John VI, Duke of Brittany

37
John VI, Duke of Brittany bigraphy, stories - Duke of Brittany

John VI, Duke of Brittany : biography

24 December 1389 – 1442-8-29

John VI the Wise (in Breton, Yann V ar Fur, in French this would be Jean VI but French accounting, influenced by the French view of the Breton War of Succession, makes him Jean V le Sage) (24 December 1389 – 29 August 1442), was duke of Brittany, Count of Montfort, and titular earl of Richmond, from 1399 to his death. He was son of Duke John V (Jean IV) and Joan of Navarre.

Life

John VI became Duke of Brittany in 1399 when still a minor upon the death of his father, John V. His mother, Joan of Navarre, served as Regent in the initial portion of his reign.

Unlike his father, John VI inherited the duchy in peace, or so the end of the Breton War of Succession and John V’s military conquests in Brittany promised. However, his father’s rivals for the duchy, the Pentheiveres, continued to plot against him. Furthermore, John had to secure the peace of the duchy during an unstable period culminating in Henry V of England’s invasion of France.

Early career

He became duke at the age of ten, and began his reign under the tutelage of Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold, who was ravaging nearby Jersey and Guernsey. He made peace with the king of France, Charles VI, whose daughter, Joan of France, he married. He also reconciled with the powerful magnate Olivier de Clisson, formerly an enemy of his father. In 1404, he defeated a French force near Brest. A potential conflict with Clisson was averted by the latter’s death.

When Henry V invaded France, John was initially allied to the French. However, he missed the Battle of Agincourt. The confusion in the aftermath of the battle allowed him to seize Saint-Malo which had been annexed by the French. He then adopted a policy of switching between the two parties, English and French. He signed the Treaty of Troyes, which made Henry V heir to France, but he allowed his brother Arthur de Richemont to fight for the French. Arthur was imprisoned by the English.

Abduction by the Counts of Penthièvre

The Counts of Penthièvre had lost the Breton War of Succession (1341-1364) in which they had claimed the ducal title of Brittany from John’s grandfather, John de Montfort. The war ended in 1364 in a military victory for John’s father, in which the Penthièvre claimant, Charles of Blois, died. His widow, Joanna, Countess of Penthièvre, was forced to sign the Treaty of Guérande which concluded the conflict. The treaty stated that Penthièvres accepted the Monforts’s right to the dukedom, but if they failed to produce a male heir the duchy would revert to the Penthièvres.

Despite the military loss and the diplomatic treaty, the Counts of Penthièvre had not renounced their direct ducal claims to Brittany and continued to pursue them. In 1420 they invited John VI to a festival held at Châtonceaux. John came and was arrested. The Counts of Penthièvre then spread rumours of his death and moved him to a new prison each day. John VI’s wife, 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 the crisis by seizing the dowager comtesse of Penthièvre, Marguerite of Clisson, forcing Marguerite to have the duke freed. After the release, Châtonceaux citadel was completely destroyed and the name changed to Champtoceaux. As a result of this failed imprisonment, in 1420 the heirs of Joanna, Countess of Penthièvre surrendered Penthièvre to the Duke. This ended the element of the Treaty of Guérande that was designed to favor Joanna and her heirs. The Monforts declared that the treaty had been broken, and so they were now no longer obliged ever to surrender the duchy to the Penthièvres under its terms. This ensured that Anne of Brittany succeeded to the duchy later in the century.

Later life

While captured by the English John II, Duke of Alençon had sold his feifdom of Fougères to John VI in order to raise the ransom for his release. After Alençon’s release, his attempts to recover his territories led to conflict. John laid siege to Alençon’s fortress at Pouancé in 1432. Arthur de Richemont, his brother, who accompanied him, induced him to make peace.

Working with Bishop Jean de Malestroit, he began the construction of a new cathedral in Nantes, placing the first stone in place in April 1434.JB Russon and D. Duret, La cathédrale de Nantes, Roumegoux, Savenay, 1933, 145 p. , p. 37.

He died on 29 August 1442, at the Manoir de la Touche, owned by the Bishop of Nantes.

A statue of the Duke of polychrome wood is the chapel of Saint-Fiacre in Faouët. His tomb in Tréguier cathedral was destroyed. It was replaced by a new one in the 20th century.

Ancestry

Footnotes

Family

John VI married Joan of France, daughter of King Charles VI "the Mad" and his wife Isabeau of Bavaria. By her he had seven children:

  • Anne (1409 – aft. 1415)
  • Isabelle (1411 – 1442, Auray), married at Redon in 1430 Guy XIV, Count of Laval (d. 1486)
  • Margaret (1412–1421)
  • Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450)
  • Catherin (1416 – aft. 1421)
  • Peter II, Duke of Brittany (1418–1457)
  • Gilles of Brittany (1420–1450), Lord of Chantocé

Succession

John VI died in 1442 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Francis, as Duke of Brittany.