Gilles of Brittany

Gilles of Brittany (1420 - 1450), lord of Chantocé, wire of the duke Jean V of Brittany and Jeanne de France

Prince de Bretagne, it receives from his thin father only one Apanage. With its advent in 1442, his/her brother François II of Brittany sends it in embassy near the king Henri VI of England, which grants a pension to him.

From return in Brittany, Gilles removes in 1444 the young person Francoise de Dinan, eight years old wealthy heiress, which he will marry. He thus obtains the baronnie Châteaubriant, and many places in Brittany of which the Château of Guildo.

Become more powerful, Gilles claims with his brother a more significant part of the heritage. In front of its refusal, it approaches king d' Angleterre and offers its services to him and the provision of all the places which it holds in Brittany. A letter of the July 5th 1445 is intercepted by the agents of the duke, who forgives with his young brother only after the intervention of their uncle the constable of Richemont

The arrival of English archers of Normandy to the Guildo starts the anger of the " party français" carried out by Arthur de Montauban to the court of his/her brother the duke, then his arrest on order of king de France by the admiral Prigent de Coëtivy the June 26th 1446. It is brought to Dinan, then with Rennes where the duke refuses to see it, finally with Châteaubriant. Its goods and those of Francoise de Dinan, placed near the duchess of Brittany, are confiscated with the profit of François II.

In spite of the intervention of the Constable of Richemont, the lawsuit for treason and lese-majesty, informed by the public prosecutor of Brittany Olivier of Breil, begins with Redon the July 31st 1446 in front of the States of Brittany. They refuse to judge Gilles, who remains however in prison on order of his brother the duke. In 1447, Olivier of Breil refuses to inform a new lawsuit, while Henri VI of England threat to intervene militarily in Brittany for its release. Gilles is transferred to the castle from Moncontour in October 1448, under the guard of Olivier de Méel. Maltreated, he writes in December with the king Charles VII of France, which dispatches the admiral Prigent de Coëtivy near the duke of Brittany to ask for the release of Gilles. Coëtivy arrives at Vannes in May 1449 and obtains the handing-over in freedom of Gilles, when François Ier receives a false letter of king d' Angleterre, written by certain Pierre the Rose, summoning it to return Gilles to him. The release of the prince is suspended by the duke, put in fury by the missive.

Gilles is then transferred to Touffou, then with the castle of Hardouinaye. Its geôliers (Olivier de Méel, Jean Rageart, Roussel Malestouche, Jean of Chèze, Ear-Pelue…) try to make it die hunger, but it receives the help of a poor woman. The April 25th 1450, its geôliers strangle it in his cell. Olivier de Méel and its accomplices is carried out on order of Pierre II of Brittany to Vannes the June 8th 1451.

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