Jeanne (Belleville) de Clisson (bef. 1300 - abt. 1359)

Born before 1300 in Poitou, France

Ancestors

Wife of Geoffroy (Châteaubriant) de Châteaubriant — married 1312 in France

Wife of Olivier (Clisson) de Clisson — married 1330 in France

Descendants

Died about 1359 after about age 59 in Hennebont, Brittany, France

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Biography

Jeanne (Belleville) de Clisson is Notable.

Jeanne de Clisson, also known as Jeanne de Belleville and the Lioness of Brittany, was a French/Breton former noblewoman who became a privateer to avenge her husband after he was executed for treason by the French king. She crossed the English Channel targeting French ships and often slaughtering their crew. It was her practice to leave at least one sailor alive to carry her message to the King of France. ^[1]

Jeanne was born from her father's second marriage. Upon the death of her half brother, Maurice, in 1337, she inherited the seigneury of Montagu and that of Belleville as he had no heirs.

She married four times, her third husband being Olivier de Clisson, who was executed on 2 Aug 1343 by beheading at Les Halles.

Circa 1357, Jeanne and her husband Walter Bentley settled at the Castle of Hennebont, a port town on the Brittany coast, which had been in the territory of her de Montfort allies. Walter died in December 1359 and Jeanne a few weeks later.

Genealogical information per Anselme

Jeanne de Belleville, dame de Montaigu, de Palluau, de la Garnache, de Châteaumur, de Beauvoir-sur-Mer, was the daughter of Maurice de Belleville and Létice de Parthenay.^[2]

Marriages and Children

She married Geoffroy de Châteaubriant, widower of Alix de Thouars in 1312.^[2] She was about 14 at the time of the marriage.^[3] They had two children:

1. Geoffroy, baron de Châteaubriant, married Isabeau d'Avaugour, and died without issue.
2. Louise, dame de Châteaubriant after her brother's death. She married Guy, baron de Laval et de Vitré, and died without issue.

Geoffroy de Châteaubriant died in 1326. Jeanne married secondly, in 1328 to Guy de Penthievre, son of the Duke of Brittany. This union was short-lived; the marriage was annulled by Pope John XXII.^[4]

In 1330, Jeanne married Olivier de Clisson, a wealthy Breton. His wife Blanche had died the prior year. Jeane and Olivier had five children:

1. Isabeau de Clisson, born out of wedlock^[3], married Jean I de Rieux and died on 5 April 1343.
2. Maurice (1333-1334)
3. Olivier IV (1336-1407), his father's successor, sire de Clisson, connétable de France; nicknamed 'The Butcher'
4. Guillaume (1338-1345) died of exposure
5. Jeanne (1340 - ?), married Jean Harpedane, seigneur de Montendre.^[5]

Olivier de Clisson was found guilty of conspiring with England and planning to hand over the city of Nantes to them, sentenced to death and beheaded on 2 August 1343 in Paris. His posssessions were confiscated. According to Anselme, who does not tell more of Jeanne's story, she was found to be an accomplice of her husband and banished on 1 December 1343. Her assets were confiscated but later restored to her son, Oliver IV.^[2]

In the 1350s, Jeanne married for a fourth time to Walter Bentley.

Timeline

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_de_Clisson

1300: Jeanne Louise de Belleville, de Clisson, Dame de Montaigu, born in 1300 in Belleville-sur-Vie in the Vendee, a daughter of nobleman Maurice IV of Belleville-Montaigu and Létice de Parthenay of Parthenay in the Gâtine Vendéenne.

1312: Jeanne married her first husband, 19-year-old Geoffrey de Châteaubriant, by whom she had two children: Geoffrey and Louise.

1328: Jeanne married Guy de Penthievre.

1330: Jeanne married Olivier de Clisson IV, a wealthy Breton, holding a castle at Clisson, a manor house in Nantes and lands at Blain.

1343: Jeanned was charged with the crime of Lèse-majesté, subsequently sentenced to banishment and confiscation of her property.

Jeanne sold the de Clisson estates and began her own private war against Philip VI and Charles de Blois of France after they executed her husband (de Clisson) for treason and displayed his head at Nantes.

After gathering support from other nobles in Brittany, out of favor or in ire with King Philip, She bought a fleet of ships, painted them black with red sails and attacked French ships in acts of piracy. ^[6] It is said that she personally beheaded French nobleman with an axe when they were aboard the ships that her fleet captured.^[7]

The success of her revenge campaign was brought to the attention of King Edward III, of England, who later supported her with ships and weapons in her plots against France.^[6] Some (not primary) sources suggest that his support and supply came after her ship sank and she and her remaining son escaped in a dinghy. In essence, re-equipping her for continued attacks against the French.

1343: Records from the English court indicating King Edward granted Jeanne an income from lands controlled in Brittany by the English.

1346: During the Battle of Crecy, south of Calais, in Northern France, Jeanne used her ships to supply the English forces.

1347: Jeanne is mentioned in the truce between France and England in 1347 as a English ally. (Treaty of Calais, 28 September 1347)

1356: Jeanne married for a fourth time to Sir Walter Bentley, one of King Edward III’s military deputies during the campaign.

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_de_Clisson
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Anselme de Sainte-Marie, Histoire genéalogique et chronologique de la Maison royale de France. Tome IX, 2ème partie, par M. Potier de Courcy, Firmin-Didot, 1879. Page 903 https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Histoire_de_la_Maison_royale_de_France/kW0-AQAAIAAJ?hl=fr&gbpv=1&pg=PA903&printsec=frontcover
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Contributeurs de Wikipédia, "Jeanne de Belleville," Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre, https://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jeanne_de_Belleville&oldid=183408660 (Page consultée le 8 août 2021).
4. ↑ On February 10, 1330, in Avignon, at the request of Guy de Bretagne, Pope Jean XXII appointed the bishops of Rennes and Vannes to investigate the alleged marriage which was allegedly contracted in 1328 by Jeanne de Belleville, widow of the Lord of Chateaubriant, and Guy de Bretagne, seigneur de Penthievre (Mollat, G ,. op cit, pj, no II pg 49-50. See also Jean XXII (1316-1334) Lettres secretes et curiales relating to France, by Coulon, A. and Clemencet, S.) If Jeanne could not deny Guy's words. Guy could remarry (Mollat, G. op. Cit., Pg. 47) A little later, on April 30, 1330, Jeanne de Belleville, widow of Geoffroy de Chateaubriant, asked the Holy See for a dispensation to marry Olivier de Clisson (Mollat, G. op cit, pg 47 after Vatican Register, no 95, Lettres commune 81. See John XXII (1316-1334). Joint letters analyzed according to the so-called Avignon or Vatican registers, by Mollat, G. 1921-1947)
5. ↑ Anselme de Sainte-Marie, Histoire genéalogique et chronologique de la Maison royale de France, Tome VI, Les Libraires Associés (Paris), 1726-1733. Page 203 https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k76080b/f212.item#
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} This source is not reliable for pre-1500 profiles Stuff You Missed in History Podcast: Part 3: Jeanne de Clisson (time 13:40-16:09)
7. ↑ This source is not considered reliable for pre-1500 profiles Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Earth Edition): Jeanne de Clisson - the 'Lioness of Brittany'

See also:

• Female Pirates: Jeanne de Clisson
• Stuff You Missed in History Class Podcast: Wilson, Tracy V. and Holly Frey. "Six More Impossible Episodes." Stuff You Missed in History Class (Podcast). 16 Sept 2015. Missed in History.com, How Stuff Works, 2015. Accessed 20 Sept 2015.
• http://www.jamesadamshistoricenterprises.com/treasuretrove/jeandeclisson.html
• Thomas K. Heebøll-Holm, Ports, Piracy and Maritime War: Piracy in the English Channel and the Atlantic, c. 1280-c. 1330, Medieval Law and its Practice volume 15, Brill Publishers, 2013
• Duncombe, Laura (1 April 2017). Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781613736043 – via Google Books.