Jeanne de Clisson – ‘The Lioness of Brittany’
In the mid 1400s, French sailors who saw blood red sails emerging from the fog knew it meant one thing. They were about to die. After all, noble-woman-turned-pirate Jeanne de Clisson built her notorious ‘Black Fleet’ for only one reason: to avenge her husband’s death. And in this, she showed absolutely no mercy. Blood for blood.
For 13 years straight, Jeanne – who historians like to describe as ‘stunningly beautiful’ – led a small, but much-feared fleet against one the most powerful armies in the world. Operating 400 years before Anne Bonny, Jeanne didn’t yet fly the Jolly Rogers flag but had a different – some might say stylishly French – way to strike terror in the heart of her enemies: her three ships were painted entirely black, their sails dyed a crimson red. (Très Louboutin, non?).
How different her life had looked just a few years earlier! Jeanne had been happily married with five children to wealthy nobleman Olivier de Clisson when the ‘Hundred Years’ War’ broke out. Falsely accused of collaborating with the English enemy, Olivier was executed without a trial, his head put on display on a spike. Something broke in Jeanne. She took her children to see their father’s head, sold all her possessions and became France’s number one enemy as a fearless swashbuckling pirate. The Lioness of Brittany was born.
The tales of Jeanne’s pirate years paint her as a near-superhuman villain. Jeanne was said to have personally beheaded each member of the captured crews. When her flagship sunk in the middle of the sea, she supposedly rowed a small boat all the way to England (speaking of a fitgirl avant la lettre!). But to me, the mere fact that Jeanne independently managed a fleet during a time when women had only three career options – housewife, midwife or nun – is awe-inspiring enough. And so, I’m secretly pleased that her story has a happy ending with a twist: finding love again with an English knight, Sir Walter Bentley, Jeanne quit pirating and moved into Honnebont Castle in Brittany with her new husband. The former owner? Jeanne de Montfort, another legendary female pirate! In 1359, Jeanne died peacefully in her sleep. The lioness roared no more.
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