Jeanne de Belleville , known as "the Breton Tigress", (circa 1300 – 1359) was a Poitevin and Breton noblewoman who became a corsair out of revenge.
Olivier de Clisson
Daughter of Létice de Parthenay and Maurice IV de Montaigu, Lord of Belleville and Palluau, Jeanne de Belleville was born around 1300 in Poitou. She first married Geoffroy, lord of Châteaubriant, then Olivier IV de Clisson, a Breton nobleman. They will have five children:Maurice, Guillaume, Olivier, Isabeau and Jeanne.
During the War of the Brittany Succession which followed the death of the Duke of Brittany in 1341, Olivier IV de Clisson was accused of felony and sentenced to death by the King of France, Philippe VI. He was executed by beheading on August 2, 1343. His head was sent to Nantes and planted on a pike in the Château du Bouffay. Faced with this spectacle, Jeanne, devoured by pain, swears revenge. With the lords of Brittany rallying to her cause, she embarked on a war against Philip VI and the successor of the Duke of Brittany, Charles de Blois.
The Breton Tigress
To attack the king, Jeanne de Belleville buys a boat and makes war on French merchant ships. Her revenge is so terrible that she earns the nickname "Breton Tigress" or "Bloody Lioness". She ends up being shipwrecked off Morlaix, and loses one of her sons with her boat. Refugee in England with her children, she marries Walter Bentley, lieutenant of the king of England in Brittany and captain of the English troops who fight against Charles de Blois.
Jeanne de Belleville died in 1359, probably in England.