The Lioness of Brittany and her Black Fleet of Pirates

In the midst of the Hundred Years War between England and France, an enraged French woman named Jeanne de Clisson took to the sea with a fleet of warships, where she mercilessly hunted down ships of King Philip VI to avenge her husband’s death. For her ferocity, she eventually acquired the name The Lioness of Brittany. Jeanne and her crew would slaughter the crew of the King’s ships, leaving two or three sailors alive, so that the message would get back to the King that the Lioness of Brittany had struck once again.

Jeanne de Clisson was born into an affluent French family in 1300 and spent most of her life as a noblewoman. She was married off to a wealthy man, Geoffrey de Châteaubriant at the age of 12 and had two children. Some time after his death, Jeanne remarried, this time to Olivier de Clisson, who was an important Breton noble that spent years in service defending Brittany against the English. 

Jeanne de Clisson had her ships painted black with red sails. Credit: LimKis/deviantart

By way of background, when the Duke of Brittany died with no male heir in 1341, both King Edward III of England and Phillip VI of France saw an opportunity.  Brittany lay between their kingdoms and would provide either a useful foothold or buffer to invasion. This issue, combined with King Edward’s claim to French territories and to the crown itself, formed the basis of the Hundred Years War.

The Execution of Olivier and the Spark of Revenge

Although Olivier had served the French in defending Brittany from the English, the French authorities – in particular, Charles de Blois, who had once fought at Olivier’s side – began to doubt Olivier’s loyalty. Rumours spread that Olivier had defected to the English side. King Philip VI took Charles de Blois’s advice and had Olivier captured and tried with treason. On August 2, 1343, he was executed by beheading at Les Halles. Olivier's head was then sent to Nantes and displayed on a pole outside the castle of Bouffay.

Jeanne, enraged and bewildered over her husband's execution, swore vengeance against both the King and Charles de Blois.

The Black Fleet

The first thing Jeanne de Clisson did was to sell off the lands that remained to her and raise a small force of loyal men with whom she attacked pro-French forces in Brittany. When her situation became too dangerous on land, she purchased three warships and took to the seas.

She had her ships painted black and dyed their sails red to intimidate her enemy, earning the title “The Black Fleet”.  The ships of the Black Fleet patrolled the English Channel for French ships, especially those owned by King Phillip and members of the French nobility. Her crews, as merciless under her orders as she was herself, would kill entire crews, leaving only one or two alive to carry news to the king that she had struck again. This earned Jeanne the epithet, “The Lioness of Brittany”, reviled as a monster by some, praised as a heroine by others.

In her efforts to keep the English Channel completely free of French ships, she formed an alliance with the English, laundering supplies to their soldiers for battles. She continued her work as a pirate even after the death of her enemy, King Philip VI, in 1350.

Happily Ever After

Jeanne de Clisson fought as a pirate for thirteen years. When her quest for revenge ended, it was not through losing a battle, nor was it through the French authorities finally catching up with her. Jeanne found love in English noble Sir Walter Brentley, who had been King Edward III’s lieutenant during a campaign against Charles de Blois.  She married Sir Walter in 1356 and settled into a quiet life in the Castle of Hennebont in France, which was a territory of her Montfort allies, and later died there in unknown circumstances.

Jeanne’s revenge on Charles de Blois was never met; he lived on until 1364 when he died in battle. He was later canonized as a saint in the Roman Catholic church.

Historical Evidence

It should be noted that actual verifiable references relating to Jeanne’s life and exploits are limited, though they do exist. Historical records include a French judgement of late 1343 condemning Jeanne as a traitor and ordering the confiscation of her lands. In 1345, records from the English court indicate Edward granted her an income from lands he controlled in Brittany and she is mentioned in a truce drawn up between France and England in 1347 as a valuable English ally. There is also a 15th century manuscript, known as the Chronographia Regnum Francorum, which confirms some of the details of her life.

Nevertheless, it is almost certain that many tales about the Lioness of Brittany have been exaggerated over the years, such as accounts of Jeanne taking great delight in personally beheading French crew members with an axe, and other such legends.  Whatever the precise facts, it is clear that Jeanne de Clisson was no defenceless ‘damsel in distress’, but a fierce and courageous woman who fought relentlessly to avenge her husband’s death.

Featured image:  Artist’s depiction of female pirate by thegryph/deviantart

References:

Jeanne de Belleville, Pirate or Politician? – James Adams Historic Enterprises

Jeanne de Clisson - the 'Lioness of Brittany' – BBC

Women Pirates: Jeanne De Clisson – The Lioness of Brittany – Lazerhorse

Jeanne de Clisson, the Lioness of Brittany – Seafaring Women

Bhopal Disaster

Overview

In 1984, the accidental release of 40 metric tons of methyl isocyanate from a Union Carbide pesticideplant in the heart of Bhopal, India killed thousands of people and injured hundreds of thousands.

Toxicological Perspective

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The methyl isocyanate poisoning of Bhopal, India had many disastrous consequences. Hundreds of thousands of people were injured and around 15,000 died. The toxicological and environmental problems are ongoing. Due to a lack of political willpower, the toxic waste from the disaster has still not been cleaned up. Higher rates of Cancer and diseases affecting the central nervous system, liver, and kidneys were witnessed. Also, water analysis is poor due to continued contamination from benzene hexachloride and Mercury that persists to this day.

Background

The Union Carbide plant was established in Bhopal in 1969 and it began to produce the insecticide Carbaryl. methyl isocanyte is an ingredient of carbaryl, and on the morning of December 3, 1984, a holding tank containing 43 tons of methyl isocyanate overheated and released the toxic gas. Because methyl isocyanate is heavier than air, it traveled over the ground through the Bhopal city center. The transportation system collapsed, and many people were trampled to death in a mad rush to flee the visible gases. In total, 15,000 people died and 150,000-600,000 people were injured.

The contamination and deaths were a result of numerous factors:

• Recent documents obtained through discovery in the course of a lawsuit against Union Carbide for environmental contamination (before a New York Federal District Court) revealed that Carbide had exported "untested, unproven technology" to the Indian plant. Unlike Union Carbide plants in the USA, its Indian subsidiary plants were not prepared for problems. No action plans had been established to cope with incidents of this magnitude. This included not informing local authorities of the dangers of chemicals used and manufactured at Bhopal.

• Reports issued months before the incident by scientists within the Union Carbide corporation warned of the possibility of an accident almost identical to that which occurred in Bhopal. The reports were ignored outright and never made it to senior staff. Due to falling sales, staff had been laid off and safety checks became less and less frequent.

• Slip-blind plates that would have prevented water from pipes being cleaned from leaking into the MIC tanks via faulty valves were not installed. Their installation had been omitted from the cleaning checklist.

• At the time of the event, the MIC tank refrigeration unit was disabled to save money, and some of its coolant was being used elsewhere. A simple press of a button in the control room would have activated it to at least use the remaining coolant, but this was overlooked by staff.

• The gas scrubber was placed on standby, and therefore did not attempt to clean escaping gases with sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), which may have brought the concentration down to a safe level.

• The water curtain that may have reduced the concentration of the gas was only set to ~13 m and did not reach the gas; it was not designed to contain a leak of such magnitude. Though the audible external alarm was activated to warn the residents of Bhopal, it was quickly silenced to avoid causing panic among the residents. Thus, many continued to sleep, unaware of the unfolding drama, and those that had woken assumed any problem had been sorted out.

• The flare tower used to burn off gases before they are allowed to escape into the air was inoperational pending repairs.

• Doctors and hospitals were not informed of proper treatment methods for MIC gas inhalation. They were told to simply give cough medicine and eyedrops to their patients.

Union Carbide agreed to pay $470 million to the residents of Bhopal. That amount is lower than in the lawsuit and substantially lower than similar Asbestos cases Union Carbide was settling concurrently in the United States. By the end of October 2003, according to the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department, compensation had been awarded to 554,895 people for injuries received and 15,310 survivors of those killed. The average amount to families of the dead was $2,200. Union Carbide also attempted to distance itself from the tragedy by blaming its subsidiary in India and even fabricated stories about a Sikh extremist group and disgruntled former employees bent on sabotaging the plant.

Health Effects Summary for MIC

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Immediate Health Effects  (0-6 months)

• Ocular: Chemosis, redness, watering, ulcers, photophobia
• Respiratory: Distress, pulmonary edema, pneumonitis, pneumothorax
• Gastrointestinal: Persistent diarrhea, anorexia, persistent abdominal pain
• Genetic: Increased chromosomal abnormalities
• Psychological: Neuroses, anxiety states, adjustment reactions
• Neurobehavioral: Impaired audio and visual memory, impaired vigilance attention and response time, Impaired reasoning and spatial ability, impaired psychomotor coordination

Long-term Health Effects

• Ocular: Persistent watering, corneal opacities, chronic conjunctivitis
• Respiratory: Obstructive and restrictive airway disease, decreased lung function
• Reproductive: Increased pregnancy loss, increased infant mortality, decreased placental/fetal weight
• Genetic: Increased chromosomal abnormalities
• Neurobehavioral: Impaired associate learning, motor speed, and precision

External Links

• Bhopal gas disaster's legacy lives on 25 years later (Telegraph.co.uk)

Found In Used Book, Early Texas 25-Cent Note Brings $63,250

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A 168-year old piece of early Texas paper money, found in one of the dozens of used textbooks purchased for only $10 last year by an Austin, Texas, area couple, sold for $63,250 in a public auction in Tampa, Florida, on January 6, 2011.

“It’s a rare Republic of Texas Exchequer note in the amount of 25 cents, dated on May 1, 1843 and hand-signed by Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas,” said Allen Mincho of Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas, (www.HA.com), the company that sold the note during its auction at a rare coin and paper money collectors convention in Tampa.
“These notes were printed in various denominations between 1842 and 1845, but probably less than two dozen Texas Exchequer notes are known to survive today.”
The presale estimate by Heritage was $50,000 or more. The name of the winning bidder who paid $63,250 was not revealed.
Mincho said Bill and Cindy Farnsworth of the Austin area were surprised to find the old piece of paper money in September in a used book after returning home from a Southeast Texas auction where they had purchased 11 boxes of old textbooks for $10.
Bill Farnsworth recalled: “My wife called to me and said, ‘I thought you might like to have this.’ The first thing I noticed was that the paper was real thin. I knew enough to know that (modern) reproduction currency is made on much thicker paper.”
He said he previously didn’t enjoy going to auctions as much as he wife did. “I just wasn’t a big auction fan, but I am now.”
Mincho said most of the historic Texas Exchequer notes were destroyed when they were redeemed in the 1840s because they were backed by gold. Although it has signs of wear, the surviving note sold in the auction shows no sign of cancellation, and apparently was never redeemed for its 25 cents face value.

Source:
Rare Early Republic of Texas Paper Money Sold At Auction
January 25, 2011: James Buchanan’s Liberty, Proof 70 Graded Coins, Rare Coin Market