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John II, Duke of Brittany

John II
Jean II de Bretagne (détail).png
Duke of Brittany
Reign 8 October 1286 – 18 November 1305
Predecessor John I
Successor Arthur II
Born 3/4 January 1239
Died 18 November 1305(1305-11-18) (aged 66)
Lyon
Burial Notre-Dame des Carmes
Spouse Beatrice of England
Issue Arthur II, Duke of Brittany
John, 1st Earl of Richmond
Marie, Countess of Saint Pol
Peter, Viscount of Leon
Blanche, Countess of Artois
Eleanor of Brittany, Abbess of Fontevrault
House House of Dreux
Father John I, Duke of Brittany
Mother Blanche of Navarre
Religion Roman Catholicism

John II (Breton: Yann, French: Jean; 1239 – 18 November 1305) reigned as Duke of Brittany from 1268 until his death, and was also Earl of Richmond in the Peerage of England. He took part in two crusades prior to his accession to the ducal throne. As a duke, John was involved in the conflicts between the kings of France and England. He was crushed to death in an accident during the celebrations of a papal coronation.

John was the eldest son of John I of Brittany and Blanche of Navarre. On 22 January 1260, he married Beatrice, a daughter of King Henry III of England. John was very close to his brother-in-law, the future King Edward I. In 1271, he accompanied Edward to the Ninth Crusade, meeting there with his father and King Louis IX of France. Louis succumbed to an illness in Tunis, and John's father returned to Brittany. John, however, followed Edward to Palestine. The crusade ended the following year, having achieved little. In 1285, John took part in the Aragonese Crusade at the side of King Philip III of France.

Upon the death of his father on 8 October 1286, John ascended the throne of Brittany, inheriting also the Earldom of Richmond in the Peerage of England. His namesake son governed Guyenne in the name of his uncle, King Edward, when King Philip IV of France decided to confiscate it in May 1294. John assisted his brother-in-law in the ensuing conflict, but suffered only defeats. When the English army sought to recover by plundering the Breton Abbaye Saint-Mathieu de Fine-Terre in 1296, however, John abandoned Edward's cause. In response, Edward deprived him of the earldom. John proceeded to ally himself with the French, arranging a marriage between his grandson John and King Philip's cousin Isabella of Valois. Philip then raised him into the Peerage of France in September 1297.


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