Anna, Duchess of Brittany

Anna of Brittany (in French Anne de Bretagne) (January 25 1477 – January 9 1514) was Duchess of Brittany between 1488 to her death and the last ruler of the independent Brittany. She was also twice consort queen of France. Anne was the only child of duke Francis II who survived childhood. Due to this, her political importance was immense as well as the issue of her marriage. The untimely death of her father from a fall from a horse in 1488, caused an enormous disruption in the internal politics of Brittany, because she was then 11 years old, still single, and several Breton factions struggled for the control of the duchy. Shortly afterwards, in 1491, king Charles VIII of France invaded Brittany and forced the teenage Anne to marry him. Brittany then became controlled by France and Anne consort queen. From Charles, Anne had four children, none of which survived young age. Thus, when Charles died in 1498 in an accident, France was inherited by cousin Louis XII of France. The dowager queen Anne was part of the inheritance and married the new king in the following year. From Louis, Anne had the following issue:\n* Claudia of Valois, nominal Duchess of Brittany (1499-1524), married Louis' successor Francis I of France\n* Renée of Valois, Duchess of Chartres (1510-1575), married Hercule d'Este Duke of Modena After Anne's death, the political union of Brittany and France was concretised. After 1514, the Duke of Brittany was a title conferred to princes of France. {| align="center" cellpadding="2" border="2"\n|- \n| width="30%" align="center" | Preceded by:
Francis II\n| width="40%" align="center" | Duke of Brittany\n| width="30%" align="center" | Succeeded by:
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