Anne of Brittany (; 25/26 January 1477 – 9 January 1514) was reigning
Duchess of Brittany from 1488 until her death, and
Queen of France from 1491 to 1498 and from 1499 to her death. She is the only woman to have been queen consort of France twice. During the
Italian Wars, Anne also became
Queen of Naples, from 1501 to 1504, and
Duchess of Milan
Lady of Milan
Early consorts
''The name wives and consorts of the early Della Torre lords of Milan are not known. But Napoleone della Torre may have been married to a Margherita di Baux.''
House of Visconti, 1277–1302
House of della To ...
, in 1499–1500 and from 1500 to 1512.
Anne was raised in
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
during a series of conflicts in which the King of France sought to assert his
suzerainty
Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is cal ...
over Brittany. Her father,
Francis II, Duke of Brittany, was the last male of the
House of Montfort. Upon his death in 1488, Anne became duchess regnant of Brittany, countess of
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
,
Montfort, and
Richmond, and viscountess of
Limoges
Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...
. She was only 11 at that time, but she was already a coveted heiress because of Brittany's strategic position. The next year, she married
Maximilian I of Austria by
proxy, but
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable (french: l'Affable; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13.Paul Murray Kendall, ''Louis XI: The Universal Spider'' (Ne ...
saw this as a threat since his realm was located between Brittany and Austria. He started a military campaign which eventually forced the duchess to renounce her marriage.
Anne eventually married Charles VIII in 1491. None of their children survived early childhood, and when the king died in 1498, the throne went to his cousin,
Louis XII. Following an agreement made to secure the annexation of Brittany, Anne had to marry the new king. Louis XII was deeply in love with his wife and Anne had many opportunities to reassert the independence of her duchy. They had two daughters together and, although neither could succeed to the French throne due to the
Salic Law
The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...
, the eldest was proclaimed the heiress of Brittany. Anne managed to have her eldest daughter engaged to
Charles of Austria, grandchild of Maximilian I, but after her death in 1514, her daughter married her cousin
Francis I of France. This marriage later led to the formal
union between France and Brittany.
Anne is highly regarded in Brittany as a conscientious ruler who defended the duchy against France. In the
Romantic period, she became a figure of Breton patriotism and she was honoured with many memorials and statues. Her artistic legacy is important in the
Loire Valley, where she spent most of her life. She was notably responsible, with her husbands, for architectural projects in the ''
châteaux'' of
Blois and
Amboise.
Life
Early years and education
Anne was born on 25 or 26 January 1477 in the
Castle of the Dukes of Brittany in the city of
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
in what is now the
Loire-Atlantique
Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population o ...
''
département'' of France, as the eldest child of Duke
Francis II of Brittany and his second wife
Margaret of Foix, Infanta of Navarre. Four years later (before 10 May 1481), her parents had a second daughter, Isabelle. Her mother died when Anne was little, while her father died when Anne was eleven years old.
It is likely that she learned to read and write in French, and perhaps a little Latin. Contrary to what is sometimes claimed, it was unlikely that she learned Greek or
Hebrew[Jean Kerhervé: ''Anne de Bretagne'' in: franceinter.fr](_blank)
etrieved 21 December 2014 and never spoke or understood the
Breton language
Breton (, ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of t ...
. She was raised by a governess,
Françoise de Dinan
Françoise de Dinan (1436-1499), was a French heiress, courtier and educator. She was the governess of Anne of Brittany.
She was the daughter and heir of Jacques de Dinan (d. 1444), lord of Beaumanoir and chamberlain at the court of Brittany, and ...
, Lady of Chateaubriant and by marriage Countess of Laval. In addition, she had several tutors, including her butler and court poet,
Jean Meschinot, who is thought to have taught her dancing, singing and music.
Heiress of Brittany
In this period, the law of succession was unclear, but prior to the
Breton War of Succession mainly operated according to
semi-Salic Law; i.e., women could inherit, but only if the male line had died out. The
Treaty of Guérande in 1365, however, stated that in the absence of a male heir from the
House of Montfort, the heirs of
Joanna of Penthièvre would succeed. By the time Anne was born, her father was the only male from the Breton House of Montfort, and the Blois-Penthièvre heir was a female,
Nicole of Blois, who in 1480 sold her rights over Brittany to King Louis XI of France for the amount of 50,000 écus.
The lack of a male heir gave rise to the threat of a dynastic crisis in the Duchy, or to its passing directly into the royal domain. To avoid this, Francis II had Anne officially recognised as his heiress by the
Estates of Brittany on 10 February 1486;
[''Anne of Brittany'' in: theanneboleynfiles.com](_blank)
etrieved 22 December 2014 however, the question of her marriage remained a diplomatic issue.
Betrothals
Being the first eldest surviving child and heiress of the Duchy of Brittany, Anne was, above all, the instrument of paternal politics. Francis II indeed promised his daughter to various French or foreign princes in order to obtain military and financial aid, and to strengthen his position against the King of France. The prospect for these princes to add the duchy to their domain thus allowed the Duke of Brittany to initiate several marriage negotiations and to forge various secret alliances which accompanied these matrimonial projects. Anne became the stake of these rival ambitions, and her father, reassured by the signing of these alliances, could afford to refuse various marriage projects and contracts. These political calculations thus led to Anne's engagement with different European princes:
*In 1480 she was officially promised in marriage to
Edward, Prince of Wales, son of
Edward IV of England
Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...
; however, soon after the death of Edward IV in 1483, the boy disappeared, presumed to have been killed - possibly on the orders of his regent,
Richard III
Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...
.
*Henry Tudor, the future King
Henry VII of England, last male representative of the Lancaster branch then in exile in Brittany showed interest in being a suitor for Anne's hand, but this marriage did not interest her father.
*
Maximilian, King of the Romans and Archduke of Austria, widower of
Mary of Burgundy, daughter and heiress of
Charles the Bold.
*
Alain I of Albret, son of Catherine of Rohan and
Jean I of Albret. Through his mother, he was a great-grandson of
Duke John V of Brittany, and thus a possible heir. Although he was an ally of Duke Francis II, Anne refused to marry him because she found him repulsive. Before the papal court, convened by
Marshal Rieux, a proponent of Albret's suit, to give the couple a dispensation to marry, Anne declared that she had only entertained his offer of marriage due to the "l'obéissance, crainte & révérence"
bedience, fear, and reverencedue to her father, and that she herself did not want it.
*
Louis, Duke of Orléans, cousin of King Charles VIII and in turn future King, was another aspirant for her hand, despite being already married to the King's sister
Joan Joan may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters
*: Joan of Arc, a French military heroine
* Joan (surname)
Weather events
* Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multi ...
.
*
John IV of Chalon-Arlay, Prince of Orange. A grandson of
Richard, Count of Étampes, and nephew of Francis II, he was in line to the throne after Anne and Isabelle.
*
Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham
Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (3 February 1478 – 17 May 1521) was an English nobleman. He was the son of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and Katherine Woodville, and nephew of Elizabeth Woodville and King Edward IV. Thu ...
. In 1488 Henry VII had suggested a marriage between Buckingham and Anne, but in December 1489 the executors of
Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, paid the King £4000 for Buckingham's marriage to Percy's eldest daughter
Eleanor.
*Viscount John II of
Rohan, also in line to the Breton Ducal throne, offered with the support of Marshal
Jean IV de Rieux a double marriage of his sons François and Jean with Anne and her sister Isabelle, but Francis II opposed this plan.
Marriages
In 1488, Francis II was defeated at the
Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier, ending the
Mad War (''la Guerre Folle'') between Brittany and France. In the
Treaty of Sablé (19 August 1488), which concluded the peace settlement, the Duke was forced to accept clauses stipulating that his daughters were not to marry without the approval of the King of France.
With the death of Francis II soon afterwards (9 September 1488) as a result of a fall from his horse, Brittany was plunged into a fresh crisis, leading to the final Franco-Breton war. On his deathbed, the Duke made his daughter promise never to consent to the subjugation of the Duchy to the Kingdom of France. Before he died, Francis II appointed the Marshal of Rieux guardian of his daughter.
After fleeing Nantes following the division of her advisors over the issue of her marriage, Anne was crowned Duchess of Brittany in Rennes on 10 February 1489.
At the age of thirteen, on 19 December 1490, she was
married by proxy to
Maximilian I of Austria at Rennes Cathedral. This conferred upon her the title
Queen of the Romans. The French regarded it as a serious provocation—it not only violated the Treaty of Sablé (the King of France not having consented to the marriage), but also reintroduced an enemy of the French as ruler of Brittany, which they had wanted to avoid during the 14th and 15th centuries. The marriage also proved ill-timed: the Habsburgs were too busy in Hungary to pay any serious attention to Brittany, and the Castilians were busy fighting in Granada.
Although both Castile and England sent small numbers of troops to supplement the Ducal army, neither wished for open warfare with France. The spring of 1491 brought new successes by the French general
La Trémoille (the previous victor of the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier), and King
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable (french: l'Affable; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13.Paul Murray Kendall, ''Louis XI: The Universal Spider'' (Ne ...
came to lay siege to Rennes, where Anne stayed, to force her to desist from her Habsburg marriage. Aided by troops from England, the
Holy Roman Empire, and
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
and
Castile, Rennes lasted through two months of Charles's siege before falling. During this time, Anne's sister Isabelle died.
Charles VIII entered the city on 15 November, and both parties signed the Treaty of Rennes, ending the fourth military campaign of the French over Brittany. After refusing all proposed marriages with French princes, Anne became engaged to the King on 17 November 1491, in the vault of the Jacobins in Rennes. Then, escorted by her army (ostensibly to show that she had willingly consented to the marriage), Anne went to
Langeais to be married. Austria made diplomatic protests (especially before the Holy See), claiming that the marriage was illegal because the bride was unwilling, that she was already legally married to Maximilian, and that Charles VIII was legally betrothed to
Margaret of Austria, Maximilian's daughter.
The official marriage between Anne and King Charles VIII of France was celebrated in the Great Hall of the
Château de Langeais
The Château de Langeais is a 15th-century Flamboyant Gothic castle in Indre-et-Loire, France, built on a promontory created by the small valley of the Roumer River at the opening to the Loire Valley. Founded in 992 by Fulk Nerra, Count of Anjou, ...
on 6 December 1491 at dawn. The ceremony was concluded discreetly and urgently because it was technically illegal until
Pope Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII ( la, Innocentius VIII; it, Innocenzo VIII; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death in July 1492. Son of th ...
, in exchange for substantial concessions, validated the union on 15 February 1492, by granting the annulment of the marriage by proxy with Maximilian, and also giving a dispensation for the marriage with Charles VIII, needed because the King and Anne were related in the forbidden fourth degree of consanguinity. The marriage contract provided that the spouse who outlived the other would retain possession of Brittany; however, it also stipulated that if Charles VIII died without male heirs, Anne would marry his successor, thus ensuring the French kings a second chance to annex Brittany permanently.
Queen of France
By the marriage of 1491, Anne of Brittany became Queen consort of France. Her marriage contract stated that it was concluded to ''ensure peace between the Duchy of Brittany and the Kingdom of France''. She made Charles VIII her perpetual representative. On 8 February 1492, Anne was
crowned Queen of France at
St. Denis Basilica. She was the first Queen crowned there and consecrated, "
anointed in the head and chest" by
André d'Espinay,
Archbishop of Bordeaux. Her husband forbade her to use the title of Duchess of Brittany, which became a bone of contention between the two. Gabriel Miron became the Chancellor of the Queen and her first doctor; he signed the marriage contract of the Queen with King Louis XII on 1 January 1499.
Anne's marriage began badly: she brought two beds with her when she came to marry Charles, and the King and Queen often lived apart; despite this, she was pregnant for most of her married life (with a child every fourteen months on average). When her husband fought in the wars in Italy, the regency powers were exercised by his sister
Anne of Beaujeu, who had held this position between 1483 and 1491. Anne of Brittany had a limited role in France and Brittany and sometimes had to accept being separated from her children in infancy. She lived primarily in the royal castles of Amboise, Loches and Plessis or in the towns of
Lyon,
Grenoble or
Moulins (when the king was in Italy). At Amboise, when Charles VIII had work, she mainly resided in the nearby
Clos Lucé, the future home of
Leonardo da Vinci. She built her chapel.
She became Queen Consort of Naples and Jerusalem during the conquest of Naples by Charles VIII.
Duchess of Brittany and remarriage
When Charles VIII died as the result of an accident on 4 April 1498, Anne was 21 years old and without surviving children. She then personally took charge of the administration of the Duchy of Brittany. She restored the faithful Philippe de Montauban to the
chancellery of Brittany, named Jean de Châlon, Prince of Orange, as Hereditary Lieutenant General of Brittany, appointed her squire Gilles of Texue as responsible of the
Château de Brest, convened the Estates of Brittany, and ordered production of a gold coin bearing her name.
Around her, there was a famous circle of court poets, among them the Italian humanist
Publio Fausto Andrelini from
Forlì (who spread the
New Learning in France), historian
Jean Lemaire de Belges and poet
Jean Marot. She also took into her service the most famous musicians of her time:
Johannes Ockeghem,
Antoine de Févin,
Loyset Compère and
Jean Mouton. Anne of Brittany was undoubtedly the first Queen of France to appear as a
patron sought after by artists and writers of her time.
Three days after her husband's death, the terms of her marriage contract came into force; however, the new King, Louis XII, was already married to
Joan Joan may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters
*: Joan of Arc, a French military heroine
* Joan (surname)
Weather events
* Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multi ...
, daughter of
Louis XI and sister to Charles VIII. On 19 August 1498, at Étampes, Anne agreed to marry Louis XII if he obtained an annulment from Joan within a year. Days later, the process for the annulment of the marriage between Louis XII and Joan of France began. In the interim, Anne returned to Brittany in October 1498.
If Anne was gambling that the annulment would be denied, she lost: Louis's first marriage was dissolved by
Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI ( it, Alessandro VI, va, Alexandre VI, es, Alejandro VI; born Rodrigo de Borja; ca-valencia, Roderic Llançol i de Borja ; es, Rodrigo Lanzol y de Borja, lang ; 1431 – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Churc ...
before the end of the year. Anne'
third marriage contract signed the day of her marriage (Nantes, 7 January 1499), was concluded under conditions radically different from those of the second. She was no longer a child, but a Dowager Queen, and determined to ensure the recognition of her rights as sovereign Duchess from that point forward. Although her new husband exercised the ruler's powers in Brittany, he formally recognized her right to the title "Duchess of Brittany" and issued decisions in her name. The contract also stipulated that, since Anne personally retained rights to the duchy, the couple's second child, son or daughter, would be Anne's own heir, thus keeping the duchy separate from the throne of France. This clause would not be respected.
Anne's second coronation ceremony as Louis XII's consort took place on 18 November 1504, again at St. Denis Basilica.
Anne lived mainly at the
Château de Blois
A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions.
Nowaday ...
, where the presence of the Duchess of Brittany was visible everywhere. She built the
tomb of her parents at
Nantes Cathedral (where her heart would also return under the terms of her last will) with the symbols of the four virtues: Courage, Temperance, Justice and Prudence, that she always tried to wear. All Italian arts were appreciated by the Queen. During an illness of Louis XII she made a tour of Brittany (not the
Tro Breizh, contrary to what is often said
).
As Duchess, Anne fiercely defended the independence of her Duchy. She arranged the marriage of her daughter, Claude, heiress of the Duchy, to
Charles of Austria. This match would reinforce the Franco-Spanish alliance and ensure French success in the Italian Wars. The marriage contract was signed on 10 August 1501 in
Lyon by François de Busleyden, Archbishop of Besançon,
William de Croÿ, Nicolas de Rutter and Pierre Lesseman, all ambassadors of
Duke Philip of Burgundy, Charles' father. Louis XII assented to this plan publicly, but in private worked to match Claude with the heir to the French throne,
Francis of Angoulême. Every time Louis' precarious health threatened his death, steps were taken to cement this match between Claude and Francis.
Anne, determined to maintain Breton independence, refused to sanction the marriage until her death, pushing instead for Claude to marry Charles, or for her other daughter, Renée, to inherit the Duchy. When Louis XII definitively settled their daughters' dispositions counter to her wishes, Anne left his side to tour the Duchy, visiting many places she had never been able to see as a child. Officially, it was a pilgrimage to the Breton shrines in thanks for one of Louis' recent recoveries, but in reality it was a political journey: an act of independence that sought to assert her sovereignty within the marriage. Letters imply how much Louis took her absence to heart: according to a July letter from Louise of Savoy to Michelle de Saubonne, Louis "could not be more anxious" for Anne's return and "is as wretched as can be without her." By September, he is reported as asking about her return at least six times a day.
From June to September 1505, she made triumphal entries into the cities of the Duchy, where her vassals received her sumptuously. In addition, she ensured the proper collection of taxes.
Death
Exhausted by many pregnancies and miscarriages, Anne died of a
kidney-stone attack in the
Château de Blois
A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions.
Nowaday ...
at 6 a.m. on 9 January 1514, after having dictated in her will the customary partition of her body (''dilaceratio corporis'', "division of the body" in heart, entrails and bones) with multiple burials, a privilege of the
Capetian dynasty
The Capetian dynasty (; french: Capétiens), also known as the House of France, is a dynasty of Frankish origin, and a branch of the Robertians. It is among the largest and oldest royal houses in Europe and the world, and consists of Hugh Cape ...
, which allowed for multiple ceremonies (funerals of the body - the most important - and heart) and places (the burial of the body and heart).
Anne's will also conferred the succession of Brittany upon her second daughter, Renée. Her husband ignored this, confirmed Claude as Duchess, put her under the guardianship of Anne's political rival,
Louise of Savoy, and married her to Francis, Louise's son, in the year following Anne's death. When Francis became king in 1515, the Duchy of Brittany was once again the property of the queen consort of France.
She was buried in the necropolis of Saint Denis. Her funeral was exceptionally long, lasting 40 days, and it inspired all future French royal funerals until the 18th century. On this occasion, the
Herald of arms of Brittany Pierre Choqué pronounced for the first time the traditional lament: ''La reine est morte!, la reine est morte!, la reine est morte!'' (
The Queen is dead!, The Queen is dead!, The Queen is dead!). Choqué, in his record of Anne's funeral commissioned by Louis XII, ''Récit des Funérailles d'Anne de Bretagne,'' recorded that two Masses were read, the first by the ''Cordeliers'' (i.e.,
Franciscans) and the second by the Jacobins (i.e.,
Dominicans). Two requiems were also sung, possibly those that survive by
Johannes Prioris and
Antoine de Févin. Separate mourning motets by other members of the two royal choirs also survive: ''Quis dabit oculis'' by
Costanzo Festa and ''Fiere attropos'' by
Pierre Moulu
Pierre Moulu (1484?c. 1550) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance who was active in France, probably in Paris.
Life
Little is known of his life, but internal evidence in his compositions indicates he was probably at the French royal cha ...
.
According to her will, Anne's heart was placed in a raised enamel gold
reliquary
A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including ''wikt:phylactery, phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it i ...
, then transported to Nantes to be deposited in her parents' tomb in the chapel of the Carmelite friars. This was done on 19 March 1514, but it was later transferred to the
Saint-Pierre Cathedral. Anne's reliquary is a bivalvular box oval articulated by a hinge, made of a sheet of gold pushed back and
guillochéd, broadside of a gold
cordelière and topped by a crown of lily and clover. It is inscribed on the obverse as follows:
:''En ce petit vaisseau ''
:''De fin or pur et munde ''
:''Repose ung plus grand cueur ''
:''Que oncque dame eut au munde''
:''Anne fut le nom delle''
:''En France deux fois royne''
:''Duchesse des Bretons''
:''Royale et Souveraine.''
It was made by an anonymous goldsmith of the court of Blois, perhaps drawn by
Jean Perréal. In 1792, by order of the
National Convention, the reliquary was disinterred and emptied as part of the collection of precious metals belonging to churches. It was sent to Paris to be melted down, but was kept instead in the
National Library. It was returned to Nantes in 1819 and kept in various museums; it has been in the
Dobrée Museum since 1896. This relic was stolen 13 April 2018 from the Thomas-Dobree museum in Nantes, France. It was recovered undamaged later that month.
The double mausoleum Louis XII and Anne of Brittany, carved in Carrara marble, was unveiled at Saint Denis Basilica in 1531. The
baldachin was in arcades, and in the base of the sarcophagus were depicted the victories of Louis XII (
Battle of Agnadello
The Battle of Agnadello, also known as Vailà , was one of the most significant battles of the War of the League of Cambrai and one of the major battles of the Italian Wars.
Background
On 15 April 1509, a French army under the command of Louis ...
, the triumphal entry into Milan), statues of the Twelve Apostles and the four
Cardinal virtues, the work of the Juste brothers, Italian sculptors who received the order in 1515. The
''transi'' (whose realism was so shocking that it included an open abdomen stitched after the extraction of the entrails) and
orans before a
Prie-dieu crowning the platform are attributed to Guillaume Regnault. The tomb was desecrated during the Revolution on 18 October 1793 and the bodies were thrown into a mass grave.
Alexandre Lenoir saved much of the monument, which was preserved in the Museum of French Monuments in 1795 before being returned to the Royal Basilica under the
Second Bourbon Restoration.
Personal characteristics
Anne was a highly intelligent woman who spent much of her time on the administration of Brittany. She was described as shrewd, proud and haughty in manner. She made the safeguarding of Breton autonomy, and the preservation of the Duchy outside the French crown, her life's work, although that goal would prove to have failed shortly after her death.
Anne was also a patron of the arts and enjoyed music. A prolific collector of tapestries, it is very likely that the
unicorn tapestries
''The Unicorn Tapestries'' or the ''Hunt of the Unicorn'' (french: La Chasse à la licorne) is a series of seven tapestries made in the South Netherlands around 1495–1505, and now in The Cloisters in New York. They were possibly designed ...
now on view at
The Cloisters museum in New York City were commissioned by her in celebration of her wedding to Louis XII.
Of her four surviving
illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...
books of hours the most famous is the
Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany. She also patronized printed books and their authors.
She was a devoted mother, spending as much time as possible with her children. She commissioned a book of prayers for her son, Charles-Orland, to use in teaching him how to pray, and as guidance for his role as future King of France. Unfortunately, Charles-Orland died in 1495, and no other son lived more than a few weeks. She also commissioned a primer, yet extant, for her then 8-year-old daughter Claude. The prevalence of Anne's own coat of arms in the illumination, rather than Louis's, marks this book as a mechanism of transmission of values inter-generationally from mother to daughter, and from queen to queen. Claude, in turn, commissioned another such book for her younger sister, Renée, whom she raised after Anne's death. The contents of these books produced specifically for children—Latin, Biblical scenes, models of proper female behavior—give insight into the priorities of the Princesses' childhood education.
According to the memoirs of
Brantôme, Anne greatly expanded her household and retinue at court, especially in respect to young girls, forming a kind of
finishing school
A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the education, wit ...
, and in having a company of 100 Breton gentlemen at court. These innovations influenced later French courts.
At her marriage to Charles VIII at age 14, Anne was described as a young and rosy-cheeked girl. By the time of her marriage to Louis, aged 22, after seven pregnancies with no surviving children, she was described as pale-faced and wan. By the end of her life, at 36, she had been pregnant at least 11 times, from which only two children survived to adulthood.
Anne was trained from a young age to hide her limp, caused by a difference in the length of her legs, linked to a congenital displacement of her hips. She wore special heeled shoes to aid in smoothing her gait. She passed this limp on to her daughter, Claude.
Issue
Her marriage with
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable (french: l'Affable; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13.Paul Murray Kendall, ''Louis XI: The Universal Spider'' (Ne ...
produced six documented pregnancies:
*
Charles Orland, Dauphin of France (11 October 1492 – 16 December 1495). Her only healthy son, born when Anne was 15, he died of the
measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
when three years old. Buried at Tours Cathedral.
* Francis (August 1493). Anne had become pregnant in late 1492/early 1493, but travelled with her husband from castle to castle; she went into labour during a drive in the forest of
Courcelles, and the child was premature and stillborn. Buried at Notre-Dame de Cléry.
* Stillborn daughter (March 1495). She had become pregnant again in late 1494, but lost the child soon after.
* Charles, Dauphin of France (8 September 1496 – 2 October 1496). His death prompted Anne to withdraw temporarily to
Moulins in despair. Buried at Tours Cathedral.
* Francis, Dauphin of France (July 1497). He died several hours after his birth. Buried at Tours Cathedral.
* Anne of France (20 March 1498). She died on the day of her birth at
Château de Plessis-lez-Tours. Buried at Tours Cathedral.
Her marriage with
Louis XII of France
Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and brother in law at the tim ...
, produced at least another five recorded pregnancies:
*
Claude of France (13 October 1499 – 20 July 1524), who succeeded her as Duchess of Brittany and later also became Queen consort of France as wife of
Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to:
* Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407)
* Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450
* Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547
* Francis I, Duke of Saxe ...
.
* Son (
ate 1500/early 1501– died young).
* Stillborn son (21 January
503/07.
*
Renée of France (25 October 1510 – 12 June 1574), married
Ercole II d'Este
Ercole II d'Este (5 April 1508 – 3 October 1559) was Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio from 1534 to 1559. He was the eldest son of Alfonso I d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia.
Biography
Through his mother, Ercole was a grandson of Pope Alexande ...
,
Duke of Ferrara, and became Duchess of
Chartres
Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...
and Lady of Montargis on the occasion of her wedding.
* Stillborn son (January
513.
Each miscarriage or stillbirth is said to have delighted the ambitious
Louise of Savoy, whose son Francis was the heir presumptive under the Salic Law. There even existed contemporary rumours that Louise used witchcraft to kill Anne's sons.
Through her granddaughter
Margaret, Duchess of Savoy (Claude's youngest daughter), Anne of Brittany was the ancestor of
Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples,
House of Savoy
The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...
the current pretender to the throne of
Italy. Through her great-granddaughter
Claude, Duchess of Lorraine (daughter of
Henry II of France), Anne is also the ancestor of
Karl von Habsburg, the current head of the
House of Habsburg-Lorraine.
Through her granddaughter
Anna d'Este (Renée's eldest daughter), Anne of Brittany is also the ancestor of the
House of Guise and
Savoy-Nemours.
File:Loire Indre Tours6 tango7174.jpg, Tomb of Charles Orland and Charles, two sons of Anne and Charles VIII at Tours Cathedral.
File:Claude of France, Duchess of Brittany.jpg, Queen Claude of France
File:Clouet Renee Duchess of Ferrara.jpg, Duchess Renée of France
File:Arms of Claude de Lorraine.svg, Coat of Arms of the House of Guise
File:Coat of arms of the House of Lorraine.png, Coat of arms of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine
File:Great coat of arms of the king of italy (1890-1946).svg, Coat of arms of the House of Savoy
Emblems and mottos
Anne had inherited from her predecessors the Breton dynastic emblems: a bandwidth
Ermine (from
John V John V may refer to:
* Patriarch John V of Alexandria or John the Merciful (died by 620), Patriarch of Alexandria from 606 to 616
* John V of Constantinople, Patriarch from 669 to 675
* Pope John V (685–686), Pope from 685 to his death in 686
* J ...
), a simple Ermine (from
John III) and a cord (from
Francis II). As a widow of Charles VIII, and inspired by her father, she founded in 1498 the
Order of the Ladies of the Cord
The Order of the Ladies of the Cord (French: L’Ordre des Dames chevalières de la Cordelière" or "Ordre de la Cordelière"), was a ladies order founded by the French queen Anne of Brittany in 1498. This rope with knots had been added by her st ...
.
As a personal emblem, she also used the letter "A" crowned, with the motto ''Non mudera'' ("I will not change") and a particular form of the father's cord, knotted at 8. Her emblems were joined in the decoration of her castles and manuscripts with those of her husbands: the flaming sword of Charles VIII and the porcupine of Louis XII. She also used the motto ''Potius Mori Quam Foedari'' ("Rather die than dishonor") (in Breton "Kentoc'h mervel eget bezañ saotret").
This could be found in many places related to her functions as Duchess or Queen:
*wall covering of the burial in
Solesmes Abbey, by
Michel Colombe
Michel Colombe (c. 1430 – c. 1513) was a French sculptor whose work bridged the late Gothic and Renaissance styles.
Born in Bourges into a family of artisans, he was active in Tours. Colombe's surviving works all date from his old age. He crea ...
, 1496.
*stained glass at
Ervy-le-Châtel church, 1515.
*stained glass at the town hall of
Étampes, 1853.
The Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries
There is unproven speculation that the tapestries "
The Hunt of the Unicorn" relate to her marriage to King Louis.
Gallery
File:The Hunters Enter the Woods (from the Unicorn Tapestries) MET DP118981.jpg, ''The Hunters Enter the Woods''
File:The Hunt of the Unicorn Tapestry 1.jpg, ''The Unicorn is Found''
File:The Unicorn is Attacked (from the Unicorn Tapestries) MET DP118985.jpg, ''The Unicorn is Attacked''
File:The Unicorn Defends Itself (from the Unicorn Tapestries) MET DP118987.jpg, ''The Unicorn Defends Itself''
File:The Mystic Capture of the Unicorn (from the Unicorn Tapestries) MET DP155501.jpg, The two Fragments of ''The Mystic Capture of the Unicorn''
File:The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the Castle (from the Unicorn Tapestries) MET DP118989.jpg, ''The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the Castle''
The Unicorn in Captivity - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Unicorn is in Captivity and No Longer Dead''
Representations and social legacy
File:Anne de Bretagne.JPG, Statue of Anne of Brittany in the '' Reines de France et Femmes illustres'' series, Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris.
File:Nantes - Anne Bretagne 01.jpg, Statue of Duchess Anne of Brittany, by Johann Dominik Mahlknecht. Cours Saint-Pierre, Nantes, France.
Even while she was alive, the royal propaganda of Charles VIII and of Louis XII depicted Anne of Brittany as a perfect queen, a symbol of union and peace between the Kingdom of France and the Duchy of Brittany (the popular tradition of the "''Good Duchess''"). In the following centuries, historians and popular culture sometimes presented Anne of Brittany in differing fashions, ascribing to her physical and psychological characteristics that are not necessarily supported by historical evidence.
After her death, she was gradually forgotten until the mid-19th century. After the foundation of the Breton Association in 1843, Breton regionalists sought a figure which could embody their ideal of agrarian and regional renewal, while expressing their attachment to the French nation. Their choice was Anne of Brittany (hence the legend of the "''Duchess in clogs''").
Many myths now surround Anne of Brittany, as a woman forced into an arranged marriage with Charles VIII, the Duchess of Brittany committed to the independence and happiness of her country, or otherwise of a Queen symbol of union and peace between Brittany and France. It has become an issue between those Breton historians pursuing a mythologizing of their past, and those forging a national historiography with the myth of a French nation one and indivisible.
This symbolism explains the release of fifty books during the last 200 years giving contrasting visions of Anne: at one extreme there is Georges Minois, who presented her as a person "''limited, petty and vindictive''", and at the other Philippe Tourault, who gave her a "''quite richly and favorable personality, ardently attached to her country and people''".
ernard Le Nail: ''On n'en finira donc jamais avec Anne de Bretagne ??'' in: Agence Bretagne Presse etrieved 24 December 2014
Ancestry
Notes
References
Sources
*
External links
LebrelBlanco.com
Anne de Bretagne in Medieval History of Navarre
* Jean-Luc Deuffic
Les manuscrits d'Anne de Bretagne
Faksimile.ch
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Anne of Brittany
1477 births
1514 deaths
15th-century dukes of Brittany
16th-century dukes of Brittany
15th-century peers of France
16th-century peers of France
15th-century women rulers
16th-century women rulers
15th-century Breton women
16th-century Breton women
House of Valois
House of Dreux
French queens consort
Dauphines of Viennois
Royal consorts of Naples
Duchesses of Brittany
Nobility from Nantes
Medieval child rulers
Burials at the Basilica of Saint-Denis
Austrian royal consorts
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Edward V of England
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Remarried royal consorts