Anne, of Brittany, Consort of Louis XII, King of France, 1476-1514

Anne of Brittany was suo jure Duchess of Brittany from 1488 until her death, and Queen of France from 1491 to 1498 and again from 1499 to her death. She was the only woman to have been queen consort of France twice.

Anne was raised in Nantes during a series of conflicts in which the King of France sought to assert his authority over Brittany. Her father, Francis II, Duke of Brittany, was the last male heir of the House of Montfort. Upon his death in 1488, Anne became duchess of Brittany, countess of Nantes, Montfort, and Richmond, and viscountess of Limoges. The next year, she married Maximilian I of Austria by proxy, but Charles VIII of France saw this as a threat since his realm was located between Brittany and Austria. He started a military campaign which eventually forced the duchess to renounce her marriage.

Anne eventually married Charles VIII in 1491. None of their children survived early childhood, and when the king died in 1498, the throne went to his cousin, Louis XII. Following an agreement made to secure the annexation of Brittany, Anne had to marry the new king. Louis XII was deeply in love with his wife and Anne had many opportunities to reassert the independence of her duchy. They had two daughters; although neither could succeed to the French throne due to the Salic law, the elder was proclaimed the heiress of Brittany. After Anne's death in 1514, this daughter married her cousin Francis I of France, leading to the formal union between France and Brittany.