In the Warhammer Fantasy setting, Bretonnia is a country located west of the France and Arthurian legends.

The Land of Bretonnia is, in many way, a fairly-tale kingdom such as Logres under King Arthur, with noble knights who live by a code of chivalry and beautiful damsels who have the unfortunate habit of getting locked in tall towers in the middle of forests. However there is a darker side: the poverty of the peasants is exaggerated well beyond the historical truth of the Middle Ages.

There have been two distinct stages in the development of the idea of Bretonnia. When originally introduced into the Warhammer Universe, it was very similar to the Empire - including many elements no longer part of the army such as cannons. Bretonnia was riven with corruption and was truly a dark kingdom, despite its claims to nobility.

While this concept of Bretonnia lives on in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying, it was completely abandoned by Games Workshop when they brought out the fourth edition of Warhammer. The noble elements behind the grime were kept, but Bretonnia was now resplendent in shining armour. The knights were good and generous, and the cannons were gone along with much of the Bretonnian history. A different and much nobler king was written in and the Bretonnian army became much more distinct from that of the Empire, taking on its Arthurian character with special rules to protect its knights from unchivalric weapons (such as guns) - and to explain how they could continue to survive next door to a power such as the Empire. This image of goodness and light aquired a slight tarnish with the advent of the sixth edition of Warhammer. The chivalric knights and the special rules survived, but the background grew darker with the state of the peasantry being brought more into focus.

The concept of Bretonnia since the fourth edition owes a lot to mediaeval chivalric romances. Most obviously, knights embarque on quests for the Holy Grail and the goddess of the country is the Lady of the Lake. Gilles le Breton, whoe unified the tribes of Bretonnia into a single nation, fought 12 battles against the Orcs - mirroring King Arthur's 12 battles against the Anglo_Saxons, and one of the legendary figures of Bretonnia is the Green Knight _ based in many ways on the character encountered by Sir Gawain. However, Arthurian legends are not the only influence. The geography of Bretonnia owes much to that of France, as does its political division into duchies, while the King's hippogriff is called 'Beaquis' _ which would be pronounced Beaky, the name of the Hippogriff in the Harry Potter stories.

Links

• Games Workshop (http://www.games-workshop.com)
• Earl Cadfael's Bretonnian Army (http://bretonnia.hinet.nu) - a major fan site, recognised on Games Workshop's pages
• Chateau Montreford (http://www.bretonnia.org) - another large fan site.