My Revenge

Album: Black Flame (2018)
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Songfacts®:

  • "My Revenge" tells the story of Jeanne de Clisson, a 14th century Breton who harried French ships as a privateer after her husband Olivier de Clisson IV was beheaded. Enraged by Oliver's execution, she swore retribution against the French King, Philip VI. Jeanne sold the de Clisson estates and outfitted three warships, which she painted black with red sails. The flagship was named My Revenge. For 13 years, the ships of this Black Fleet patrolled the English Channel hunting down French ships.

    Not many survived an encounter with "The Lioness of Brittany" and her fellow pirates. A few intentionally released prisoners spoke to the French king of Jeanne de Clisson's rage against their crews who received no mercy. According to some reports, Jeanne personally decapitated all prisoners of noble birth with an axe, before throwing their bodies into the sea.

    In 1346, during the Battle of Crecy, Jeanne used her ships to supply the English forces.
  • Bury Tomorrow vocalist Daniel Winter-Bates told Kerrang he is "into history and mythology", and has written about things like this before. Examples include the Portraits song "Waxed Wings," which was about the classic Greek myth of Icarus' flight and that album's title track, which references Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Winter-Bates added: "That's the great thing about being a lyricist; you can write songs about amazing stories."

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