Tragic Collector.

Today I'm interested in Anne of Brittany.

In her time she was the richest woman in Europe.

Anne was the daughter of Francis II Duke of Brittany and Margaret of Foix. Born 25 January 1477 in the town of Nantes in the Duchy of Brittany. Anne was the only surviving child of the duke. It was believed she would inherit the dutchy, therefore, she was very well educated. Her entire life was dedicated to keeping Brittany autonomous.

Anne was a patron of the arts and enjoyed music. A prolific collector of tapestries, it is very likely that the unicorn tapestries were commissioned by her in celebration of her wedding.

So far so good?...

At the age of 14 she was married by proxy to Maximilian I of Austria. A year later Charles VIII of France invaded Brittany and Anne was forced to renounce her marriage to Max (they had never met anyway) since Charles didn't want Max to have two borders with France. Charles then offered to marry Anne and they did on 6 December 1491. She was forbidden by her husband to use the title "Duchess of Brittany", which became a bone of contention between the two. Now, as Queen, it was time to have an heir. Anne and Charles had Charles Orlando in the fall of 1492. Unfortunately the baby died of measles at the age of three. From 1493 to 1498 Anne had three stillborn children, a son who lived 23 days, another son who lived a few hours and a girl who lived less than a day.

Oh God, poor woman. So, in 1498 Charles died from hitting his head playing "real tennis". Anne is now a childless widow. At 21...and still one of the most powerful and wealthy women in Europe.

The new King of France was then Charles 3rd-ish cousin Louis XII. Louis had been married to Joan of France for 22 years be this point with no children. Described as "one of the seamiest lawsuits of the age" Louis wanted/needed/was forced to marry Anne, no one seems to know for sure. Louis claimed that she was physically malformed, providing a rich variety of detail precisely how, and that he had therefore been unable to consumate the marriage. Joan, unsurprisingly, fought this uncertain charge fiercely, producing witnesses to Louis' boast of having "mounted my wife three or four times during the night." Louis also claimed that his sexual performance had been inhibited by witchcraft. The pope agreed to annul and on 8 January 1499 they were married. Louis formally recognized her right to the Duchy of Brittany and gave her some respect as the dowager queen.

In 1499 Anne and Louis had a daughter named Claude who actually lived to the ripe age of 24 AND was the queen of France succeeding her mother! Then, again, between 1500 and 1509 Anne had three stillborn children and three miscarriages. GAH! In 1510 Claude got a sister in Renee who married a duke and lived to 63! YAY!

Miserably, Anne had one more stillborn child in 1512.

At her marriage to Charles VIII, aged 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 14 times, with seven of the children stillborn. Of the remaining seven, only two survived childhood.

She did succeed in keeping her Duchy, which was lost after she died. Anne's will conferred the succession of Brittany upon her second daughter, Renee. This was ignored by her husband, who confirmed Claude as Duchess and married her to Francis I.

Anne died in 1514 from kidney stones at the age of 36. According to her will, her heart was placed in a raised enamel gold reliquary which is on display at the Dobrée Museum in her home town of Nantes.