Noble Blood - Jeanne de Clisson, Pirate Terror of France

Episode Date: May 31, 2022

In the 14th century, Jeanne de Clisson's husband was accused of being a traitor and beheaded by the king of France. In response, Jeanne decided to get her revenge. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes and scripts on Patreon — Merch! — Order Dana's book, Anatomy: A Love StorySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Readers, Katie's finalists, publicists. We have an incredible new episode this week for you guys. We have our girl Hillary Duff in here, and we can't wait for you to hear this episode. They put on Lizzie McGuire at 2 a.m. Video on Demand.

This guy's bobo-bubim. 2 a whatever time it is. Lizzie McGuire. And I'm like, the paper view. It was like a first closet moment from me where I was like, I don't feel like she's hot, like the rest of that. No, no, no. I was like, she's beautiful.

but I'm appreciating her in a different way than these boys are. I'm not like, but listen to Los Coleristas on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcast. Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of IHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. Hi, thank you so much for listening to Noble Blood. If you want to support the show, we have a Patreon. Patreon.com slash Noble Blood Tales, where I, I upload episode scripts and recently sort of intermittently uploaded bonus episodes where my friends and I

watch through shows like The Tudors and Rain on the CW to talk about their lack of historical consistency. But anyway, there's also merch if you're a fan of the show at DFTBA.com. But as always, the best support for the show is just listening and I'm so grateful. Thank you so much. The summer of 1343 had been a mild one in Brittany, which is located. in the northwest of France, near the Atlantic Ocean, and summers there were typically warm with heavy rain. Back in the 14th century, Brittany was an independent feudal state, and its capital, not, sat 300 or so miles southwest of Paris. It served as a natural crossroads between the

rest of Brittany and the separate kingdom of France. In early August 1343, a woman named Jean-de-Clesa and her two sons, seven-year-old Olivier the fifth, and five-year-old Guillaume, arrived at the main gates of Nant. If you're imagining the scene, the three of them would have stopped there for a moment, there at the stone archway to the city, and gazed up to see a horrific sight. The rotting, decapitated head of Jean's husband, the boy's father. His head was impaled on a pike and gently swaying in the salt breeze, and because Olivier IV's head had traveled there to not from Paris 300 miles away, the head would have been swollen, rotting, foul.

Olivier the Fourth's body remained behind in Paris in a gibbet or barred cage, but his head was here in Brittany to send a message. Days earlier on August 2, 1343, Olivier IV had been tried and found guilty on several counts of treason. He was executed at Laal by the King of France. Despite Olivier IV's rank, King Philip the Sixth of France had humiliated him in death in an attempt to dissuade other would-be traders in his midst. But the king's actions were shocking and unconventional to both Breton and French nobility. After all, Olivia's the Fort de Closin had been a wealthy Breton lord and knight. After death, his body had been displayed

in a public manner only reserved for low-class criminals. Olivier IV's trial was also alarming, even suspicious. He was accused of treason, but any evidence of his guilt was not publicly demonstrated. Allegedly it had been privately confessed, but no one had seen any evidence of that. John and her two sons had traveled some 20 miles from their castle, the Chateau de Clucin, to see Olivier IV's head. Why Jean brought two of her children from the confines of the castle to see the rotting head of their father is unclear. Perhaps to see his face, however foul, one last time.

Or perhaps, knowing Jean's character and what she would do next, it was to instill a need for revenge. Do not forget this, her actions might have said. Do not forgive this. When Jean and her two sons left the countryside that day, Jean cut ties with proper noble society. With the Loire River flowing just beyond and the head of her husband of 13 years swaying in tandem with the breeze, Jean swore bloody revenge on the King of France. And she kept her promise. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood. Jean de Clisson was born in 1300 into an aristocratic family. Her parents were among the most powerful nobles in Brittany.

Their lands were extensive, stretching all across southern Brittany to the Atlantic Ocean. Her family virtually controlled access to the sea, and they had ruled the area for hundreds of years. We know very little about Jean's early life. likely she enjoyed a relatively bucolic, aristocratic childhood at the castle fortress on the western coast of France that she would eventually inherit. But however idyllic it might have been, her childhood did not last long. In 1312, when Jean was 12 years old, she was married off to a Breton nobleman, Juffrey de Chateau-Briant, the 8th, the 19-year-old heir to one of the key estates in Brittany. When Jean was 14, and again,

at 16, she gave birth to two surviving children, a son, Joffrey, and a daughter, Louise. After over a decade of marriage, her first husband died in 1326, leaving Jean a 26-year-old widow. A woman of high birth and wealth, Jean was also a noted beauty. Historian Richard Bentley called her, quote, one of the most beautiful women of her day. She had reddish brown hair and fair skin, which was a symbol of status at the time. Still, unmarried women in the 14th century, even women of noble standing had close to no power, and to ensure the safety and well-being of herself and her children, Jean needed to remarry. Two years later, in 1328, Jean married the son of the Duke of Brittany, Guy of Pentiaev, which should have been a coup.

However, factions of Gies family opposed the union. On February 10th, 1330, within two years of the relationship, the marriage was scandalously annulled by Pope John the 22nd, allegedly because the marriage was never consummated, but it's difficult to know the truth of that. Jean was remarried once more, this time to Olivier IVe de Clisson, a wealthy Breton nobleman, lord, and knight.

Olivia IV the 4th was a widower as well, and it seems like he was almost exactly the same age as Jean. Upon their marriage, the pair became one of the wealthiest and most influential couples in Brittany, with control of a number of estates and vast properties. Jean and Olivier IV were married for 13 years and had five children. Their eldest child, Isabel, was born in 1331, and then came Maurice, Olivier V, Guillaume and Little Babigion, born 1340. By the time Jean was 30 years old, she was the mother to seven children. Now for a little bit of geographical context. Brittany was at the time an independent medieval feudal state, located in the western tip of modern France, south of England. Parts of Brittany and some nobles at

the time were loyal to the English, while other parts and other people were loyal to the French. But the majority of Bretons considered themselves first and foremost Bretons, loyal to the Duke of Brittany over the kings of England or France. But outside of Brittany, tensions between England and France continued to brew. What finally set the stage for an all-out war was a succession crisis. Charles IV of France died childless in 1328, and his closest heir was his nephew, the English king, Edward III. His claim to the throne was his mother, Isabella of France. Yet the French nobility at the time rejected Edward III's claim

in favor of a native French ruler. One of the longest and bloodiest conflicts of the Middle Ages, this brutal, epic turning struggle, became known as the Hundred Years' War. To complicate matters in 1341, the Duke of Brittany also died without an heir. Both the French and English claimed his land in northwestern France. The War of Breton's accession officially became a proxy conflict of the Hundred Years' War. Jean's husband, Olivier IV, was a descendant of English knight who were awarded a state in Brittany

to preserve the claim of the English crown on the province. By the 1340s, Olivier IV was a loyal vassal of the King of France, King Philip VIII. That was, at least in part, a pragmatic decision. In addition to their Breton lands, the declysons possessed extensive lands in the kingdom of France. If they sided with the English in the Breton succession, it would immediately lead to the seizure of their estates outside of Brittany. So, despite ancestral ties to England, Olivier IV, loyally, joined the French in 1342, to defend Brittany from the English and to back the French claimant to the Breton throne, Charles de Blois. Olivier IV and a man named Hervey the

Seventh de Lyon were acting as military commanders in defense of the French city of Vance until the city fell to English control in November of 1342. The two commanders were captured. Two months went by until on January 19, 1343, a new peace treaty between the English and the French was mediated by Pope Clement the 6th. King Edward of England and King Philip of France agreed to the truth. But while Hervey the 7th Leon remained in English custody, Olivier IV was released in exchange for an English prisoner and payment. But the ransom for Olivier the Fourth was surprisingly low. Suspiciously, according to Charles de Blas, who was by then established as the Duke of Brittany, he became convinced that Olivier IV was a traitor and had defected to the English.

Exactly why he believed this is unclear. Some versions of the story say that Olivier IV actually did switch sides, although those accounts are much rarer. In the summer of 1343, Olivier IV was invited to attend a tournament in the Kingdom of France in celebration of the truce. However, when he arrived, he was immediately arrested and taken to Paris, where he was tried before 15 noble peers,

including his accuser, Charles de Bois, and the king himself. After her husband's arrest, they say Jean bribed a royal sergeant to try to get Olivier released. Her plan failed and the sergeant was arrested. Olivia IV's trial on August 2nd, 1315, was a quick matter with a foregone conclusion. It was followed immediately by his beheading.

Here's the part in the story where we get to Jean and her kids, taking that family trip to the gates of Nantes to see their father's decapitated head. After that, Jean was summoned to Paris to face trial for her attempted bribery of the King's sergeant. But she never went. Rather than report to Paris to face continued punishment for her husband, husband's trumped up charges, Jean sold jewelry, furniture, and, according to some accounts, even her body, to raise money for a small army. Jean and her troops traveled throughout Brittany, rallying unhappy wealthy nobles, supporters of her husband. The couple had had plenty of powerful

friends, and the friends and families of other executed nobles or nobles who had been mistreated by the French king. Jean rallied her troops with the common goal of ridding Brittany of the French. King Philip the 4th declared Jean de Clisson a traitor and confiscated her lands. They had said the same thing about her husband. The 43-year-old widow was going to show the French the meaning of the word traitor and let fall carnage. The Chateau de Tufu sat about 20 kilometers southeast of Nantes, and it was under the command of a man named Galois de la Heres, an officer loyal to Charles de Bois. In one episode of the tale, Jean was invited to the castle. Galois had not yet heard the news of Olivier IV's trial and execution,

and so he was just inviting a noble woman to enjoy his hospitality. In another version of the story, Jean arrived, seemingly in need, with tears streaming down her cheeks. None the wiser, Galois welcomed Jean in. And why not? The very garrison he had commanded had once been a former post under the control of her, now decapitated husband. As soon as the main gate was opened, Jean and her 400 or so men launched their guerrilla insurgency. Storming the castle, her forces massacred almost the entire garrison.

Jean engaged in the slaughter right alongside her soldiers. As French historian Maurice Julesabelle Lefran described, quote, the blood of all the other keepers or inhabitants of the castle was mercilessly shed, like a first expiatory sacrifice offered in memory of Olivia de Clisson. As you can imagine, the story of the vengeful widow has veered into the apocryphal over the centuries. A version of the story mentioned that Galois was the only one to escape Jean's wrath, and thus inadvertently established what would become her future. modus operandi. A single person would be left alive after a raid to tell the King of France of the

carnage. By the time Charles de Blois and his army arrived at the castle, Jean's forces, along with everything of value within the fortress, had disappeared. Pooling together the rest of her money and whatever they had plundered, Jean sailed to England with two of her sons, Olivier V and Guillaume in order to assemble a small fleet of three massive warships. Where her other children were during this time is unknown. Jean's priorities had shifted away from the domestic. She had sworn revenge on the French king, and so to the sea she went. She christened her fleet, fittingly enough, my revenge.

She hired the best captains in crews, a mix of Breton's English and rogue French. and she armed them well. Jean personally commanded the Black Fleet, beginning her career as a pirate, taking refuge in the fog and shrouded coves and inlets of the Brittany coast, raiding coastal villages along Normandy, and plundering French supply ships and vessels. Despite her pattern of leaving at least one person alive

to report her vengeance to the king, there are not many surviving accounts of Jean's exploits. However, according to legend, the survivors of her massacres always told a similar story. The stories begin with these pitiful two or three survivors, their clothes smelling of the briny sea air and covered in blood. They'd have already been stripped of their weapons, armor, and French insignia, and they'd be bleeding from cuts and heavily bruised, altogether just shaken from the massacre they'd witnessed, and had, at random, survived. To whoever would listen, these desperate souls would recount how three black ships on the horizon had appeared in the fog. Three massive, haunting, warships with pitch-black wood,

crimson sails, red as blood, propelled the ships through the water. The friendships being overtaken would try to defend themselves. They had launched fire arrows, fought with swords, spears, axes, but inevitably they would be overrun in minutes, the invading forces proving too ferocious. Striding along the conquered deck, wielding a well-worn axe behind her, the captain, a woman, would appear

and she would quickly survey her captives. As the stories go, she would point seemingly at random to two or three men, the sole survivors. She would need to leave two or three, enough to sail back to French soil to spread her tale of terror. On her signal, her men would massacre the remaining crew. She herself would raise her axe and behead every person of nobility aboard the vessel. Remember, beheading a man was something that even strong, professional executioners had trouble doing in a single stroke. And so we can imagine that Jean's victims most likely endured several hacks before their heads were dislodged from their bodies. The French historian Lefronk claims that she, quote, mercilessly put to death all the French who fell into her hands.

Despite the money that she could have made ransoming nobles, Jean de Clisson severed the heads of any and all French nobility she saw, a fitting revenge for her husband's demise. She would then toss their lifeless bodies overboard. From there, Jean-Witt had below deck to plunder for valuables. Before leaving the conquered ship, she would look the two to three survivors in the eyes with cold, hateful stairs. You've been left alive, she'd say, to tell your king that the lioness of Brittany claimed another of his ships.

And thus the legend of the lioness was born. Among the common Breton people and the English allies of Brittany, Jean's popularity grew. I do think it is important to remember that you should probably take the sheer drama of her story with a grain of sea salt. Remember, this is kind of exactly the sort of propaganda story that would get exaggerated on both sides. Both her enemies and supporters would want to play up how brutal she was, her enemies to paint her as barbaric and her allies to make her seem scarier for future opponents. But even if the details have probably been distorted over the centuries, the spine of the story is true. After the death of her husband, Jean had ever.

hatred in her heart for the French king, and in turn hatred for any noble loyal to the king. And in the waters between France and England, Jean de Clisson, a noble woman born in Brittany, avenged the death of her husband, one bloody French massacre at a time. Two years into her pirating in 1345, the French finally managed to engage her fleet and sink her flagship. Jean and her two sons, Olivier V and Guillaume, escaped the assault by rowboat. A drift on the violent waves for five or six days without food or water, young Guillaume died of exposure.

Jean and Olivier the Fifth were ultimately rescued by allies, and years later, young Olivier would grow up into a soldier so brutal he would be nicknamed the butcher. But this is a story about his mother. Arriving in England, it seems that from this point, the noblewoman turned bloody pirate transitioned into privateering, which meant that she would be acting as a pirate, but legally on behalf of a nation. In this case, England, who was eager to have as many vessels as possible joining with them in the fight against the French in the Hundred Years' War.

King Edward III of England granted Jean Land in the areas of Brittany that the English controlled, along with title, and he supplied her with money and ships as a thank you for clearing the English channel of the French. In turn, Jean ferried supplies and men from England to France in support of the English, and, of course, all the while, she continued her carnage. Jean continued for the next several years,

plundering and massacring all ships owned by or allied with the French crown. And even when King Philip the Six of France, her bitter enemy died in 1350, Jean continued privateering for the English for an additional six years. Jean's pirate slash privateer career lasted for 13 blood-soaked years. And there's a coincidence there

that seems too fitting to dismiss. Whether she did it purposefully or not, Jean massacred the French by C for one year, for every year she had been married to her beloved husband. In 1356, Jean, then 56 years old, took refuge in England and married Sir Walter Bentley, a lieutenant to King Edward III. Like Jean, Bentley had served valiantly on the side of the English during the Hundred Years' War. The two retired at the Castle of Hennibon, a port town on the Brittany coast,

which was at the time controlled by the English, and they remained there for the rest of Jean's life. Jean passed away in 1359, 59 years old. The cause of her death isn't known specifically, and so it's most likely disease or natural causes. The story of Jean de Clisson, noble woman turned pirate, is, I admit, almost unbelievable, and it has been argued frequently that such a figure couldn't possibly have existed. And yet, there are several historical sources which confirm, her existence, like a French court document from 1343 confirming the confiscation of Jean's lands due to her being labeled as a traitor to France. And there's an English document that same year,

indicating that she earned money from said land under the English crown. Likewise, there's an English document from 1347 listing her as an English ally. Other documents confirm her marriage to Bentley as well. Despite the relative dearth of other primary sources, after all, the sea doesn't lend itself to preserved paper artifacts or diaries and illegal piracy was not an occupation in which people were fastidious about record-keeping, Jean de Clisson and the legend of the lioness of Brittany lives on in French folklore. Once again, I want to flag, especially with this sort of story, it's challenging to tease out what exactly was true and what was the legend. But we know that Jean de Clisson was a real person. While the truth of some of the more

dramatic flourishes of the tale remain nebulous, we know that she grieved and mourned the beheading of her husband, and then we know she decided to take revenge into her own hands, however she could. That's the story of Jean de Clisson, the lioness of Brittany, but stick around after a brief sponsor break to hear how the woman who's so terrified France lives on today. Readers, Katie's finalists, publicists. We have an incredible new episode this week for you guys. We have our girl Hillary Duff in here and we can't wait for you to hear this episode. They put on Lizzie McGuire at 2 a.m. Video on Demand. This guy's bobo-u-bub. 2 a.m. Whatever time it is, Lizzie McGuire. And I'm like, a wild bat you were with.

It was like a first like closet moment from me where I was like, I don't feel like she's hot, like the rest of that. No, no, no. I was like, she's beautiful. But I'm appreciating her in a different way than these boys are. I'm not like, but listen to Los Coleristas on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcast. Readers, Katie's finalists, publicists. We have an incredible new episode this week for you guys. We have our girl Hillary Duff in here and we can't wait for you to hear this episode. They put on Lizzie McGuire 2 a.m. Video on Demand. This guy's bobo-u-a-m. 2 a.m. Whatever time it is, Lizzie McGuire. And I'm like, a wild batch you were with. It was like a first like closet.

moment from me where I was like, I don't feel like she's hot, like the rest of them. No, no, no. I was like she's beautiful. But I'm appreciating her in a different way than these boys are. I'm not like, but listen to Lascaulte Dresas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcast. Jean de Clisson survived

seven childbirths without the aid of medicine. She lived through the Black Death and spent 13 dangerous years as a pirate. She lived a very long, full life until she was 59 years old, a fairly old age given the dangerous life she lived. Despite her relatively homie and calm final years that she spent married in a Brittany port town, reportedly after her death,

Jean is not resting in peace. It said that after her death, Jean's spirit traveled to the Chateau de Clisson. The ruins of the castle, which was destroyed during the French Revolution, still tower over the Severnantes River today. Within its stone walls, visitors have reported seeing Jean's restless ghost, haunting the ruins. Some say she's reunited with Olivia the 4th to Clisson's spirit there as well,

the tortured lovers walking the halls side by side. Noble Blood is a production of I-Heart Radio and Grimmin-Mild from Aaron Menke. Noble Blood is hosted by me, Dana Schwartz. Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The show is produced by Rima L. Kali, with supervising producer Josh Thane and executive producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Readers, Katie's finalists, publicists, we have an incredible.

incredible new episode this week for you guys. We have our girl Hillary Duff in here, and we can't wait for you to hear this episode. They put on Lizzie McGuire at 2 a.m. Video on demand. This guy's... 2 a.m. Whatever time it is.

Lizzie McGuire. And I'm like... Wild bat you were with. It was like a first closet moment from me where I was like... You're like, I don't feel like she's hot, like the rest of that. No, no, no.

I was like, she's beautiful. But I'm appreciating her in a different way than these boys are. I'm not like... But listen to Los Calderistas on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcast.

This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.