Duke John V of Brittany

Following on from my recent post Anne of Brittany, Queen and Duchess I thought I would post apicture of this delightful statue of her relative and predecessor Duke John V. Born in 1389 he succeeded his father Duke John IV in 1399, and his mother, Joanna of Navarre, later married the widower King Henry IV of England, making Duke John and his siblings step-brothers of King Henry V - which was to prove a complication in the later stages of the Hundred Years War.

I first saw a picture of this statue at a seminar given by Michael "Brittany" Jones  in the wonderful series on Late Medieval France chaired by Peter Lewis at All Souls in my early days in Oxford, and I am delighted to find a view of it again on the internet.

 

Duke John V of Brittany 1399-1442

Polychrome statue in the Chapelle Saint Fiacre at Le Faouet in Brittany
The Duke wears a state robe decorated with the erminois arms of the Duchy

Image:bridgemanart.com 

There is an online life of the Duke here, which accounts him as John VI rather than John V due to differing interpretations as to the Breton succession in the fourteenth century conflicts. However it seems more usual amongst historians to refer to him as Duke John V.

An online illustrated history of the Duchy can be viewed here  and a family tree of the Ducal house can be seen here.