Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. Hi,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening to Noble Blood. If
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Speaker 1: Rain on the CW to talk about their lack of
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Speaker 1: The summer of thirty had been a mild one in Brittany,
Speaker 1: which is located in the northwest of France near the
Speaker 1: Atlantic Ocean, and summers there were typically warm with heavy rain.
Speaker 1: Back in the fourteenth century, Brittany was an independent feudal
Speaker 1: state and its capital not sat three hundred or so
Speaker 1: miles southwest of Paris. It served as a natural crossroads
Speaker 1: between the rest of Brittany and the separate kingdom of France.
Speaker 1: In early August thirty three, a woman named Jean de
Speaker 1: Clissa and her two sons, seven year old Olivier fifth
Speaker 1: and five year old Guillaume, arrived at the main gates
Speaker 1: of Nantes. If you were imagining the scene, the three
Speaker 1: of them would have stopped there for a moment there
Speaker 1: at the stone archoy to the city, and gazed up
Speaker 1: to see a horrific sight the rotting decapitated head of
Speaker 1: Jean's husband, the boy's father. His head was impaled on
Speaker 1: a pike and gently swaying in the salt breeze. And
Speaker 1: because Olivier the Fourth's head had travel old there to
Speaker 1: not from Paris, three d miles away, the head would
Speaker 1: have been swollen, rotting foul. Olivier the Fourth's body remained
Speaker 1: behind in Paris in a gibbet or barred cage, but
Speaker 1: his head was here in Brittany to send a message.
Speaker 1: Days earlier, on August second, forty three, Olivier the Fourth
Speaker 1: had been tried and found guilty on several counts of treason.
Speaker 1: He was executed at Leal by the King of France.
Speaker 1: Despite Olivier the Fourth's rank, King Philip the sixth of France,
Speaker 1: had humiliated him in death in an attempt to dissuade
Speaker 1: other would be traders in his midst. But the king's
Speaker 1: actions were shocking and unconventional to both Breton and French nobility.
Speaker 1: After all, Olivia the fourth Decklessan had been a wealthy
Speaker 1: Breton lord, and night after death his body had been
Speaker 1: displayed in a public manner only reserved for low class criminals.
Speaker 1: Olivier the Fourth's trial was also alarming, even suspicious. He
Speaker 1: was accused of treason, but any evidence of his guilt
Speaker 1: was not publicly demonstrated. Allegedly it had been privately confessed,
Speaker 1: but no one had seen any evidence of that. Jean
Speaker 1: and her two sons had traveled some twenty miles from
Speaker 1: their castle, the Chateau de Clissan, to see Olivier the
Speaker 1: Fourth's head. Why Jean brought two of her children from
Speaker 1: the confines of the castle to see the rotting head
Speaker 1: of their father is unclear. Perhaps to see his face,
Speaker 1: however foul one last time, or perhaps knowing Jean's character
Speaker 1: and what she would do next, It was to instill
Speaker 1: a need for revenge. Do not forget this, her actions
Speaker 1: might have said, do not forgive this. When Jean and
Speaker 1: her two sons left the countryside that day, Jean cut
Speaker 1: ties with proper noble society. With the Loire River flowing
Speaker 1: just beyond, and the head of her husband of thirteen
Speaker 1: years swaying in tandem with the breeze, Jean swore bloody
Speaker 1: revenge on the King of France, and she kept her promise.
Speaker 1: I'm Danis Schwartz, and this is noble blood. Jean de
Speaker 1: Clisson was born in thirteen hundred into an aristocratic family.
Speaker 1: Her parents were among the most powerful nobles in Brittany.
Speaker 1: Their lands were extensive, stretching all across southern Brittany to
Speaker 1: the Atlantic Ocean. Her family virtually controlled access to the sea,
Speaker 1: and they had ruled the area for hundreds of years.
Speaker 1: We know very little about Jean's early life. Most likely
Speaker 1: she enjoyed a relatively bucolic aristocratic childhood at the castle
Speaker 1: fortress on the western coast of France that she would
Speaker 1: eventually inherit. But however adelic it might have been, her
Speaker 1: childhood did not last long. In thirteen twelve, when Jean
Speaker 1: was twelve years old, she was married off to a
Speaker 1: Breton nobleman, Jeoffrey de chateaubriand the eighth, the nineteen year
Speaker 1: old heir to one of the key estates in Brittany.
Speaker 1: When Jean was fourteen and again at sixteen, she gave
Speaker 1: birth to two surviving children, a son, Geoffrey and a daughter, Louise.
Speaker 1: After over a decade of marriage, her first husband died
Speaker 1: in thirteen twenty six, leaving Jean a twenty six year
Speaker 1: old widow. A woman of high birth and wealth, Jean
Speaker 1: was also a noted beauty. Historian Richard Bentley called her
Speaker 1: quote one of the most beautiful women of her day,
Speaker 1: and she had reddish brown hair and fair skin, which
Speaker 1: was a symbol of status at the time. Still, unmarried
Speaker 1: women in the fourteenth century, even women of noble standing,
Speaker 1: had close to no power, and to insure the safety
Speaker 1: and well being of herself and her children, Jean needed
Speaker 1: to remarry. Two years later, in thirteen twenty eight, Jean
Speaker 1: married the son of the Duke of Brittany, Guy of Penthief,
Speaker 1: which should have been a coup. However, factions of Guy's
Speaker 1: family opposed the union. On February tenth, thirteen thirty, within
Speaker 1: two years of the relationship, the marriage was scandalously annulled
Speaker 1: by Pope John the twenty second, allegedly because the marriage
Speaker 1: was never consummated, but it's difficult to know the truth
Speaker 1: of that. Jean was remarried once more, this time to
Speaker 1: Olivier the Fourth de Clessent, a wealthy Breton nobleman, lord
Speaker 1: and knight. Olivier the fourth was a widower as well,
Speaker 1: and it seems like he was almost exactly the same
Speaker 1: age as Jean. Upon their marria rich the pair became
Speaker 1: one of the wealthiest and most influential couples in Brittany,
Speaker 1: with control of a number of estates and vast properties.
Speaker 1: Jean and Olivier the Fourth were married for thirteen years
Speaker 1: and had five children. Their eldest child, Isabella, was born
Speaker 1: in thirteen thirty one, and then came Maurice, Olivier the five, Guillaume,
Speaker 1: and little baby Jean born thirteen forty. By the time
Speaker 1: Jean was thirty years old, she was the mother to
Speaker 1: seven children. Now for a little bit of geographical context,
Speaker 1: Brittany was at the time an independent medieval feudal state
Speaker 1: located in the western tip of modern France, south of England.
Speaker 1: Parts of Brittany and some nobles at the time were
Speaker 1: loyal to the English, while other parts and other people
Speaker 1: were loyal to the French. But the majority of Breton's
Speaker 1: considered themselves first and foremost Bretons loyal to the Duke
Speaker 1: of Brittany over the kings of England or France. But
Speaker 1: outside of Brittany, tensions between England and France continued to brew,
Speaker 1: which finally set the stage for an all out war.
Speaker 1: Was a succession crisis. Charles the Fourth of France died
Speaker 1: childless in thirteen twenty eight, and his closest heir was
Speaker 1: his nephew, the English king Edward the third. His claim
Speaker 1: to the throne was his mother, Isabella of France. Yet
Speaker 1: the French nobility at the time rejected Edward the Third's
Speaker 1: claim in favor of a native French ruler. One of
Speaker 1: the longest and bloodiest conflicts of the Middle Ages, this brutal,
Speaker 1: epic turning struggle became known as the Hundred Years of War.
Speaker 1: To complicate matters, in thirteen forty one, the Duke of
Speaker 1: Brittany also died without an air. Both the French and
Speaker 1: English claimed his lands in northwestern France. The War of
Speaker 1: Breton succession officially became a proxy conflict of the Hundred
Speaker 1: Years War. Jehan's husband, Olivier the Fourth, was a descendant
Speaker 1: of English knights who were awarded estates in Brittany to
Speaker 1: preserve the claim of the English crown on the province
Speaker 1: by the thirteen forties. Olivier the Fourth was a loyal
Speaker 1: vassal of the King of France, King Philip the Fourth.
Speaker 1: That was at least in part a pragmatic decision. In
Speaker 1: addition to their Breton lands, the de Clissons possessed extensive
Speaker 1: lands in the Kingdom of France. If they sided with
Speaker 1: the English in the Breton succession, it would immediately lead
Speaker 1: to the seizure of their estates outside of Brittany. So,
Speaker 1: despite ancestral ties to England, Olivier the Fourth loyally joined
Speaker 1: the French in thirteen forty two to defend Brittany from
Speaker 1: the English and to back the French claimant to the
Speaker 1: Breton throne. Charles du Blois. Olivier the Fourth and a
Speaker 1: man named Hervey the seventh a Lyon, were acting as
Speaker 1: military commanders in defense of the French city of Vant
Speaker 1: until the city fell to English control in November of
Speaker 1: thirteen forty two. The two commanders were captured. Two months
Speaker 1: went by until on January nine, thirteen forty three, a
Speaker 1: new peace treaty between the English and the French was
Speaker 1: mediated by Pope Clement the sixth, King Edward of England
Speaker 1: and King Philippa France agreed to the truth. But while
Speaker 1: Hervey the seventh day Leon remained in English custody, Olivier
Speaker 1: the fourth was released in exchange for an English prisoner
Speaker 1: and payment, but the ransom for Olivier the fourth was
Speaker 1: surprisingly low. Suspiciously, according to Charles de Blois, who was
Speaker 1: by then established as the Duke of Brittany, he became
Speaker 1: convinced that Olivier the fourth was a trader and had
Speaker 1: defected to the English. Exactly why he believed this is unclear.
Speaker 1: Some versions of the story say that Olivier the Fourth
Speaker 1: actually did switch sides, although those accounts are much rarer.
Speaker 1: In the summer of thirteen forty three, Olivier the fourth
Speaker 1: was invited to attend a tournament in the Kingdom of
Speaker 1: France in celebration of the truce. However, when he arrived,
Speaker 1: he was immediately arrested and taken to Paris, where he
Speaker 1: was tried. Before fifteen noble peers, including his accuser Charles
Speaker 1: du Bois, and the King himself. After her husband's arrest,
Speaker 1: they said, Jean bribed a royal sergeant to try to
Speaker 1: get Olivier released. Her plan failed, and the sergeant was arrested.
Speaker 1: Olivier the Fourth's trial on August second, thirty three was
Speaker 1: a quick matter with a foregone conclusion. It was followed
Speaker 1: immediately by his beheading. Here's the part in the story
Speaker 1: where we get to Jean and her kids taking that
Speaker 1: family trip to the gates of Nantes to see their
Speaker 1: father's decapitated head. After that, Jean was summoned to Paris
Speaker 1: to face trial for her attempted bribery of the king's sergeant,
Speaker 1: but she never went. Rather than report to Paris to
Speaker 1: face continued punishment for her husband's trumped up charges, Jehan
Speaker 1: sold jewelry, furniture, and, according to some accounts, even her
Speaker 1: body to raise money for a small army. Jean and
Speaker 1: her troops traveled throughout Brittany, rallying unhappy wealthy nobles supporters
Speaker 1: of her husband. The couple had had plenty of powerful
Speaker 1: friends and the friends and families of other executed nobles
Speaker 1: or nobles who had been mistreated by the French king.
Speaker 1: Jean rallied her troops with the common goal of ridding
Speaker 1: Brittany of the French King. Philip the fourth declared Jean
Speaker 1: de Cleissent a trader and confiscated her lands. They had
Speaker 1: said the same thing about her husband. The forty three
Speaker 1: year old widow was going to show the French the
Speaker 1: meaning of the word trader and let fall carnage. The
Speaker 1: Chateau de Toufu sat about twin dekilometers southeast of Nantes,
Speaker 1: and it was under the command of a man named
Speaker 1: Galois de Laharius, an officer loyal to Charles de Bois.
Speaker 1: In one episode of the tale, Jean was invited to
Speaker 1: the castle. Galois had not yet heard the news of
Speaker 1: Olivier the Fourth's trial and execution, and so he was
Speaker 1: just inviting a noble woman to enjoy his hospitality. In
Speaker 1: another version of the story, Jean arrived seemingly in need,
Speaker 1: with tears streaming down her cheeks. None the wiser Galwah
Speaker 1: welcomed John inn and why not. The very garrison he
Speaker 1: had commanded had once been a former post under the
Speaker 1: control of her now decapitated husband. As soon as the
Speaker 1: main gate was opened, Jean and her four hundred or
Speaker 1: so men launched their guerrilla insurgency, storming the castle. Her
Speaker 1: forces massacred almost the entire garrison. Jean engaged in the
Speaker 1: slaughter right alongside her soldiers. As French historian Maurice Julesabelle
Speaker 1: Lefranc described quote, the blood of all the other keepers
Speaker 1: or inhabitants of the castle was mercilessly shed, like a
Speaker 1: first exputory sacrifice offered in memory of Olivier de Clisson.
Speaker 1: As you can imagine, the story of the vengeful widow
Speaker 1: has veered into the apocryphal over the centuries. A version
Speaker 1: of the story mentioned that gal Woas was the only
Speaker 1: one to escape Gendrath, and thus inadvertently established what would
Speaker 1: become her future modus operandi. A single person would be
Speaker 1: left alive after a raid to tell the King of
Speaker 1: France of the carnage. By the time Charles de Brans
Speaker 1: and his army arrived at the castle, Jean's forces, along
Speaker 1: with everything of value within the fortress, had disappeared. Pulling
Speaker 1: together the rest of her money and whatever they had plundered,
Speaker 1: Jean sailed to England with two of her sons, Olivier,
Speaker 1: the fifth and Um in order to assemble a small
Speaker 1: fleet of three massive warships. Where her other children were
Speaker 1: during this time is unknown. John's priorities had shifted away
Speaker 1: from the domestic. She had sworn revenge on the French king,
Speaker 1: and so to the sea she went. She christened her
Speaker 1: fleet fittingly enough, my Revenge. She hired the best captains
Speaker 1: and crews, a mix of Breton's English and rogue French,
Speaker 1: and she armed them well. Jean personally commanded the Black Fleet,
Speaker 1: beginning her career as a pirate, taking refuge in the
Speaker 1: fog enshrouded coves and inlets of the Brittany coast, raiding
Speaker 1: coastal villages along Normandy, and plundering French supply ships and vessels.
Speaker 1: Despite her pattern of leaving at least one personal live
Speaker 1: to report her vengeance to the king, there are not
Speaker 1: many reviving accounts of Jean's exploits. However, according to legend,
Speaker 1: the survivors of her massacres always told a similar story.
Speaker 1: The stories begin with these pitiful two or three survivors,
Speaker 1: their close smelling of the briny sea air, and covered
Speaker 1: in blood. They'd have already been stripped of their weapons, armor,
Speaker 1: and French insignia, and they'd be bleeding from cuts and
Speaker 1: heavily bruised altogether, just shaken from the massacre they had
Speaker 1: witnessed and had at random survived. To whoever would listen,
Speaker 1: these desperate souls would recount how three black ships on
Speaker 1: the horizon had appeared in the fog. Three massive haunting
Speaker 1: warships with pitch black wood crimson sails read as blood,
Speaker 1: propelled the ships through the water. The friendships, being overtaken,
Speaker 1: would try to defend themselves. They had launched fire, arrows,
Speaker 1: fault with swords, spears, axes, but inevitably they would be
Speaker 1: overrun in minutes, the invading forces proving too ferocious. Striding
Speaker 1: along the conquered deck wielding a well worn axe behind her,
Speaker 1: the captain, a woman, would appear and she would quickly
Speaker 1: survey her captives. As the stories go, she would point,
Speaker 1: seemingly at random to two or three men, the sole survivors.
Speaker 1: She would need to leave two or three enough to
Speaker 1: sail back to French soil to spread her tale of terror.
Speaker 1: On her signal, her men would massacre the remaining crew.
Speaker 1: She herself would raise her axe and behead every person
Speaker 1: of nobility aboard the vessel. Remember, beheading a man was
Speaker 1: something that even strong professional executioners had trouble doing in
Speaker 1: a single stroke, and so we can imagine that Jean's
Speaker 1: victims most likely endured several hacks before their heads were
Speaker 1: dislodged from their bodies. The French historian Lefranc claims that
Speaker 1: she quote mercilessly put to death all the French who
Speaker 1: fell into her hands, despite the money that she could
Speaker 1: have made ransoming nobles, Jean de Clisson severed the heads
Speaker 1: of any and all French nobility. She saw a fitting
Speaker 1: revenge for her husband's demise. She would then toss their
Speaker 1: lifeless bodies overboard. From there, Genred had below deck to
Speaker 1: plunder for valuables. Before leaving the conquered ship, she would
Speaker 1: look the two to three survivors in the eyes with cold,
Speaker 1: hateful stairs. You've been left alive, she'd say, to tell
Speaker 1: your king that the Lioness of Brittany claimed another of
Speaker 1: his ships. And thus the legend of the Lioness was born.
Speaker 1: Among the common Breton people and the English allies of Brittany,
Speaker 1: Jean's popularity grew. I do think it is important to
Speaker 1: remember that you should probably take the sheer drama of
Speaker 1: her story with a grain of sea salt. Remember this
Speaker 1: is kind of exactly the sort of propaganda story that
Speaker 1: would get exaggerated on both sides. Both her enemies and
Speaker 1: supporters would want to play up how brutal she was,
Speaker 1: her enemies to paint her as barbaric, and her allies
Speaker 1: to make her seem scarier for future opponents. But even
Speaker 1: if the details have probably been distorted over the centuries,
Speaker 1: the spine of the story is true. After the death
Speaker 1: of her husband, Jean had hatred in her heart for
Speaker 1: the French king and in turn hatred for any noble
Speaker 1: loyal to the king. And in the waters between France
Speaker 1: and England, Jean de Clisson, a noble woman born in Brittany,
Speaker 1: avenged the death of her husband one bloody French mass
Speaker 1: her at a time. Two years into her pirate ng in,
Speaker 1: the French finally managed to engage her fleet and sink
Speaker 1: her flagship. Jean and her two sons, Olivier the fifth
Speaker 1: and Guillaume, escaped the assault by rowboat, adrift on the
Speaker 1: violent waves for five or six days without food or water.
Speaker 1: Young Guillaume died of exposure. Jean and Olivier the Fifth
Speaker 1: were ultimately rescued by allies, and years later young Olivier
Speaker 1: would grow up into a soldier so brutal he would
Speaker 1: be nicknamed the Butcher. But this is a story about
Speaker 1: his mother arriving in England. It seems that from this
Speaker 1: point the noblewoman turned bloody pirate transitioned into privateering, which
Speaker 1: meant that she would be acting as a pirate, but
Speaker 1: legally on behalf of a nation, in this case England,
Speaker 1: who was eager to have as many vessels as possible
Speaker 1: joining with them in the fight against the French and
Speaker 1: the Hundred Years War. King Edward the third of England
Speaker 1: granted John land in the areas of Brittany that the
Speaker 1: English controlled, along with titles, and he supplied her with
Speaker 1: money and ships as a thank you for clearing the
Speaker 1: English channel of the French. In turn, Jean ferried supplies
Speaker 1: and men from England to France in support of the English,
Speaker 1: and of course, all the while she continued her carnage.
Speaker 1: Jean continued for the next several years plundering and massacring
Speaker 1: all ships owned by or allied with the French Crown.
Speaker 1: And even when King Philip the six of France, her
Speaker 1: bitter enemy, died in thirteen fifty, Jean continued privateering for
Speaker 1: the English for an additional six years. Jean's pirate slash
Speaker 1: privateer career lasted for thirteen blood soaked years, and there's
Speaker 1: a coincidence there that seems too fitting to dismiss, whether
Speaker 1: she did it purposefully or not. Jean massacred the French
Speaker 1: by sea for one year for every year she had
Speaker 1: been married to her beloved husband. In thirteen fifty six, Jean,
Speaker 1: then fifty six years old, took refuge in England and
Speaker 1: married Sir Walter Bentley, a lieutenant to King Edward the Third.
Speaker 1: Like Jean, Bentley had served valiantly on the side of
Speaker 1: the English during the Hundred Years War. The two retired
Speaker 1: at the castle of Hennebont, a port town on the
Speaker 1: Brittany coast, which was at the time controlled by the English,
Speaker 1: and they remained there for the rest of Jean's life.
Speaker 1: Jean passed away in thirteen fifty nine, fifty nine years old.
Speaker 1: The cause of her death isn't known specifically, and so
Speaker 1: it's most likely disease or natural causes. The story of
Speaker 1: Jean de Clisson, noble woman turned pirate, is I admit,
Speaker 1: almost unbelievable, and it has been argued frequently that such
Speaker 1: a figure couldn't possibly have existed, and yet there are
Speaker 1: several historical sources which confirm her existence, like a French
Speaker 1: court document from thirteen forty three confirming the confiscation of
Speaker 1: Jehan's lands due to her being labeled as a traitor
Speaker 1: to France, and there's an English document that same year
Speaker 1: indicating that she earned money from said land under the
Speaker 1: English crown. Likewise, there's an English document from thirteen forty
Speaker 1: seven listing her as an English ally. Other documents confirm
Speaker 1: her marriage to Bentley as well, despite the relative dearth
Speaker 1: of other primary sources. After all, the sea doesn't lend
Speaker 1: itself to preserved paper artifacts or diaries, and legal piracy
Speaker 1: was not an occupation in which people were fastidious about
Speaker 1: record keeping. Jean de Clissan and the legend of the
Speaker 1: Lioness of Brittany lives on in French folklore. Once again,
Speaker 1: I want to flag, especially with this sort of store,
Speaker 1: it's challenging to tease out what exactly was true and
Speaker 1: what was legend. But we know that Jean de Cleisson
Speaker 1: was a real person, while the truth of some of
Speaker 1: the more dramatic flourishes of the tale remained nebulous. We
Speaker 1: know that she grieved and mourned the beheading of her husband,
Speaker 1: and then we know she decided to take revenge into
Speaker 1: her own hands however she could. That's the story of
Speaker 1: Jean de Clisson, the Lioness of Brittany. But stick around
Speaker 1: after a brief sponsor break to hear how the woman
Speaker 1: who so terrified France lives on today. Jean de Cleisson
Speaker 1: survived seven childbirths without the aid of medicine. She lived
Speaker 1: through the Black Death and spent thirteen dangerous years as
Speaker 1: a pirate. She lived a very long, full life until
Speaker 1: she was fifty nine years old, a fairly old age
Speaker 1: given the dangerous life she lived, despite her relatively homey
Speaker 1: and calm final years that she spent married in a
Speaker 1: Brittany port town. Reportedly, after her death, Jean is not
Speaker 1: resting in peace. It said that after her death, Jean
Speaker 1: spirit traveled to the Chateau de Clisson. The ruins of
Speaker 1: the castle, which was destroyed during the French Revolution, still
Speaker 1: tower over the Severnantes River today within its stone walls.
Speaker 1: Visitors have reported seeing Jean's restless ghost haunting the ruins.
Speaker 1: Some say she's reunited with Olivia, the fourth de Clissons
Speaker 1: spirit there, as well the tortured lovers walking the halls
Speaker 1: side by side. Noble Blood is a production of iHeart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood
Speaker 1: is hosted by me Danish Wartz. Additional writing and researching
Speaker 1: done by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Mura Hayward, Courtney Sender,
Speaker 1: and Laurie Goodman. The show is produced by Rema al Kali,
Speaker 1: with supervising producer Josh Thayne and executive producers Aaron Mankey,
Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.