Olivier de Clisson

Olivier V de Clisson
Constable of France
Coat of Arms Clisson Family
Spouse(s)	Catherine of Laval and Chateaubriant
Detail Titles and styles Earl of Porhoët, Baron Pontchâteau, Lord of Clisson, Porhoet of Belleville and Garnache
Father	Olivier IV de Clisson
Mother	Jeanne de Clisson
Born	23 April 1336 Château de Clisson,Brittany
Died	23 April 1407 Josselin
Buried	Chapel at the castle of Josselin

Olivier V de Clisson (1336, Clisson – 23 April 1407), nicknamed "The Butcher", was a Breton soldier, the son of Olivier IV de Clisson, who was put to death by the French in 1343 on the suspicion of having willingly given up the city of Vannes to the English.

Olivier de Clisson was born on April 23, 1336 at the Château de Clisson in Brittany.

Olivier’s father chose the camp of Charles de Blois and the King of France in the Breton War of Succession and was the military commander defending the city of Vannes when the English besieged it in 1342. His father was captured by the English and imprisoned, but was released after a relatively low ransom was paid. Because of the amount, the King of France, Philip VI and his advisers suspected Clisson of conspiring with King Edward III.

After a peace treaty was signed, his father was invited to Paris for a tournament, but was arrested, tried and executed by beheading on 2 August 1343. This expeditious execution shocked the nobility as the evidence of guilt was never made public. Moreover, the notion of betrayal does not refer in the same way for nobles of that time: they claimed the right to choose whom to honor. Olivier IV's body received additional posthumous humiliation: his body was hanged by the armpits at the gallows at Montfaucon in Paris, and his head was piked at the Sauvetout gate of Nantes.

Olivier’s mother, Jeanne de Belleville née de Clisson, swore Olivier and his brother Guillaume to avenge their father. She raised funds for an army to attack troops loyal to France, stationed in Brittany. Eventually she armed ships and started a piratical war against French ships. These ships were eventually lost and Jeanne with her two sons set adrift for five days. Guillaume died of thirst, cold and exhaustion. Olivier and his mother were finally rescued and taken to Morlaix by Montfort supporters.

It was after these events that Olivier was taken by his mother to England when he was twelve years old. He was raised in the court of King Edward III with John IV de Montfort, a future claimant of the Ducal throne of Brittany. Olivier's mother Jeanne, eventually married her fourth husband, an English military commander of King Edward III.