by Mayv 'SpearBourne' Amaia

Created on: May 25, 2010

Anne, Duchess of Brittany, was a mediaeval queen consort to two consecutive French kings. During her lifetime in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, she was the richest woman in Europe.

She was born 25 January 1476 in Nantes, Brittany. Her name in French is Anne de Bretagne; in Breton, her name is Anna Vreizh.

She was the daughter of Francis II, Duke of Brittany, and his second wife, Margaret of Foix. A younger sister, Isabeau, was born in 1478, but died in 1490.

As her parents' eldest, and then only surviving child, she was groomed from an early age to be her father's heir to the Duchy of Brittany.

Francis also had three illegitimate children with Antoinette de Maignelais.

Anne received a good education under the tutelage of Francoise de Dinan, Lady of Laval and Chateaubriant, and the poet Jean Meschinot.

Because of her wealth and title, many men sought her hand in marriage. She was promised to Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1480, as part of an alliance between King Edward IV of England and Francis II.

Prince Edward, one of the "Princes of the Tower," however, mysteriously disappeared three years later after his father died and his uncle, Richard III, seized the throne.

Brittany operated under semi-Salic law, where a woman could inherit the duchy only if the male line died out.

By the time Anne was born, Francis II was the last male of the House of Dreux, which ruled Brittany. In 1486, he had the Breton estates recognise Anne as his heiress.

Francis II had long been in conflict with King Louis XI of France and then his son, King Charles VIII. He did not wish to allow Brittany to be absorbed into the French crown, and so sought for his daughter a husband who could stand up to French power.

Among the men who vied for her hand were Maximilian I of Austria (widower of Mary of Burgundy), Alain d'Albret, Jean de Chalons, Prince of Orange, and even the already married Louis, Duke of Orleans.

In 1488, Francis's armies were defeated at the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier, ending Le Guerre Folle, or the Mad War between France and Brittany.

The Treaty of Verger concluded the peace settlement between France and Brittany, and it stipulated that Francis's daughters could only marry with the approval of the king of France.

Francis fell off his horse and died from the injuries on 9 September 1488, leaving twelve-year-old as duchess and plunging Brittany into crisis and another war with France.

The Habsburg Emperor Maximilian I of Austria was considered the most powerful candidate

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