to 1451 IC)

 * 470-473 (1448-1451) -- Crusades against Araby.


 * 476 (1454) -- The Red Duke, of Abhorash's line, terrorises Aquitaine. He is defeated at the Battle of Ceren Fields, pierced by King Louis the Righteous' own lance.


 * 507 (1485) -- The Battle of Bogwurst.

Of Pox and Rats (1786 to 1812 IC)

 * 835 (1813) -- A great outbreak of the Red Pox ravages Bretonnia. In its wake, Ratmen emerge from beneath the ground and lay siege to Brionne and Quenelles. Mousillon suffers greatly from the plague, but Duke Merovech d'Mousillon and his knights are spared. They ride out and assist in driving the Skaven back below ground.


 * 836 (1814) -- The Madness of Duke Merovech. At a victory feast, Duke Merovech loses his mind and challenges the king to a duel. Merovech slays the king and drinks his blood. In the wake of this atrocity, Mousillon is invaded, and the north of the duchy becomes a part of Lyonesse. It is even said that the invasion is triggered as much by Lyonesse's traditional rivalry with Mousillon as by Merovech's wickedness. Mousillon never truly recovers, and much of it falls into poverty in the following years.


 * 954 (1932) -- The Red Duke rises again and kills the Duke Gilon d'Aquitaine at the Second Battle of Ceren Fields. He is defeated once more and flees into the Forest of Châlons. None know if he dwells there still.


 * 1016 (1994) -- In this year it is first recorded that the burial place of Duke Merovech has been lost. Questing Knights ride out to rediscover it, but none are successful.


 * 1029 (2007) -- A Chaos horde led by Akrim besieges the city of Couronne and slays King Louis the Brave as he fights in its defence. All seems lost until a woman bedecked in armour leads the charge and slays the Chaos Lord herself. In gratitude, King Louis the Young bestows Repanse de Lyonesse the title of both knight and Duchess of Lyonesse.


 * 1113 (2091) -- The fabled Grand Sow of the Grismerie is born, the biggest pig ever to have graced Mousillon. Sow Night is still celebrated in many villages in commemoration of this event.

The Wars of Errantry (2201 to 2422 IC)

 * 1223 (2201 IC) -- King Louen Orc-Slayer amasses a grand army after declaring an Errantry War, with thousands of young knights joining the ranks of the more experienced retinues of the dukes. Together, this army smashes the growing Orc and Goblin tribes that have been amassing for many years on the borders of Bretonnia. The traditional frontiers of the dukedoms are expanded, and many Greenskin strongholds are conquered. New castles are built along these borders, and many of the young Knights Errant are granted these domains along with full knightly titles at the end of the war.


 * 1319 (2297) -- The Affair of the False Grail. Duke Maldred and his consort Malfleur imprison the Fay Enchantress, denounce the king, and claim to possess the true Grail. Mousillon is disgraced once more and the king, Gaston de Beau Geste, leads an army into Mousillon, besieging the city.


 * 1322 (2300) -- The Red Pox strikes again, ravaging both armies in the siege of the city and killing the greater number of Mousillon's peasantry. The siege ends when all the defenders die and the King walks unopposed into the city. Maldred and Malfleur are found dead in the Ducal Palace, slain by unknown means among the debris of their revelling. Mousillon is declared lost, and the king does not appoint a new duke.


 * 1406 (2384) -- The Siege of Couronne.


 * 1442 (2420) -- The longest Errantry War ever fought is launched by King Charlen against the Greenskins overrunning the Border Princes.


 * 1472 (2450) -- The Grail Chapel at Pied a'Cochon, the largest remaining in Mousillon, is besieged by a prodigious horde of the Undead. None of the Grail Damsels remain when the horde disperses, and they are feared eaten by the shambling corpses. The chapel is never rebuilt.


 * 1480 (2458) -- The Battle of the Tides. A large host of pirate ships is dragged by freak tides onto the coast of Mousillon, where it is trapped and sunk by the Bretonnian Navy. It is the largest sea battle ever seen off Mousillon.


 * 1501 (2479) -- Nicolete d'Oisement is found guilty of Witchcraft and murder following the disappearance of a daughter of the Duke of Lyonesse. Nicolete is sentenced to be walled up in her home in eastern Mousillon.


 * 1510 (2488) -- A mighty host of knights vanishes in the Death Pass, said to have been slain by the Black Orc warlord Morglum Necksnapper. The King then declares the Errantry Wars at an end.


 * 1513 (2491) -- The Abbey of La Maisontaal is sacked by the Necromancer Heinrich Kemmler and his army. The attackers are only repelled by the efforts of Tancred, Duke of Quenelles, and his knights. However, the walking dead remain a constant threat.


 * 1522 (2500) -- Louen Leoncoeur is crowned King of Bretonnia. He is immediately concerned with the "Mousillon problem," strengthening the Cordon Sanitaire and assisting the dukes of Lyonesse and Bordeleaux in patrolling their borders.


 * 1539 (2517) -- The first sightings of the Black Knight, Mallobaude, said to have attended the court of the noble Aucassin.


 * 1541 (2519) -- Dead frogs rain from the sky across the eastern Grismerie valley. This is seen as a dire portent, and there is much agitation among the peasants.


 * 1542 (2520) -- The Year of Woe.


 * 1543 (2521) -- A group of knights arrives unbidden at a battle against Norscan raiders near L'Anguille. Their standard bears the heraldry of a gold snake on a black field. The group leaves midway through the battle without explanation, and many brave knights die at the hands of Norscan berserkers as a result.


 * 1544 (2522) -- King Louen Leoncoeur readies his armies, and many are certain that an Errantry War is to be declared against Mousillon and the Black Knight.

Source

 * : Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd ED -- Barony of the Damned
 * : pg. 10
 * : Warhammer Armies: Bretonnia (6th Edition)
 * : pg. ?
 * : pg. 38
 * : pg. 34 - 39
 * : Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd ED -- Night's Dark Masters
 * : pg. 33
 * : Warhammer Fantasy Armies: Core (7th Edition)
 * : pg. 207
 * : Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd ED -- Knights of the Grail
 * : pg. 14 - 20
 * : pg. 14
 * : pg. 15
 * : pg. 19
 * : pg. 20
 * : Warhammer Armies: Bretonnia (5th Edition)
 * : pg. 10 - 16
 * : Warhammer Armies: Orcs & Goblins (4th Edition)

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