Charles of Blois-Châtillon

Charles of Blois-Châtillon (1319–1364), called the Saint, was nephew of King Philip VI of France. In 1337 he married Joan of Penthièvre, heiress of John III of Brittany, and on the duke's death in 1341 claimed the duchy, fighting John of Montfort with French backing in the Breton War of Succession.

A devout ascetic who is said to have put pebbles in his shoes and worn a hairshirt under his armour, he still ordered the massacre of 1,400 civilians after Quimper. Captured by the English in 1347, he spent nine years in captivity and was released in 1356 for a ransom of about half a million écus.

He resumed the war and was killed at Auray on 29 September 1364, a defeat that ended the war for the Montforts. He was beatified in 1904.