English wine cask units the mediæval French and Italian "botte") or pipe was half a tun, or 1008 pints. Tradition has it that George, Duke of Clarence, the brother of Edward IV of England, was drowned in a butt of malmsey on 18 February 1478. (However, Josephine Tey in "The Daughter of Time" suggests that "drowned in a butt of malmsey" means rather that George, Duke of Clarence, drank himself to death rather than literally drowning in a container of wine.) In Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado", the narrator claims he has received "a pipe of what passes for Amontillado".
Alan III, Duke of Brittany Alan III, Duke of Brittany Alan III of Rennes (997–1 October 1040) (French: Alain III de Bretagne) was Count of Rennes and duke of Brittany, by right of succession from 1008 to his death. He was the son of Duke Geoffrey I and Hawise of Normandy. Alan succeeded his father as Duke of Brittany in 1008. Because he was still a minor at his father's death, his mother acted as regent of Brittany while her brother Richard II, Duke of Normandy assumed guardianship over Brittany. In 1018 Alan married Bertha of Blois, daughter of Odo II, Count of Blois and