Alan II, Duke of Brittany

Alan II (died 952), nicknamed Wrybeard or Twistedbeard, Alan Varvek in Breton, was Count of Vannes, Poher, and Nantes, and Duke of Brittany from 938 to his death. He was the grandson of King Alan the Great by Alan's daughter and her husband Mathuedoï I, Count of Poher. He expelled the Vikings from Brittany after an occupation that lasted from 907 to about 939.

He had to take refuge, along with his father Mathuedoi I, with the English king, Edward the Elder, because the Norsemen had invaded Armorica. The Chronicle of Nantes reports:

Alan became ruler of Brittany at the end of a 33-year interregnum after the death of his maternal grandfather, Duke Alan the Great. He landed at Dol in 936, at the invitation of the monk Jean de Landévennec and with the aid of Edward's successor, Athelstan the Glorious. By 937 he was master of most of Brittany, having forced the Vikings back to the Loire.

In 938, he was elected Brittonum dux. On 1 August 939, with the aid of Judicael (Berengar), count of Rennes, and Hugh I, count of Maine, his victory was made complete by defeating the Norse at Trans. Alan declared that date a national holiday.

Alan II was closely allied with King Louis IV of France, for both had been exiles in England at the same time at the court of Edward the Elder and Edward's son and successor Æthelstan. Alan renounced the Cotentin, Avranchin, and Mayenne and paid homage to Louis IV in 942. He was also allied to Theobald the Old, the count of Chartres.

Alan II was the grandson of Alan I, King of Brittany and the great-grandson of Ridoreth, Count of Vannes. He was the grand-nephew of Pascweten.

His wife was Adelaide of Blois, the sister of Theobald I, Count of Blois. Their son, and Alan's immediate successor, was Drogo, Duke of Brittany.

He also had at least two illegitimate sons, Hoel and Guerech, who would each succeed Drogo during the fractured rule of Brittany after Drogo's death.

He died and was buried in his capital, Nantes, in the church which he constructed to honor the Virgin Mary for his victory in liberating Nantes, initially known as la Chapelle de la Tres Sainte Mere de Dieunow known as the Basilique Notre Dame in the parish of St Therese in Nantes. He was succeeded by his son Drogo.

• Flodoard, Annales, ed. Philippe Lauer, Les Annales de Flodoard. Collection des textes pour servir à l'étude et à l'enseignement de l'histoire 39. Paris: Picard, 1905. Available from Internet Archive and Google Books
• Chronicle of Nantes, ed. Peter Merlet, La chronique de Nantes. Paris, 1896.