House of Montfort-Brittany

Duke John III died in 1341, and his duchy's nobles proclaimed Countess Joan of Dreux reigning duchess.

Louis I, Duke of Anjou, brother of Charles V of France, and a son-in-law of the deposed Penthièvre Duchess Joanna, was appointed lieutenant-general of Brittany by the king, who in 1378 sought to annex Brittany to France, which provoked the Bretons to recall John IV from exile.

The second Treaty of Guérande (1381) established Brittany's neutrality in the Anglo-French conflict, although John continued to make homage to King of France.

John's wife, Joan of France besieged the rebels and set free her husband, who confiscated the Penthièvre's goods.

According to the succession order enacted, in 1457 Duke Peter II was succeeded by his elderly uncle Arthur de Richemont instead of his sister Isabelle de Bretagne-Montfort (who married into the Laval family and from whom the future Chabot branch of the Rohan family descends).

In 1465, Francis II took the county of Penthièvre from its heiress, Nicole de Bretagne-Blois, thus again undermining the rival family's position in Brittany.

This last duke of independent Brittany was forced to submit to a treaty giving the King of France the right to determine the marriage of the Duke's daughter, Anne, a young girl 12 years old, and now the sole heir to the Duchy based on a de facto return to the Duchy's semi-Salic traditions.

When Charles died, Anne remained unwed for a time during which she returned to Brittany and attempted to restore her independent rule there as Duchess suo jure.

The French Crown again acted to preserve its control over Brittany and Anne had to marry Charles VIII's distant cousin and successor, Louis XII of France.

Arms of John of Montfort
The Solidor Tower in the estuary of the river Rance in Brittany was built between 1369 and 1382 by John V, Duke of Brittany to the Rance at a time when the city of Saint-Malo did not recognize his authority.