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. Here, Tom Daly explains how her lust for revenge led her to become one of history’s most famous female pirates.
You can also read Tom’s article on the Princess Alice Disaster on London’s River Thames here.
The Lioness of Brittany, Jeanne de Clisson.
On August 2nd, 1343, a large crowd gathered at Les Halles, a market place in Paris, to witness a gruesome sight. Several men who were suspected of plotting with the English to fight against the French king were being executed, following sham trials in which the verdict was never in doubt. Among the men was the handsome and charismatic nobleman Olivier de Clisson, who had fought for years to defend the northern region of Brittany from the English and who adamantly protested his innocence until his very last moment. His protests were ignored by those who mattered, and his last glimpse of this earth was a sneering group of nobles who had gathered in the summer sun to watch his beheading.
De Clisson was gone, but the threat from his family lived on. Within days, news of his trial and execution reached his wife, Jeanne. Theirs had been a happy marriage and the distraught Jeanne turned her anguish into rage, swearing vengeance on any allies of the French king. For the next few years, she would stalk the English channel with a small pirate fleet and ruthlessly attack any French vessels she came across, personally beheading any noblemen she caught but always leaving a handful of survivors to flee and tell their horrifying tale. Fierce, determined and skilful, Jeanne de Clisson struck fear into the very heart of the French establishment, and even managed to retire peacefully after she felt she had achieved her revenge. History has a few examples of successful female pirates but most of them came from desperately poor backgrounds and fought their way up, motivated by wealth and glamour. Jeanne de Clisson, a woman of noble birth, was motivated purely by revenge and bloodlust. It made her a very dangerous woman indeed.
Background
Jeanne was born into a wealthy noble family in northern France in around 1300. When she was 12 she married her first husband, with whom she would have two children, but it was her second marriage in which she would find most happiness. After the death of her first husband, Jeanne married Olivier de Clisson, a nobleman from Brittany, in northern France. Theirs was an arranged marriage but Jeanne and Olivier did genuinely love each other, and they had five children together. Olivier was a dashing warrior who fought bravely to repel the regular attacks from the English, who often sailed across the English Channel and attempted to gain a foothold in France.
Olivier was loyal to the French king, Philip VI, but at the start of the 1340s a combination of panic and political manoeuvring saw his loyalty questioned. After a few French defeats fingers started to be pointed and blame started to shift around, and Charles de Bois, a powerful nobleman who had the ear of the King Philip, saw an opportunity to take control of Olivier de Clisson’s lands in Brittany. So it was that in 1343 Philip took de Bois’ advice and had de Clisson arrested for treason. A sham trial was held in Paris and de Clisson, along with a handful of other nobles who had the misfortune of being blamed for France’s recent defeats, found himself having a date with the king’s swordsman on August 2nd.
Jeanne’s revenge
News reached Jeanne a few days later, and she was devastated. However, within a week her anguish had turned to rage and she decided to channel her anger into something productive – she would have revenge on King Philip and Charles de Bois. As told by Joanna Gillan, Jeanne swiftly sold off her and her husband’s lands and used the money to purchase a small fleet of ships, manned by mercenary seaman and fighters. To add to the terror she intended to inflict on her victims, she painted her ships black and installed blood red sails, earning her fleet the title of ‘the black fleet.’ She then set off into the English Channel, and waited for her prey.
Within weeks they had their first victims – the crew of a small French vessel sailing under the flag of the French king. The small ship stood no chance of either outrunning of outgunning Jeanne de Clisson’s fleet, and most of her crew were ruthlessly slaughtered, with Jeanne herself enthusiastically helping her men in their grim deed. As was to become her trademark, she spared the lives of a handful of the French crew and dropped them off in a small raft near the French coast, telling them to return home and tell their king who had butchered their colleagues. This they duly did, and so began Jeanne de Clisson’s reign of terror.
Before long, most of Europe knew who she was. Allying herself with the English, she pursued any French ships – even stopping ships flying under different flags to check that they were not transporting Frenchmen – and ordered the decapitation of any she found (with the exception, of course, of the lucky few she chose to allow to go home and tell the tale). She insisted that she personally behead any Frenchman of noble birth, as she perceived that it was the noble class who had abandoned her family and stitched up her husband (of course, she was mostly correct in this perception). She never did manage to get her hands on King Philip or Charles de Bois, but the carnage the ‘Lioness of Brittany’, as she became known, caused for the French government ensured that she achieved a degree of revenge. Her mission continued even after Philip’s death in 1350, as she continued to pursue French ships with unrelenting venom – her rage was fully focused on the entire French establishment rather than just the king.
Final years
Still, her vengeful marine crusade could not last forever. Maybe her rage subsided, maybe she was wary of losing the support of her men, or maybe she just fancied retiring. Whatever her reason, Jeanne decided she had done enough by 1356. Retiring initially to England, she married for a third time to an advisor to the English king, Edward III. By 1359 she was back in France, where she died peacefully that year.
Jeanne de Clisson never did manage to kill King Philip or Charles de Bois (who died in 1364) as revenge for their role in her husband’s death. However, her pursuit of that revenge ensured that she caused untold damage to their causes and subjects, and further ensured that she earned a reputation as one of history’s most fearsome women. She was hero to some, a murderous wretch to others, perhaps somewhere in between the two for most, but ultimately as long as she was feared Jeanne de Clisson probably didn’t care what people thought about her.
What do you think of the life of Jeanne de Clisson? Let us know below.
Now, read more from Tom at the Ministry of History here.
