THE LIONESS OF BRITANNY

Jeanne de Belleville, aka Jeanne de Clisson, aka The Lioness of Britanny, was the daughter of French nobles, born in 1300 in the city of Belleville-Sur-Vie in France. Due to her noble birth she won the title of Dame de Montaigu.

The French girl married at the age of twelve in 1312 with Geoffrey Chateaubriant, a nineteen-year-old nobleman with whom she had her first two children, Geoffrey and Louise. However the young man passed away unexpectedly, so to protect his young children, Jeanne agreed to marry for the second time with another noble Guy Penthièvre. However, the nobleman's family disputed the validity of the marriage after Penthièvre's sudden death.

Thus, thanks to the influence of family members, the marriage was annulled by Pope John XXII less than a year after the ceremony. However, it was at Jeanne de Belleville Chateaubriant's third wedding that things changed significantly in her life.

In 1330, Jeanne, then a rich widow of Geoffrey Chateaubriant, met Olivier de Clisson IV, a noble Briton and supporter of the French crown. Together they were one of the largest landowners in France and, therefore, with great influence in the country. After getting married they had five children in the range from 1325 to 1340.

However, not all members of Clisson's family supported the French crown. Olivier's brother, Amaury de Clisson, gave his overt support to the English. Due to these family differences and some intrigues, Olivier de Clisson was arrested during a tournament in which he participated in the city of Vannes in January 1343. Declared a traitor to the French crown in favor of the English, Jeanne's husband was tried and sentenced to death by beheading seven months later.

Jeanne, after going personally to see her husband's body exposed to the public as an example of what happened to traitors, sold all of Clisson's properties.

With the money, she hired men loyal to her and began to fight the French in Brittany. Thus was born the Pirate Jeanne, the Lioness of Brittany.

The young pirate vowed revenge on King Philip VI, regent at the time, for his injustice to her husband, calling the king of France a cowardly murderer, mainly because there was no public evidence of Olivier's guilt as a traitor.

Few intentionally released prisoners spoke with horror about her fleet painted all in black with red sails, and of Jeanne de Clisson's rage against their crews and especially captured French nobles which received no mercy. According to some reports, Jeanne personally decapitated all high valued prisoners with an axe, before tossing their bodies into the sea. Her quest for revenge continued with same intensity even after King Philip VI died in 1350.

Finally in 1356, after 13 years of piracy, Jeanne de Clisson retired and went to live in England, where she married one more time time.