Francis gained custody over the Tudors when they tried to flee to France but strong winds in the English Channel forced them to land at Le Conquet in Brittany.

[5] Henry Tudor, the only remaining Lancastrian noble with a trace of royal bloodline, had a weak claim to the throne,[4] and King Edward IV regarded him as "a nobody".

Henry realised that the soldiers on shore were the men of the new Yorkist king, Richard III of England, and so he decided to abandon the invasion and return to Brittany.

Landais reached an agreement with King Richard III to send Henry and his uncle Jasper back to England in exchange for a pledge of 3,000 English archers to defend Brittany against a threatened French attack.

[20][b] This was an alliance of feudal nobles organized in 1465 in defiance of the centralized authority of King Louis XI of France, whose declared aim was to enlarge the French royal domain by annexing all of the duchies – Burgundy, Berry, Normandy, Orléans, Brittany, etc.

In 1467 Charles the Bold inherited the Duchy of Burgundy, which held fiefs in France that included the counties of Artois and Flanders, and the Imperial lands of Holland, Brabant, and Luxembourg.

But Charles was killed in 1477 at the Battle of Nancy against René II, Duke of Lorraine and a hired army of Swiss mercenaries, and Louis was saved from his greatest adversary.

The great Duchy of Burgundy was then absorbed into the Kingdom of France, and the League of the Public Weal was essentially defeated, although several members would re-ally for the Mad War in 1485.

The fortunes of Francis and Brittany would continue to deteriorate after Louis XI's death in 1483, as his daughter Anne of France would serve as regent for putative successor Charles VIII.

His corrupt and oppressive prime minister, Guillaume Chauvin, who was overthrown by treasurer general Pierre Landais in 1477, died in prison on 5 April 1484.

Under the leadership of Louis II de la Trémoille, the French royal army struck against Vannes and Fougères, controlling access to Brittany.

Alain d'Albret, a rebel lord, believing he would marry Francis' daughter Anne, reinforced the Breton army with 5000 troops supplied by the king of Spain.

[22] This battle also destroyed the power-base of the warring noble leaders as Edward Woodville was killed, and Louis of Orléans and John IV of Chalon-Arlay were captured.

Despite the French victory and the signing of the treaty, la Guerre Folle dragged on beyond Francis' death for three more years until December 1491, when Anne married Charles VIII.

Then in 1492 Henry VII signed the Treaty of Étaples with France, effectively removing England's defense of Breton autonomy in return for promises from the French to no longer support Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the English throne, and to pay a war indemnity.

Anne, however, became a formidable queen consort and fought to preserve Brittany's autonomy and Francis II's legacy for herself, the Breton people, and her descendants.