John V, Duke of Brittany

John VI
Duke of Brittany; Count of Montfort
Reign	1 November 1399 – 29 August 1442
Coronation	28 March 1402
Predecessor	John V
Successor	Francis I
Born	24 December 1389 Château de l'Hermine
Died	29 August 1442(1442-08-29) (aged 52) Manoir de La Touche
Burial	Notre
Spouse	Joan of France
Issue	Anne Isabelle, Countess of Laval Margaret Francis I, Duke of Brittany Catherine Peter II, Duke of Brittany Gilles, Lord of Chantocé
House	House of Montfort
Father	John V
Mother	Joan of Navarre
Religion	Roman Catholicism

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 intial portion of his reign.

Unlike his father, John VI was a Duke of Brittany who would experience peace, or so the end of the Breton War of Succession and John V's military conquests in Brittany permitted him to be. He strove to reinforce ducal authority, by levying a permanent army and constructing a coherent method of taxation in Brittany. John VI was also a patron of the Arts and the Church and funded the construction of several cathedrals.

Abduction by the Counts of Penthièvre

The Counts of Penthièvre had lost the Breton War of Succession in the 1340s. As a result they lost the ducal title of Brittany to the Montforts. The war ended in 1362 in a military victory for the Montforts in which Joanna, Countess of Penthièvre Charles of Blois died. The Treaty of Guérande concluded the conflict. Despite the military loss and the diplomatic treaty, the Counts of Penthièvre had not renounced their 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 Penthiève 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 by seizing the dowager comtesse of Penthièvre, Marguerite of Clisson, forcing Marguerite to have the duke freed. As a result of this failed imprisonment, in 1420 the heirs of Joanna, Countess of Penthièvre surrendered Penthièvre to the Duke, thus ending one element of the Treaty of Guérande designed to favor Joanna and her heirs.

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

Brittany shown in English Territories circa 1415

Succession

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

Ancestry

Family of John V, Duke of Brittany

16. John II, Duke of Brittany 8. Arthur II, Duke of Brittany 17. Beatrice of England 4. John IV, Duke of Brittany 18. Robert IV, Count of Dreux 9. Yolande de Dreux 19. Beatrice de Montfort, Countess of Montfort-l'Amaury 2. John V, Duke of Brittany 20. Robert III, Count of Flanders 10. Louis I, Count of Nevers 21. Yolande of Burgundy 5. Joanna of Flanders 22. Hugh IV, Count of Rethel 11. Jeanne, Countess of Rethel 23. Isabelle de Grandpré 1. John VI, Duke of Brittany 24. Louis d'Évreux 12. Philip III of Navarre 25. Margaret of Artois 6. Charles II of Navarre 26. Louis X of France 13. Joan II of Navarre 27. Margaret of Burgundy 3. Joan of Navarre 28. Philip VI of France 14. John II of France 29. Joan the Lame 7. Joan of France 30. John of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia 15. Bonne of Bohemia 31. Elisabeth of Bohemia

See also

• Duchy of Brittany
• Dukes of Brittany family tree