In the ninth century, the Carolingian conquest of Brittany, together with a Europe-wide revival of learning, created a new interest in explaining Brittany’s past. Rival stories of Brittany’s British origins were set down by Frankish, Welsh and Breton scholars. The Bretons’ view of their own past was expressed wholly through the medium of hagiography, a considerable amount of which was produced during the later ninth and early tenth centuries: this allows us to gauge the nature of its authors’ links with the Insular world. The British origins of the founding figures of the Breton Church were proudly proclaimed despite a readiness to accept Carolingian authority; there seems to have been little real knowledge of the saints’ alleged sixth-century origins, but considerable opportunity to gather information contemporaneously from Wales and perhaps also from Cornwall and Ireland. The role of Llancarfan (in south Wales) in relaying information between Ireland and the hagiographers of Saint-Malo in Brittany is highlighted.

The mythology of the Market is strongly evident, indicated by the corporate camouflage of existential desire by the wide range of constructed desires. This mythology has materialised in the personalisation of the idea of the corporation. Its functioning is revealed by the commodification of individuals within models of regulatory capitalism and by the structural embedding of debt as credit. These trends have been promoted by the digitisation of corporate function, by algorithmic profiling of individuals as consumers and by the exploitation of Big Data. This has morphed into surveillance capitalism. The non-mythological way forward would start with focusing on all shareholders, including all citizens on whom the corporation impacts. This is the reimagining of corporations on purpose-based, fiduciary principles. This in turn would require the redrafting of competition and consumer protection law, as well as shifting the control of personal data to the individual. It would also require changes to employee relations strategies.