Joanna of Flanders ¹⁶⁸⁸

  General Notes:

She was daughter of Louis, Count of Nevers and Rethel, and sister of Count Louis I of Flanders.

Joanna was one of the few women in history with a military role. When her husband died in 1345 in the midst of the Breton War of Succession, she took arms to protect the rights of her son John V, Duke of Brittany against the party led by Charles of Blois and Joanna of Dreux. She organized resistance and made use of diplomatic means to protect her family. In the siege of Hennebont, she took arms and, dressed in an armour, conducted the defense of the town urging the women to cut their skirsts and take their safety in their own hands. She even led a raid of knights outside the walls that successfully destroyed one of the enemies rear camps.

Joanna died peacefully in 1374. ¹⁶⁸⁸

Joanna married Jean IV de Montfort, son of Arthur II de Montfort Duc de Bretagne and Yolande de Dreux, in 1329 in Chartres, Bretagne, France.¹⁶⁸⁸ (Jean IV de Montfort was born in 1295 ¹⁶⁸⁸ and died on 16 Sep 1345 ¹⁶⁸⁸.)