t-Loire, nearly opposite, stands the ruined
castle of Champtoceaux, where Duke John V. was kept a prisoner by the
implacable enemies of his house, the Penthievre family.

Marguerite de Clisson, widow of Jean de Bretagne, Comte de Penthievre,
lived in retirement in her stately fortress of Champtoceaux, with her
three sons, Oliver, Count of Blois, and his brothers. Marguerite inherited
the pride, hatred, and cruelty, of her father, without his chivalrous
loyalty and magnanimity. The kingdom was filled with troubles, and she
thought it a favourable moment for reviving the pretensions of her family.
John V. held his court at Nantes. She sent Oliver there to assure the Duke
that his mother and brother were ready to do him homage; and he swore, on
his own part, "de le servir envers et contre tous ceux qui peuvent vivre
et mourir." John, delighted, made the young man share his bed, and treated
him with the greatest distinction. Oliver expressed his regret that the
age and infirmities of his mother prevented her going to court, and
timidly insinuated the honour she would feel at a visit from the Duke. The
Duke consented, and, sending off his plate to Champtoceaux, started with
his brother-in-law, Count Oliver, and his attendants. Having passed the
little river which separates Anjou from Brittany, they saw a man throwing
the planks of the bridge into the water, and thus preventing the Duke's
suite from following. At the same time, Charles de Penthievre, Margaret's
second son, issued suddenly from a wood with an escort of lances and
surrounded the Duke. There was no kind of indignity they did not make him
suffer. He was tied upon his horse like a criminal, and conducted first to
Clisson, Oliver leading him with a halter round his neck. The Penthievres,
who would not let the place be guessed where they held their captive,
conducted him at night, sometimes on foot, from fortress to fortress, from
dungeon to dungeon; at the same time circulating the report that they had
drowned him in the Loire. As a last insult, they took him to Champtoceaux,
where Marguerite visited him in prison to exult over his misfortunes.
Meantime the Breton barons, indignant at the treason of which their
Sovereign was the victim, raised an army for his deliverance, and civil
war broke out with redoubled fury. His heroic wife, Jeanne de France,
showed an untiring energy to save him. Undaunted by the threats of the
Penthievres,--who sent word to her, if she did