* When reading the following article be assured that I do not proclaim myself to be an expert in anything. Rather, I wish only to answer a few questions that have bugged me for a few years - questions that I could not find any definitive answer for. I decided that if I could not find the answers from someone else, then I would try to find them myself. If I have had to speculate on anything, I have done so hesitantly, but as academically informed as possible, and I have noted any and all speculations. Please read it over and comment on whatever you like, and know that I have done this only for the sake of breathing even more life into the beautiful land of Bretonnia.

The Size of Bretonnia

Background

            The impetus for this research project came first out of my love for all things Bretonnian, and also for my interest in historical research. I believed that I could combine my passions and produce a work that would be a benefit to fellow Bretonnian players and to the greater Warhammer world as a whole.

     The questions I have addressed came to me one evening after having read a few different posts and threads across various Forums at the Round Table of Bretonnia website. It occurred to me that we as players and generals of Bretonnia have no concrete concept of the true size and scope of what we are defending and fighting for. Thus, I proposed to attempt to determine primarily the area of Bretonnia, the population of Bretonnia, and if possible, to establish a credible estimate of the size and population of each of the fourteen Bretonnian Dukedoms in an academically defensible manner that would lend a more solid sense of credibility and utility to my findings. The key, then, would be to first design such a method or methods.

     After many hours researching texts, internet sites, forum posts, and discussions via emails through Members, Administrators and Moderators of the Round Table of Bretonnia, I began to discern a few methods that would help me arrive at a viable conclusion. One of the central, and likely most essential, reference tools was an article by S. John Ross entitled "Medieval Demographics Made Easy". Ostensibly, this (officially) unpublished work discussed what most Fantasy Role Playing game (FRP) designers would find essential for producing a top-rated gaming experience at all levels. Fantasy worlds, in any shape or size or flavour, require one single, vital element to attain any believable sense of realism: a backdrop of ordinary people. Most realms of fantasy cannot exist without a supply of farmers, merchants, peasants, brigands, villages and cities, commoners and knights. The only problem is that the amount of research required to research the average populations of Medieval European nation states in relation to their geographic dispositions, including total area, topographical characteristics, in addition to a total population and a population density for a given period in time would preclude most FRP game designers from any real, concerted attempt.

     As a result, any attempt to make an "educated" guess at establishing a realistic size of Bretonnia in terms of square miles and total population would prove to be at the very least a daunting, if not a prohibitive, task. I felt that if I could accomplish this, and it proved to be at least partially useful, that I would have made a fairly significant contribution back to this game I love so much, and from which I have derived so much pleasure and satisfaction. The questions I felt that I needed to answer in service of all enthusiasts of Bretonnia and of Warhammer in general, included the following: What is the size of Bretonnia? How many people live there? What are the sizes of the Dukedoms? What are their populations? What kind of fighting force could Bretonnia muster?

     Because of the extensive Bretonnian "fluff" already existent it is easiest, and perhaps most pertinent, to use Medieval France as a model for Bretonnia which, I suspect, is basically what Games Workshop has, at least partially, done. Why France? Medieval France, that is, Middle and Late Medieval France, is a well-fitting comparison for Bretonnia primarily because the weapons, armour and equipment are very similar, the common language is French, the climate appears to be almost identical, and the shape of the map of Bretonnia rather closely resembles that of France between 1200 - 1400 (Common Era / C.E. or Anno Domini / A.D. - whichever you prefer), and especially during the Hundred Year's War. With so many similarities between the two, I was confident that any dissimilarities that might emerge would not be enough to dislocate all of the other commonalities from referential consideration. Most modern historians of this time period tend to draw a line that divides the Middle Middle Ages from the Late Middle Ages at about the year 1350. Thus, lacking any official Games Workshop position on the corresponding historical time period for the Bretonnians, I have decided to peg the time period of Bretonnian arms and armour at 1350.

     This is convenient not only for the comparisons noted above, but it gave me an historical reference point for time and place, which was the most essential concern for determining a starting point. This was convenient also because there are a fair number of written, contemporary accounts for a decade or two before and after 1350, including recorded information on demographics, military strengths and tactics, army composition, and topographical resources. This led me to ask the following: Is Bretonnia roughly the same size as France in this period? Are the populations similar? So, how much land did Medieval France occupy? The number of people living in any Medieval region depended directly on the availability of food, which required arable land in which to grow. The answer depends on which year or years one is considering, and for me it was roughly the year 1350.

     In 1350 the territories collectively known as "France" consisted roughly of 180,000 square miles (sq.mi.), and records of that time show a population of about 20 million people. Historical sources also show France's population density to be on average at 100 people per sq.mi., more or less in some areas, depending on factors such as climate, topography, frequency of famine and war, etc. For comparison, the average population density for European countries was closer to 30 people per sq.mi. (for countries with lots or rocks , rain and ice) to a maximum of upwards of 120 per sq.mi. for a region with rich soil and favourable seasons and relatively political stability. Medieval France was blessed with arable land, which accounts for its population density of 100 per sq.mi., whereas Germany (comparable to the Empire?),  with a somewhat less perfect climate and a lower percentage of arable land, experienced  a population density of about 90 people per sq.mi. Records for Italy show a similar concentration, whereas the British Isles averaged on the low end, at about 40 people per sq.mi., with the bulk living in the southern regions of the Isles.

     Looking at the map of Bretonnia in Games Workshop's 6^th Edition Bretonnian Army Book and comparing it to the WFRP map of Bretonnia it was easy to see that, at first glance, Bretonnia's borders did indeed reflect that of Medieval France. However, on closer inspection, one notices that the WFRP's scale was set at double the average historical map's scale. In other words, on a regular sized page (28cm x 21.5cm / 8 1/2" x 11"), the map of Bretonnia appears to be the same size as a map of France, but the WFRP map scale is double that of the historical map of France's scale. This, then, would suggest that Bretonnia is twice the size of Medieval France, which would be about 360,000 sq.mi. (180,000sq.mi. x 2). This coincided with what many of the Bretonnian players I have met have said, and with what many on the Round Table of Bretonnia have hypothesized. If this is the case, one could then take Medieval France's population density of 100 per sq.mi. and multiply that by 360,000 sq.mi. and thus arrive at a population of 36, 000,000 souls living in Bretonnia. Or, one could simply double France's population in 1350 and arrive at about 40 million people living in Bretonnia. These methods seemed simple enough, but they lacked any real defensible underpinning. As a result, I could not resist the urge to pursue this "guess-timate" of mine through a more academic method in the hopes of either proving or disproving these numbers.

     This led me to an intriguing, complex and tedious undertaking - a method that seemed most logical to begin with ("WFRP Map & Scale"): I decided to divide the WFRP map of Bretonnia into square or rectangular-shaped units and then, using the map's scale, determine the area (in sq.mi., as this is what all of the map were using) of each of these shapes and adding them up to come with a sum total of the area of Bretonnia, which was 449,125.5 sq.mi. This would suggest that Bretonnia's population (again, using France's 100 people per sq.mi.) would be at close to 45 million. This did not sit well with me though, for some reason, likely because it was quite far off from the hypothesis that Bretonnia was twice the size of France in 1350 (it was basically 97,000 sq.mi. or 25% larger than I had expected). I decided to try another method which was more academic, yet unfortuneatly, mouch more tedious and time-consuming.

     The next method I used ("WFRP Map & Grid Units at 37") began by first tracing the WFRP map onto grid paper. I then measured the grid paper's square units and compared them to the WFRP map's scale in order to determine the length and width of each square, which would then give me the area of each grid square (grid unit).  I found that each grid unit was roughly equivalent to an area measuring 37 miles by 37 miles, or 1369 sq.mi. Next, I counted up the number of squares within the boundaries of Bretonnia and found that the area of Bretonnia was 355,255.5 sq.mi. This result was indeed much closer to what I had expected it to be, it was within an acceptable range, and I thought that I was really on to something. However, when I was double-checking my measurements to validate the accuracy of what I had found, I decided to re-measure and recalculate the size of the grid units and discovered that my initial measurements were off somewhat and that the grid units more accurately  reflected an area of land measuring 37.5 miles by 37.5 miles, or 1406.25 sq.mi. This method ("WFRP Map & Grid Units at 37.5") gave me a new result of a total area of Bretonnia being closer to 364, 921 sq.mi. This was a more favourable result in my opinion as it was at, and slightly above, my initial estimate of 360, 000 sq.mi. But, before I came to any conclusions I felt that I should try one more, final method.

     This final method involved using the WFRP map and scale to calculate the area of each of the fourteen Bretonnian Dukedoms as separate, independent entities, and then adding them all up to come to a total area for Bretonnia as a whole. The result of this method ("WFRP Map & Scale Per Dukedom") yielded a total area of 373, 212.5 sq.mi. for Bretonnia. Again, I felt this total was likely within a logical range and I accepted it as a viable result.            The next task was to analyze each of the results and arrive at a conclusion.