ANNE OF BRITTANY : DUCHESS OF BRITTANY, TWICE QUEEN OF FRANCE
Anne de Bretagne Horae ad usum Romanum, known as the Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany by Jean Bourdichon (1457-1521), 1505-1510. Copy (published in 1848). Royal City ofLoches/Indre-et-Loire Council.
The absence of a male heir sealed Anne's fate from a young age. Her father died and she became head of the Duchy at the age of 11. Hostilities with France reignited and ended in a forced marriage with Charles VIII, the King of France, in Langeais on 6th December 1491.
She was crowned Queen the following year, but only Charles VIII was allowed to manage her property. Between 1492 and 1496 she gave birth to five children, all of whom died young.
Charles VIII was killed in an accident in 1498. Anne reclaimed her authority over Brittany. On 8th January 1499 in Nantes, she married the new King Louis XII in accordance with the previous marriage contract. Once again Queen of France, she was now confident in her role as Duchess of Brittany. She stayed in Loches several times from 1492 to 1511. An extension of the royal lodge began being built during the reign of Charles VIII. Anne had the original plans altered by adding a splendid flamboyant Gothic oratory around 1500.