The Ruthless Widow Pirate
Jeanne de Clisson began life as a humble noblewoman, her life’s purpose appearing to be merely that of a bargaining chip in political marriages. But after the controversial execution of her husband and subsequent charges against her, she went on the run. Few could have predicted the pivot she would make next...
She took to the seven seas and adopted a life of piracy, wreaking brutal havoc on the very sailors she used to call countrymen.
Dir. Tara Duffy, Because It Pleases Me (2023)
1. She Was A Noblewoman
Better known by her later de Clisson name, this unassuming noblewoman was actually born Jeanne Louise de Belleville, in Belleville-sur-Vie on the French side of the border with the Duchy of Brittany, in 1300. Though she was a child of France, the noblewoman’s later reputation would be heavily associated with her neighbors in Brittany. But her youth spent in Belleville is what made her.
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2. Her Family Was Successful
Jeanne was the daughter of a nobleman, one Maurice IV Montaigu of Belleville and Palluau. The Montaigu family was the most prominent family in the Bas-Poitou area and was involved in some way or another in all local business, including winemaking, salt farming, and merchant trading all along the coast.
Jeanne had a lot to learn from her parents’ success, but tragically, her father did not stick around long enough to teach her.
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3. She Lost Her Father At A Young Age
Unfortunately, Jeanne de Clisson never really knew her father because tragedy struck early on. Maurice Montaigu passed unexpectedly when his daughter was just four years old. The family was heartbroken, particularly Jeanne’s mother, Létice de Parthenay, who records suggest never remarried, an uncommon decision for widowed nobles—as, indeed, her late husband was proof of.
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4. She Was The Second Family
Records suggest that Jeanne’s father was married to Sibille of Châteaubriant before marrying Jeanne’s mother, meaning the young noblewoman was a product of his second marriage. Jeanne had an older sibling who was likely a half-brother, a product of her father’s first marriage. But further family tragedy would put the young girl at an unexpected advantage.
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5. She Climbed The Line
Jeanne’s (likely half-) brother was Maurice V Montaigu, and her late father’s heir. However, in 1320, when Jeanne was just 20 years old, Maurice perished unexpectedly. Maurice IV had left no other heirs, meaning his daughter was now the inheritor of the seigneuries of Montaigu and Belleville. It was a powerful position for a woman of her time. By then, however, she already had a man to share it with.
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6. She Married Young
Eight years before becoming heir, when she was just 12 years old, Jeanne had a marriage arranged for her. Her betrothed was 19-year-old Geoffrey de Châteaubriant VIII, a Breton nobleman. Amazingly, though he was only 19, Geoffrey himself was already a widow, having lost his previous wife. The way-too-young couple wasted little time in doing their marital duty.
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7. She Was A Teen Mom
Jeanne and Geoffrey would have two children together, Geoffrey IX, born in 1314, and Louise, born two years later, meaning the children’s mother was just 14 and 16 respectively when she gave birth to them. Despite her young age, however, Jeanne was a loving and attentive mother and very close to her children throughout her entire life. It wasn’t long before they were all she had.
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8. She Lost Her Husband
In 1326, tragedy struck yet again when Jeanne’s husband passed, leaving her widowed. Geoffrey was just 33 years old and left behind a sizeable crop of land and titles. It was little comfort to the grieving noblewoman, however, as by now, premature death was becoming a haunting theme in Jeanne’s life.
With her second marriage, another prominent theme emerged, too.
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9. She Knew A Lot Of Widows
After mourning for two years, Jeanne de Clisson remarried in 1328. Her new husband was Guy de Penthièvre, the second son of the Duke of Brittany. Like her, Guy was a widow. Widows were unusually common in Jeanne’s life, in fact—for those counting at home, her father was a widow, her first husband was, she was, and now her second husband too.
But this latest marriage served an additional purpose in the form of political insurance.
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10. She Looked Out For Her Kids
Like her mother, Jeanne was not exactly required to remarry, but she may have done so out of a sense of protection for her children. The patriarchal society of 14th century France meant that the presence of a stepfather ensured her children’s inheritances had a bit more protection. Jeanne’s instincts here were good, because it wasn’t long before outside forces attacked her union.
The consequences were devastating.
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11. Her Marriage Got Cancelled
Jeanne’s union with Guy was short-lived and had powerful forces working against it from the jump. Guy’s family disapproved of the marriage, fearing it threatened their heritage, and they made a complaint with the bishops of Vannes and Rennes. This resulted in an investigation, and the Pope ultimately annulled the marriage. It did last long enough, however, for Guy to catch the curse.
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12. She Was Haunted By Loss
Jeanne’s eerie ties to widowhood continued even after her second marriage ended. Guy quickly remarried, but unexpectedly perished the following year, leaving his wife a widow and Jeanne now with two fallen spouses. This association with tragedy may have been Jeanne’s defining legacy, if not for later events. It didn’t stop her from tying the knot yet again, however.
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13. She Married Once Again
Shortly after the annulment of her second marriage, Jeanne de Clisson and her family organized a third marriage for the noblewoman. The newly betrothed wasted no time, and in 1330, she wed—I kid you not—yet another widow, the wealthy Breton Olivier IV de Clisson. With her children’s inheritance now securely ensured, Jeanne once again found herself in an advantageous position.
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14. She Held On
By now, Jeanne held control of significant areas of land, mostly accumulated from her first marriage. The savvy young woman knew she would be foolish to let her assets slip, and from the wording in her new marriage contract, it is apparent that she was determined to secure these inheritances for her children, something her marriage to Olivier would ensure. Indeed, the newlyweds were quite the power couple.
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15. She Gained Power
With the combination of their assets, Jeanne and Olivier now found themselves the seigneurial power—that is, the senior Lord and Lady—of the border region of Brittany. Thus began Jeanne’s increasing association with her husband’s land of origin over her own, a fact that would later manifest in dramatic ways.
It was quite the success story for the multi-widowed woman, and she and her husband got to work further securing their legacy.
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16. She Had A Litter
Jeanne de Clisson and Olivier appeared to have had quite an affectionate marriage, and they had a crop of kids as testament. Over the next 10 years, the couple had five children, though tragically, only four survived childhood. All their children would go on to make their mark in some way. The date of birth of their eldest child, however, raises some interesting questions.
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17. She Had An Affair
Jeanne and Olivier’s first child was their daughter, Isabeau, born in 1325. Astute readers will notice something odd about that date: it was five years before Isabeau’s parents got married and, in fact, was actually before the passing of Jeanne’s first husband. Though not confirmed, this strongly suggests, then, that Jeanne and Olivier had been lovers much earlier than their wedding date.
This does not appear to have caused much scandal—perhaps because the region had bigger problems to worry about.
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18. She Took A Side
The year 1341 saw the outbreak of the Breton War of Succession in the region, a conflict between the Counts of Blois and the Montforts of Brittany, over control of the Duchy of Brittany, a fiefdom of France. With the Montforts as their close family friends, Jeanne de Clisson and Olivier took the side of the French in the conflict. But this wasn’t the position of everyone they knew…
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19. She Had A Family Conflict
Jeanne and Olivier’s chosen side was not consistent with the rest of the de Clisson family. Olivier’s brothers opted to throw their support behind the English side, and this caused a deep rift within the family. The French-supporting couple refused to budge on their position, however. And things were about to get much, much scarier.
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20. She Offered Her Home
In January of 1342, as the conflict raged into its second year, the French King’s lieutenant chose the de Clisson castle of Blain as the French army’s headquarters. And while Jeanne and Olivier were more than happy to offer their support, this probably only served to deepen the rift in the de Clisson camp. It did not turn out well for the embattled couple in the end.
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21. Her Husband Got Scooped
Jeanne’s husband was called to do his duty for France and ended up stationed as a commander defending the city of Vannes. After three unsuccessful attempts, the English finally managed to take the city, resulting in Olivier’s capture. Luckily for Jeanne, they would not apprehend her husband for long.
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22. Her Husband Came Cheap
It was not long before Jeanne’s husband got released in exchange for an English Earl that the French had imprisoned—and a shockingly small amount of money. The ease with which they'd released Olivier from custody turned a few powerful heads in France…
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23. Her Husband Was Suspected
With Olivier now safely back in Jeanne’s arms, suspicion grew among a section of the French nobility that the whole affair had gone a little too smoothly. Soon, a few nobles who had the king’s ear began to suspect that Olivier had colluded with the English, intentionally not defending the city to his fullest ability; Charles de Blois straight up accused him of treason. As the conflict wound down, however, Jeanne and her husband were none the wiser.
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24. She Thought It Was Finally Over
Jeanne's life had turned turbulent over the course of the conflict, but the end finally looked in sight by year’s end. The English and French signed the Truce of Malestroit on January 19, 1343, and they planned a lavish tournament to celebrate the peace, to which Olivier received an invitation. He set off, unassumingly, to join the festivities. Little did Jeanne know, she would never see him again.
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25. Her Husband Got Charged
Upon arrival at the tournament, French authorities promptly arrested Jeanne’s husband for suspected treason and immediately whisked him off to Paris to face trial. What occurred in that courtroom is unclear to time, but one historian some time after the fact had an idea…
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26. Her Husband May Have Plotted
300 years later, André Duchesne, known as the father of French history, claimed that the Crown presented Jeanne’s husband with evidence against him in the form of private correspondence between him and England’s King Edward, where the King attempted to convince him to change sides. It is unclear whether this evidence actually existed, but it mattered little to Jeanne, who just wanted her love back.
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27. She Wanted Her Man
Immediately after learning of her husband’s fate, Jeanne de Clisson set to work, trying desperately to have him set free. However, her doomed efforts culminated in an ill-advised attempt to bribe one of the King’s sergeants. The act would not free her husband and would, in fact, only land her in more hot water.
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28. She Got Charged
The King, upon learning of Jeanne’s attempted bribery, was furious. Already suspecting her by association, he officially charged the noblewoman with rebellion, disobedience, and excesses against the King, summoning her to Paris to answer for her alleged sins. Jeanne would not fall into such a trap so easily.
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29. She Went Into Hiding
After she refused the summons, the King sent authorities to Brittany to apprehend Jeanne. The cunning woman managed to evade arrest, however, taking shelter under the protection of her stepson, Olivier’s eldest child from his first marriage. But the Crown eventually insisted that she would have to face the music.
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30. She Got Sentenced
Following Jeanne’s successful evasion of the authorities, the King of France knew he would have to exact harsher measures. In June of 1343, the Crown found Jeanne de Clisson guilty in absentia of all charges levelled against her. The monarchy knew, however, that they needed to send the strongest message possible.
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31. She Got A Warning
The Crown could not tolerate Jeanne’s insubordination, and they took drastic measures to prove it. On August 2, 1343, Olivier IV faced execution by beheading in Paris. But that wasn't the extent of this horror. They went so far as to send his head to Nantes in Brittany to be displayed on a pike at the city gate. Jeanne de Clisson was horrified—and she wasn’t the only one.
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32. Her Husband’s Demise Was Shocking
The execution of Jeanne’s husband shocked the nobility across France, for a variety of reasons. For one thing, the Crown never publicly proved Olivier’s guilt. Furthermore, such a desecration of his remains was the kind of deranged punishment often inflicted upon lower-class wrongdoers. It was enough to boil Jeanne’s blood, but the monarchy added one more layer to her misery.
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33. She Got Banished
Three weeks after her husband’s execution, when Jeanne had still not emerged to face justice, the Crown escalated once again. For her previous bribery attempt, the monarchy added the charge of lèse-majesté, which came with the penalty of confiscation of property and banishment from the land. With nowhere to go, Jeanne had to make a plan—but first she made sure her family knew what they were fighting for.
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34. She Hardened Her Children
Her husband’s fate enraged Jeanne, and she wanted to see the brutality for herself—and to show Olivier’s heirs, too. Risking capture, she emerged from hiding and travelled clandestinely to Nantes with her two young sons so that they could gaze upon their father’s head, and with it, the conduct of their so-called ruler. Seeing the King’s dirty work only enraged her further.
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35. She Made A Vow
Upon seeing the head, Jeanne was furious. She considered the King’s action to be one of cowardice and dishonor, and in that moment, vowed to exact revenge against King Philip VI and her husband’s accuser, Charles de Blois. She fled into the night with a plan for terrible vengeance.
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36. She Clapped Back
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Acting quickly, before her properties could come under occupation, Jeanne sold all the de Clisson estates and, with the proceeds, organized an army of 400 local men. With a small force behind her, the vengeful noblewoman began assailing French officers throughout Brittany. It was an uncommon sight to see a woman conducting such attacks, and Jeanne used this to her advantage.
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37. She Played Coy
One of the castles that Jeanne and her forces attacked was at Touffou, by the edge of a forest, and under the command of Galois de la Heuse, who was an officer of Charles de Blois. Galois was clearly not abreast of current events; when Jeanne showed up at his castle, he recognized her and granted her entry.
It was a big mistake: as soon as the gates opened, Jeanne’s forces stormed the garrison and wiped out everyone inside. But despite her successes, Jeanne knew she couldn’t win a large-scale land conflict…
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38. She Looked To The Seas
Turning to phase two of her plan, Jeanne used the wealth plundered from a variety of castles and garrisons across Brittany to fund the conversion of three merchant ships into vessels for naval battle. But before setting sail, she made sure her transport looked the part.
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39. She Established A Brand
Jeanne’s naval forces became known as the Black Fleet because of their fear-inspiring appearance: many sources claim that she painted the ships jet black and dyed the sails blood red, casting an intimidating presence across the French coast. The unassuming noblewoman had made a dramatic career pivot.
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40. She Hit The Waves
Jeanne set sail with the Black Fleet, and her transformation was complete: she was a noblewoman turned pirate. All the while, her motivation was at the forefront of her mind: avenging the execution of her husband. To that end, she reportedly named her flagship My Revenge. She knew she couldn’t defeat the French on the battlefield, so instead, she hit them where it would hurt.
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41. She Became A Pirate
Jeanne took her fleet and began attacking French commerce ships, initially hunting them down in the Bay of Biscay before moving into the more active English Channel trading routes. She was responsible for vast amounts of damage and loss to French assets. But it wasn’t just the cargo that she targeted.
Jeanne had a twisted dark side.
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42. She Wiped Out Crews
Jeanne and her forces wreaked complete havoc on the French ships of the Channel, instilling fear into the hearts of all French sailors. Her rogue band gained a reputation for slaughtering almost the entire crew of each ship they attacked. They needed to get the word out, however.
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43. She Sent A Message
Jeanne’s mission was primarily one of revenge, and she needed the French powers to make no mistake in placing blame for the loss of their merchant crews. To that end, the vengeful privateer would always leave a few crew members alive to recount the chilling takeovers to the French King. Such grim tactics quickly earned her a fearful reputation on the seas.
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44. She Got A Nickname
Jeanne was not messing around out there on the waves, and her fear-based guerrilla warfare earned her the moniker of “The Lioness of Brittany”. The humble young noblewoman from France had completed her transformation into a Breton pirate, inspiring terror in her once-fellow countrymen, and her strategy was having a noticeable effect.
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45. She Hit Them Where It Hurt
Jeanne’s decision to attack merchant ships rather than engage with her French opponents was a deliberate one: this tactic, known as commerce raiding, sought to disrupt the enemy’s logistics. Much like guerrilla warfare on land, Jeanne’s crew would employ swarming tactics, grappling onto merchant ships and putting crews to the sword. It wasn’t smooth sailing forever, though.
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46. She Went Adrift
Despite her capability and savvy tactics, Jeanne’s luck would soon run out. The French naval fleet eventually tracked her down and, after a brief engagement with the pirates, sank Jeanne’s flagship. She survived the encounter, but at great cost: she and her two sons were adrift for five whole days, during which time her son Guillaume tragically perished from exposure. Jeanne would not give up, however.
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47. She Had A Long Career
After five days, Jeanne's supporters rescued her and her remaining son Olivier, providing them with subsequent refuge in Morlaix. The tireless privateer was eager to get back out on the seas, however, and she would end up continuing her piracy in the English Channel for 13 more years. Eventually, though, it came time to hang up her boots.
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48. She Took One More Husband
By the 1350s, Jeanne was ready to once again settle down, and she married her fourth husband, Walter Bentley. Bentley was a military deputy of English King Edward III, and was a decorated and accomplished lieutenant who had been rewarded with lands and castles in conquered areas of France for his leading role in the Battle of Mauron. These spoils offered his new wife a comfortable retirement.
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49. She Retired
Jeanne finally decided to settle down at the Castle of Hennebont, located near a port town on the Brittany coast. Safe within the territory of her de Montfort allies, she passed peacefully at the age of around 58, a few weeks after her husband. Her story was too irresistibly thrilling to be simply lost to time, however.
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50. She Was Etched In Words
Jeanne’s legacy was secured and her story immortalized in Émile Pehant's 1868 novel, Jeanne de Belleville. Drawing heavily from her story, the novel was a notable entry in the French romantic canon and renewed interest in the dramatic story of a noblewoman who became a pirate out for revenge.
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