Jeanne de Clisson: The Lioness of Brittany
The Widow Who Turned the Sea Red
By The Robot Book Club · 2026
57 pages · 8 chapters
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They said she painted the hulls pitch-black to match the mourning dress she wore after her husband's execution. But as the wind caught the three warships' blood-red sails, the French sailors bleeding out on the decks knew the truth. Jeanne de Clisson hadn't taken to the English Channel to grieve—she was there to collect a debt from the King of France, one severed head at a time.
Table of Contents
In a Brittany torn apart by succession, loyalty is a deadly guessing game. A single, suspicious battlefield ransom sets a political trap that will shatter a powerful family.
An invitation to a royal tournament masks a brutal betrayal. When the King of France breaks the sacred laws of chivalry, he accidentally creates his kingdom's worst nightmare.
Staring up at her husband's severed head, Jeanne refuses to retreat into aristocratic mourning. Instead, she sells her vast estates and buys an army.
When a land war becomes a suicide mission, Jeanne takes her vengeance to the sea. The historical record meets romantic myth as a grieving widow builds a privateer fleet.
Jeanne's privateers turn the English Channel into a slaughterhouse for French merchant ships. Her terrifying tactical brilliance helps decide the fate of nations.
Vengeance demands a terrible price. When the French navy finally corners her flagship, Jeanne faces a harrowing battle for survival in an open rowboat.
Jeanne finds a quiet harbor at the end of her life, but the trauma of her war lives on. Her surviving son grows up to deliver the final, bloody blow.
The best stories get taller in the telling. Here's how to sort the real from the legend.