The emergence of the Breton princedom predated that of the Duchy of Burgundy. As successor to his murdered cousin Erispoë in 857, Salomon had at first claimed the title 'prince by the grace of God of all Brittany and of a large part of Gaul.' As a result of clan feuding, Salomon was assassinated in 874. His relatives Pascwethen and Gurwant arranged an uneasy partition of the peninsula into northern and southern halves. Both men were replaced by another pair of rulers, Alan, count of Vannes, Pascwethen's brother, and Judicaël, Gurwant's son. Judicaël subsequently fell in combat against the Northmen, whereupon Alan became Alan the Great, sole ruler of Brittany from 888-907.
With the help of Berengar of Rennes, he managed to organize solid resistance to the Northmen and inflicted several important defeats on them. As the head of Brittany, Alan also titled himself 'by the grace of God king of the Bretons.' The Breton princedom thus echoed the Carolingian royal formula, and it likewise borrowed other characteristics of the Frankish dynasty. In his residences at Rieux and Seni, near the abbey of Redon, Alan surrounded himself with episcopal advisers, including Fulcher of Nantes, as well as the lay 'machtierns' or clan chieftains.
Moreover, Brittany had not as yet become culturally and economically isolated, but participated actively in exchange with other regions of the west, as has been amply illustrated by the Rennes hoard uncovered in 1964 and datable to the years 884-924. The 332 denarius coins in questions were struck in a variety of centers, some as far off as Metz, Brioude, and Pavia. This interval of independence and prosperity came to an end by 919, when resurgent Viking raiders chose Nantes as their base on the Loire. A large number of lay and ecclesiastical leaders were forced to flee to Francia and even to England.121