Joan of France, Duchess of Brittany

Joan of France (January 24, 1391 – September 27, 1433) was a daughter of King Charles VI of France and his wife, Queen Isabeau of Bavaria. Her most notable siblings were King Charles VII of France, Catherine of Valois (who married King Henry V of England and was mother of King Henry VI of England), Isabella of Valois (who married King Richard II of England) and Michelle of Valois, who married Philip III, Duke of Burgundy.

Marriage

In 1396 Joan married John VI, Duke of Brittany. Together they had seven children:

• Anne (1409 – c. 1415)
• Isabella (1411 – c. 1442), who in 1435 married Guy XIV of Laval and had 3 children with him.
• Margaret (1412 – c. 1421)
• Francis I (1414 – c. 1450), duke of Brittany
• Catherine (1416 – c. 1421)
• Peter II (1418 – c. 1457), duke of Brittany
• Gilles (1420 – c. 1450), seigneur of Chantocé.

The counts of Penthièvre had not renounced Brittany, which they had lost at the start of the Breton War of Succession in the 1340s, a loss confirmed in the Treaty of Guérande of 1365. They invited John VI to a festival held at Châtonceaux in 1420; John came and was arrested. The counts of Penthiève then spread rumours of his death and moved him to a new prison each day. Joan of France called upon all the barons of Brittany to respond. They besieged all the castles of the Penthièvre family one by one. Joan ended by seizing the dowager comtesse of Penthièvre, Marguerite of Clisson, forcing Marguerite to have the duke freed.

Joan's great-grand-daughter (through her daughter Isabelle of Laval) was Charlotte de Laval (1530–1568), wife of Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France (assassinated in 1572). Their daughter Louise de Coligny was the fourth and final wife of William the Silent, prince of Orange.

Ancestry

Source

• This page is a translation of fr:Jeanne de France (1391-1433).