Olivier IV de Clisson

Olivier IV de Clisson (1300–1343), was a Breton Marche Lord and knight who became embroiled in the intrigue of Vannes and was subsequently executed by the King of France for perceived treason. He was the husband of Jeanne de Clisson who eventually became known as the Lioness of Brittany. Lord of the Breton border lands, Vassal of Brittany and France The de Clissons were regional lords of lands in south western Brittany and answerable as vassals of the Duke of Brittany. They had also however married into families with French lands in Normandy, Maine and Anjou and were therefore also considered owing allegiances to the King of France. As an example Olivier IV with his father in law the Count de Roucy departed on an expedition with Phillip de Valois, then a cousin of the King of France to raise a siege of Genoa in 1320. He must have been considered inexperienced as this stage as he is only cited as a squire in official documents. First marriage In 1320, Olivier married Blanche de Bouville at the Chateau de Clisson, in the presence of Philippe Valois of France. Blanche was the daughter of Jean IV de Bouville, Lord of Milly, near Paris and Marguerite de Bomez, Dame de Bommiers, Chateaumeillant and Montfaucon. From this marriage, a son Jean de Clisson is born around 1321, who would become the next Lord of Milly, but died young. Blanche died in 1329 and was buried in the Cordeliers convent in Nantes. Second marriage In 1330, Olivier married again, this time to Jeanne de Belleville. Jeanne, a recent widow herself of the lord of Chateaubriant, controlled areas in Poitou just south of the Breton border from Beauvoir-sur-Mer in the west to Cheaumur in the southeast of Clisson. Combining these assets would make Jeanne and Olivier the seigneurial power (senior Lord of an area) in the border region of Brittany. Jeanne and Olivier eventually had five children: Isabeau, (1325–1343) born out of wedlock (5 years before the marriage to Olivier), she eventually married John I of Rieux and therefore mother of Jean II de Rieux (died 1343) and Maurice, (1333–1334, in Blain) Olivier V, (1336–1407), his father's successor, a future Constable of France, and nicknamed the butcher. Guillaume, (1338–1345) died of exposure Jeanne, (1340–?) married Jean Harpedane, Lord of Montendre IV's successor.