Jeanne la Flamme

Hennebont’s story is also told through its heroes and heroines, and no visit would be complete without meeting Joanna of Flanders. Courageous, cunning, and apparently not afraid to take matters into her own hands, she became known by the fiery nickname Jeanne la Flamme—“Joan the Flame.” Her story takes us back to June 1342, in the middle of the Breton War of Succession. Joanna’s husband, John of Montfort, was claiming the Duchy of Brittany, but he had been captured and imprisoned.

His rival, Charles of Blois, seized the opportunity and sent his army to surround Hennebont, then one of the strongest fortified towns in the region. Joanna had no intention of hiding quietly behind the walls. She put on her armor, rallied her troops, and climbed the towers to watch the enemy below.

And that’s when she spotted her chance. The attackers were so focused on the town that they had left their own camp virtually undefended. Under cover of darkness, Joanna slipped out through a little-used gate with 300 mounted fighters carrying torches, charged into the enemy camp, and set it ablaze.

That fiery raid would become one of the defining images of her legend. But “Joan the Flame” wasn’t finished. Instead of heading straight back behind Hennebont’s walls, she rode to Auray in search of reinforcements.

She then returned and charged the shaken enemy troops, shortly before English ships arrived and forced the siege to be lifted. Medieval chroniclers such as Froissart may have embellished parts of the story, but even allowing for a little medieval drama, Joanna’s actions remain an exceptionally rare example of a woman taking direct military command in the 14th century. And centuries later, Hennebont hasn’t forgotten her.

The bridge at the end of the street, rebuilt in 1953, bears her name, and she remains one of the stars of the town’s great medieval festivals. An extraordinary heroine—and a pretty good reminder that in medieval Brittany, underestimating the local women could be a serious mistake.