ave filled so important a part, as Olivier du
Clisson. He was true to his sovereign after his reconciliation, and to his
children after him. John IV. had scarce closed his eyes when the daughter
of Clisson, wife of Jean de Penthievre, came to her father and said, "It
depends only on you that my husband receives the inheritance of Brittany."
"How?" asked the Constable. "By your ridding yourself of the children of
De Montfort." "Ah! cruel and perverse woman," exclaimed Clisson; "if you
live long, you will destroy the honour and property of your children;" and
he accompanied his words with such violent menaces, that, seized with
affright, she fled from his presence, and falling down, broke her thigh.
The prophecy of Clisson was fulfilled, as we shall later relate. The
ancient chateau in which he died was destroyed by Henry IV.; the present
building was raised by Alain IX., Vicomte de Rohan, through Alain VIII.,
who married Beatrix, eldest daughter of the Constable, by which Josselin
descended to the Rohans,(21) a house yielding to none in antiquity and
illustration, being descended from the ancient sovereigns of Brittany, and
allied with all the crowned heads of Europe,--"Princes of Bretagne" they
were styled. But the Rohan family became unpopular in the duchy, when John
II. attached himself to Louis XI. and France, for the bribe of 8000 livres
to himself and 4000 to his wife.

At the battle of St. Aubin du Cormier, which sealed the fate of Brittany,
the Vicomte du Rohan betrayed his brother-in-law Duke Francis and the
national cause, and fought on the side of France. He afterwards marched at
the head of the French troops, and besieged Guingamp, where its brave
defenders declared, "As long as there is a duchess in Brittany, we will
not give up her towns." But they took Pontrieux and Concarneau, and in
1491 the Vicomte du Rohan was appointed by Charles VIII.
Lieutenant-General in Lower Brittany. He was called by his countrymen the
"Felon Prince;" and so detested was he and his race, that it passed into a
proverb to say of a mean, treacherous, dishonest person, "Il mange a
l'auge comme Rohan,"--"He eats at the manger (that is, the table of the
King of France) like Rohan." "Un peu de jactance," therefore, justly
observes Daru, in the proud motto of the Rohans:--(22)

"Roi ne puis,
Prince ne daigne,
Rohan je suis."

[Illustration: 43. Chateau of Josselin.]

The chateau of Josselin stands by a river, on whi