In 1330, Jeanne de Belleville married her third husband, wealthy Breton nobleman Olivier de Clisson IV, becoming Jeanne de Clisson. The couple individually had extensive properties and the combination of their assets and wealth turned them into something of a power couple, though it would take some years (and Olivier’s death) before that power truly revealed itself. The match was likely Jeanne’s happiest (she wed a total of four times) and we can infer that it was probably also a love match — their first child, a daughter named Isabeau, was born in 1325 when both parties were still married to their first spouses.

The Duke of Brittany, John III, died in 1341 and left no clear successor — he said on the matter, as he lay on his deathbed, ‘For God’s sake leave me alone and do not trouble my spirit with such things’. This plunged the kingdom into the War of the Breton Succession with two potential dukes: French-supported Charles de Blois and John de Montfort, who ended up allied to the English, as the hostilities of the Hundred Years’ War had begun again after a brief truce.

The de Clissons, as most of the nobility did, threw their support behind Charles de Blois, and Olivier was one of the commanders in charge of defending the city of Vannes. As such, when, on their fourth attempt, the English captured Vannes, Olivier de Clisson was among those taken captive.

Here lies the fatal turning point — the English agreed to release Olivier in a prisoner exchange, but they demanded such a low sum for his ransom that it aroused suspicion in the French. Olivier was suspected of having defected, so the King of France, Philip VI, had him arrested at a tournament celebrating the Truce of Malestroit (1343). He was put on trial and sentenced to a public beheading, which was shocking on two counts; one, because there was a distinct lack of evidence against him, and two, because Olivier was a noble, and public executions were typically reserved for lower-class criminals.

Jeanne herself was charged with Lèse-majesté (to do wrong to majesty); she avoided arrest thanks to the protection of her step-son and others, but she was sentenced to banishment and confiscation of her property. Before this could happen, however, she sold the de Clisson estates and used the profits to raise a small army of men loyal to her deceased husband.

Jeanne swore retribution on the French King and Charles de Blois for what she saw as the cowardly murder of Olivier. She took her two young sons to view his head, which had been displayed at the Sauvetot Gate, with the intention of instilling her own hatred into them.

Then, she turned to her revenge.

The Lioness of Brittany, as she became known, and her army of around 400 men attacked numerous French strongholds. These allegedly included Château de Touffou — the commander was an officer of Charles de Blois who recognised Jeanne and allowed her in, at which point her forces massacred the garrison. They left a sole survivor to tell the tale.

However, the element of surprise was quickly lost once word of her army reached Paris, so Jeanne turned to other methods. Aided by the English king, Edward III, as well as Breton sympathisers, she was able to outfit three warships, painting their hulls black and dying their sails a blood red. It was named the ‘Black Fleet’, and Jeanne’s flagship was called My Revenge.

Jeanne proved just as brutal at sea as she was on land — perhaps even more so. She began by raiding shipping vessels in the Bay of Biscay before moving on to the English Channel where she hunted down commerce ships, thus disrupting supply lines and crippling the French army. She would plunder the ships for their cargo and kill the crew, leaving a scant few survivors to report back to Philip VI. Then, unusually for pirates and privateers of the day, she destroyed the ships.

It is said that if any aristocrats were on board, Jeanne would personally behead them.

Jeanne and her fleet may also have attacked villages on the coast of Normandy, putting them to both sword and fire. 

The Black Fleet were left alone by the English and it is likely that Jeanne aided the British with supplies during the Hundred Years’ War, probably for the Battle of Crécy in 1346. 

At one point, the French eventually caught up with her and managed to sink her flagship. She and her two sons were set adrift for five days, during which time the youngest of the boys, Guillaume, died from exposure. Jeanne and her surviving son, Olivier, were rescued by supporters of John de Montfort and taken to Morlaix. 

Jeanne’s career in piracy lasted for thirteen years before she gave it up in 1356. She married for the fourth time to an English lord named Walter Bentley and lived her last few years in the Castle of Hennebont, a port town on the Brittany coast. Walter died in December 1359, and Jeanne swiftly followed. She was around 59 years old at the time of her death.

Sources:

• Alan Axelrod, ‘State-Sanctioned Piracy: Corsairs and Privateers (1049–1865)’, in Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies (Washington: CQ Press, 2014)
• https://allthatsinteresting.com/jeanne-de-clisson
• https://historyofyesterday.com/jeanne-de-clisson-the-lioness-of-brittany-95288b20b597
• https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/12/06/jeanne-de-clisson/?edg-c=1
• https://historyofyesterday.com/the-princess-who-turned-pirate-345ee1f9de31