In total, de Clisson’s time as a vengeful lady-pirate would last 13 long, bloody years. That same year, she married Olivier de Clisson IV of Brittany (now part of France). She picked out the leader, her men pushed him down to the deck, and she lopped off the man’s head like she was prepping a fucking pineapple for a badass pirate pina colada. It sounds like a standard hostage situation, but boy oh boy did it go wrong fast. She remarried Guy de Penthièvre less than two years after her first husband kicked the bucket. Here’s the sad truth: most people got married for money, land, and heirs, but Jeanne and Olivier had something special. Gemeinsam hatten sie in den nächsten 9 Jahren fünf Kinder. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery. Some historians think that Guy de Penthièvre wasn’t just a helpless suitor getting pushed around by a rich girl’s family. Jeanne de Clisson, also known as the Lioness of Brittany, ... She sold her husband’s remaining land so that she could buy three warships, which she had painted black with red sails. She was ticked at any French noble who was still loyal to the King. ( amandakespohl) Who was Jeanne de Clisson? Jeanne de Clisson’s husband was killed following a sham trial in 1343; however, this betrayal by the French nobility led Jeanne to take extraordinary action. Little Geoffrey wasn’t the only de Clisson to join the fight. Do not forget this. But before the new couple could walk down the aisle, de Penthièvre mysteriously passed away. When Lady Clisson received word of her husband’s death, the 43 year-old widow didn’t break down. Married to John de Montfort – de Clisson’s ex … Instead, Jeanne came up with a brilliant plan to trick Touffou into inviting her in. She grabbed her axe, a suit of armor, ordered her chamberlain to sell every valuable thing she had, packed her seven kids up in a ship, and sailed it right to the fucking gates of Nantes. The French king’s forces immediately ambushed and arrested their own ex-soldier and quickly put Olivier on trial for treason. If de Clisson didn’t go into full-time vengeance-hunting, she could have made a pretty penny in the world of personal branding. And so, at the Battle of La Roche-Derrien, de Clisson’s eldest son, Baron Geoffrey de Châteaubriant IX bravely joined the fray and fought for his family’s cause. After his demise, Jeanne’s preferred side, the Montforts, ended up succeeding in its quest to rule the Duchy of Brittany. After her second marriage got cancelled, she found herself a new man that very same year. They released him soon thereafter in a prisoner exchange – the only Frenchman to be released. There she married for the third time to lieutenant to the English King Edward III, Sir Walter Bentley. What a woman. She used what was left of her husband’s fortune to buy a small fleet of ships that eventually came to be known as the vicious Black Fleet. Jeanne de Clisson was born into an affluent French family in 1300 and spent most of her life as a noblewoman. It was great news all around. Her husband died … Back in the 14th century, the average person had a very short lifespan, which meant that people started adulting at an appallingly young age. She proceeded to harry French ships--militaristic and merchant--on behalf of the English crown for 13 years before settling down into another happy … She remarried in 1328, but that marriage was annulled two years later, so she remarried once more, this time to a wealthy Breton named Olivier Clisson. In modern times, the idea of spending time in the French area of Brittany sounds like a dream vacation. Even worse, they let de Clisson’s shell-shocked widow Jeanne know where her husband’s remains were located. This is where the real story of Jeanne de Clisson begins: when she swore to avenge her husband’s murder. Driven by revenge for her husband's unlawful execution, Jeanne commanded a fleet of black ships and wielded a massive battle-axe, personally beheading any French nobleman she found. If you thought that Elizabeth Swann’s arc from noblewoman to seafarer in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies was too unbelievable, guess again. We like to think that she pirated one year for every year that she’d been married to her beloved third husband Olivier, for whom she’d turned towards a pirate’s life in the first place. A painting by Elsa Millet depicting Jeanne de Clisson, also known as Jeanne de Belleville. All Rights Reserved. With her husband gone, de Clisson couldn’t exactly count on anyone to look after her kids. In 1312, she walked down the aisle with Geoffrey de Châteaubriant VIII, a 19-year old nobleman in Brittany. The Pirate Queen of Hell. They were overrun in minutes. It seems like one of Jeanne’s kids inherited her bloodthirsty personality in a big way. They had two kids together, but he died in 1326, and four years later Jeanne was married again – this time to a dashing, handsome, super-rich French nobleman named Olivier III de Clisson. Talk about a late bloomer! Surprise, surprise, it didn’t take long for France and England to co-opt this land dispute for their own ends. Amid all the wildness, Jeanne managed to escape and row over to safety in England. As he mulled over the lowball figure, he came to a disastrous conclusion: de Clisson must have betrayed him. When she got there, she had her kids come out and see their father’s head mounted on the walls of the city. But it was … In 1359, after a lifetime of fighting and kick-butt antics, de Clisson breathed her last in Hennebont, Brittany. At the ripe old age of fucking twelve she was married off to a 19 year old French nobleman named Geoffrey, and went off to live in his awesome manor. It was a close call, but she made it. The Lord and Lady Clisson were obviously pretty happy in their Brittany villa, because they had five kids, didn’t end up having to butcher anyone with an axe, and don’t really do anything historically noteworthy between 1326 and 1343. However, being a single mom wasn’t easy and sometimes, it was completely brutal. Sadly, that was a lie. Charles de Blois’ fight against John of Montfort was the talk of the town in 14th-century Brittany and, as always, Jeanne de Clisson dove right into the action. Case in point? Although Catherine's successor Queen Anne Boleyn suffered an infamously dark fate, Aragon's own life was somehow even more tragic. Jeanne wasn’t just a cutthroat pirate, she was also an incredibly useful partner for English forces. Their castle still stands to this day, and, I don’t know, I wouldn’t mind spending a summer here: Unfortunately, life in paradise came crashing down to a pretty abrupt end pretty fucking quickly. Take that, France. Those family dinners must have been awkward, but things were about to get much worse. Game of Thrones’ Cersei has nothing on this vengeful woman. At the time, De Clisson was 58 or 59 years old, an astonishingly old age for anyone in the Middle Ages. We all know how most pirate stories end (with our hero swinging from the end of a noose), but fucking Jeanne de Clisson doesn’t go down that way. After a prisoner exchange, he returned back home to his wife and children. Instead, his family might have been in on breaking up Guy and Jeanne, apparently because Jeanne dared to want in on her new hubby’s fancy title. He sent his best men to defeat Jeanne, but even they weren’t up to the task. Even so, we include it here: Jeanne’s eldest child, her daughter Isabeau, entered the world with a scandalous bang (pun intended). Before heading below decks to check the hold for treasure and plunder, the Pirate Queen looked both survivors in the eye with a cold, hateful stare. De Clisson tied the knot with Olivier de Clisson, the man who would give her the surname by which she is known to this day. What a legend. Despite everything that Jeanne had overcome, there was still a world of despair in store for our gal. Jeanne de Clisson sold all of her land, jewels, and worldly possessions, and used the money to buy three massive warships. Get ’em, Jeanne. Their endless battles lasted so long that they became known as the brutal “Hundred Years War.” As we’ll see, de Clisson did not back down from the fight. The English happily supplied de Clisson with money and goods, which led to de Clisson strengthening her fleet and continuing to dominate any French ships who entered the English Channel. After all, she’d lost two other husbands before him and she didn’t go around crafting revenge plots for them. Even considering this, though, de Clisson’s first marriage was still controversial. Now that de Clisson was single and ready to mingle (read: desperately in need of a guardian and cash), she made another quick trip down the aisle. By: María Isabel Carrasco Cara Chards - January 4, 2018. What is super cool about this is that there were THREE separate badass Jeannes in this conflict. Crimson sails, red as blood, propelled the terrifying through the water with inescapable speed. Sie heirate Olivier von Clisson. De Clisson was also born into an aristocratic family. © Copyright 2021 by Factinate.com. At the ripe old age of fucking twelve she was married off to a 19 year old French nobleman named Geoffrey, and went off to live in his awesome manor. They had five children, Isabeau, Maurice, Olivier V, Guillaume, and Jeanne. To solidify her allegiance to the English, de Clisson promptly set down roots in her new country with a heartbreaking gesture. Armored marines came to grapples with sword, spear, and axe. While we’ll never know if de Clisson’s third husband really was a traitor, she was firmly convinced that his death was an act of murder by Charles de Blois and the King of France. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. As the most commanding mistress in the French court, she bettered the lives of many and became a beloved figure…. Jeanne de Clisson was born Jeanne de Belleville in Belleville-sur-Vie, a castle, and fortress on the western coast of France. It turns out that Guy de Penthièvre wasn’t as available as he let on. Although most pirates were men, there are some notable historical examples demonstrating that women could be every bit as ferocious and bloodthirsty as their male counterparts. The entire time that Jeanne de Clisson was fighting off the French king, she was working the age-old working mom routine. Four years later, she married Olivier III de Clisson, and they had 5 children: Maurice, Guillaume, Olivier, Isabeau (who died in 1343) and Jeanne. De Clisson tied the knot with Olivier de Clisson, the man who would give her the surname by which she is known to this day. But in the end, the ferocity of the terrifying pirate fleet was too much. Here’s a power-move. Over the course of their 13-year marriage, the couple would have five kids. Please let us know if a fact we’ve published is inaccurate (or even if you just suspect it’s inaccurate) by reaching out to us at contribute@factinate.com. Just like that, she was back on the market. Soon after Olivier’s triumphant return, the de Clisson patriarch received an invitation to a tournament outside of Brittany. Every great warrior needs an intimidating nickname, and Jeanne de Clisson’s moniker is mighty indeed. Scandal! Olivier eventually re-took the castle that had once belonged to his mother and father, and, as I said, the building still stands to this day (the French Resistance used it as a fortress to fight the Nazis during World War II, which is awesome). The family was overjoyed, but their happiness would not last long. Then she came. But back in Jeanne de Clisson’s life, not so much. Her family sided with Charles de Blois and his cause, even though it meant causing some major family drama. Over the next decade, Jeanne’s brutal Black Fleet would attack countless French ships. Most of the time, being abducted is better than being killed, but Olivier de Clisson’s fate is the exception that proves the rule. Catherine of Aragon was King Henry VIII’s first wife and longest-lasting Queen of England. Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. They took the head of her lover, so now she was going to rain down so many fucking decapitated heads that they’d with they’d never heard of an executioner’s axe. Seek vengeance at all costs. Additionally, he is an accomplished scriptwriter, having written the successful AA Meeting series for the stage and the award-winning film Depth of Pyaar. To make shit even worse for him, Philip the Fortunate couldn’t do much to stop this raiding fleet, either. But they didn't have awesome nicknames like Jeanne de Clisson, the Lioness of Brittany. Olivier must be working with the enemy. Apparently, she meekly approached the castle’s gates in tears, expecting that the owners would recognize her as Olivier de Clisson’s grieving widow and admit her entry. Jeanne de Clisson was born in the French town of Belleville-sur-Vie in 1300. But for Jeanne, an English retreat simply wouldn’t do. She got away with it, too, seeing her husband's honor posthumously restored, and died happily of natural causes. The de Clisson clan got involved in the dispute, with utterly horrific consequences. A storm hit during the battle, leading to chaos on both sides. Ein reicher bretonischer Edelfreier. At the time, she was just 12 years old. While historians don’t know much about this marriage, we can infer that it was not a happy union. After declaring all-out war on France, it’s not too surprising that by 1343, de Clisson had been declared a “traitor.” That label made it hard for de Clisson to gather many more allies, so she said “peace” to fighting on land and took her battle to the high seas. In 1343, Olivier thought he was finally free. The castle is said to be haunted by Jeanne de Clisson de Clisson dit Olivier V de Clisson 23 April 1336 23 April 1407 … Your suggestions can be as general or specific as you like, from “Life” to “Compact Cars and Trucks” to “A Subspecies of Capybara Called Hydrochoerus Isthmius.” We’ll get our writers on it because we want to create articles on the topics you’re interested in. Olivier IV de Clisson (1264–1343) was married to Jeanne when he was beheaded on orders from King Philippe VI the Fortunate (I suppose Olivier wasn’t as fortunate as the king). At the age of twelve, Jeanne was married to Geoffrey de Chateaubriant, the nineteen-year-old heir … The notorious Black Fleet got its haunting name from their pitch black wood, but also, presumably, from the dark fate it offered anyone foolish enough to cross their captain, the cutthroat Jeanne de Clisson. After the French government killed her husband, Clisson swore to avenge his death. Most of the French fleet had been annihilated by the English at the Battle of Sluys in 1340, and in 1343 he couldn’t exactly spare the troops, money, or supplies that would be necessary for an expedition to chase a trio of pirate ships all around the western coast of France. In her hometown of Brittany, two guys started fighting over who was the head honcho of the region. By all accounts Olivier was as close as I think you’re gonna get … During their time together, de Clisson and her hubby de Châteaubriant had two children, with Jeanne giving birth to a son at 14 and a daughter when she was just 16. Well, Lord Olivier III of Clisson sided with the King Philip the Fortunate of France at first, signing on as a badass knight and leading a cavalry attack against the English invaders, but King Edward of England used the power of persuasion and probably a fuckton of gold to convince Olivier that yeah, maybe he should side with England instead. It was a massive defeat for de Clisson’s chosen side, but the worst was yet to come. Subtle! Next, she sold the de Clisson estates, raised a force of loyal men, switched allegiances to the English, and started attacking the French forces in Brittany. She was the one of the de Belleville family, who had ruled in the area for hundreds of years. 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