然而，由於沒有男嗣，布列塔尼公國陷入空前危機，因為另外一個可能的公國繼承人沙蒂永的尼科勒（法语：Nicole de Châtillon）已在1480年將繼承權賣給法蘭西國王路易十一。1488年，布列塔尼在與法蘭西的戰爭中落敗，弗朗索瓦二世被迫同意除非獲得路易十一之子、國王查理八世的准許，布列塔尼不能擅自決定安娜的結婚對象。[5][6]弗朗索瓦二世在同年逝世，病危時要求女兒不要讓布列塔尼成為法蘭西的屬國；並指定元帥讓四世·德·里厄（英语：Jean IV de Rieux）為她的監護人[7]。此後，年僅11歲[2]的安娜成为布列塔尼公国的统治者，並在次年2月10日加冕為女公爵。[8]
1498年4月4日，查理八世在一次意外中逝世。當時安娜只有21歲，先前已經懷孕七次，其中三次流產，三子一女包含王太子查理-奥兰多（英语：Charles Orlando, Dauphin of France）已經全部夭折。她因而獨自統治布列塔尼公國。先前婚約的其他部份理應即刻生效，[15]但是新任法蘭西國王路易十二－查理八世的堂叔－已經和查理八世的姊姊讓娜成婚，讓娜因此短暫地成為新的法國王后。安娜於是與路易十二談判，最後同意要是國王能在一年之內獲得婚姻無效的許可，她就嫁給路易十二；幾天後的9月26日，這個程序便開始了[16]，而安娜在10月回到布列塔尼。
不過，路易十二由於先前和薩伏伊的路易絲有秘密約定[24]，便以安娜並不能為他生下男性子嗣而取消婚約，計畫把克洛德嫁給弗朗索瓦。為了布列塔尼的獨立，安娜至死都不同意此決定，試圖改由次女勒內為布列塔尼公國的繼承人，並施加一切影響力讓為首的政敵吉埃元帥（法语：Pierre de Rohan-Gié）被判處不敬罪。[25]這個時候，安娜尋求返回布列塔尼公國的機會，要拜訪她幼時不曾造訪的多個境內城市，來作為公國自主性的一個政治宣示。1505年的六月到九月，她成功訪問公國，受到當地臣民的熱情接待，並徵得足夠的稅收。[26]
^Brittany, Julia M.H. Smith, Medieval France: An Encyclopedia, Ed. William W. Kibler, (Garland Publishing Inc., 1995 ), 148.
^Fisher, p. 29. On August 20, [1488] a treaty was signed at Sablé between Francis and Charles. The Duke of Brittany acknowledged himself a vassal of the French crown; he placed St. Malo, Dinan, Fougères, and St. Aubin du Cormier in the hands of the French king as pledges; he promised to expel the foreign troops; he promised that Anne should not be married without Charles's consent. The French king in return for these concessions engaged to withdraw his army, saving the garrisons necessary to hold the towns which had been given him in pledge.
^Craik and MacFarlane, p. 295. La Tremoille took Dinant and St. Malo, and threatened to besiege the unfortunate Duke Francis in Rennes, his capital. Finding that no assistance arrived from England or from any other quarter, Francis at last accepted the hard terms offered by the French court; and in the middle of August (1488) he signed the treaty of Verger. Hereby, the claims of the French crown to the duchy were submitted to the consideration of certain commissioners: the French were to retain the conquests they had made, and the duke was bound never more to call in troops from England or any other country, and not to marry either of his daughters without the full approbation of his suzeraine lord the King of France.
^Dominique Le Page: Pour en finir avec Anne de Bretagne, Archives départementales de Loire-Atlantique, 2004, p. 92.
^Yves Bottineau: Georges Ier d'Amboise (1460-1510): un prélat normand de la Renaissance, Rouen, PTC, pp. 67-68.
^Philippe Tourault: Anne de Bretagne, Perrin, Paris, 1990, p. 255: a declaration dated 30 April 1501 at Lyon and never publiced, declared null and void any marriage contract of Claude of France with other princes than the future Francis I.
^Joël Blanchard: Philippe de Commynes, Paris, Fayard, 2006, p. 299.
^Henri Pigaillem: Anne de Bretagne: épouse de Charles VIII et de Louis XII, Paris, Pygmalion, 2008, p. 257.
^Alexandre Bande: Le cœur du roi. Les Capétiens et les sépultures multiples, XIIIe-XVe siècles, Tallandier, 2009, p. 250.
^Jean-Pierre Leguay. La fin de l'indépendance bretonne (volume 6), Fastes et malheurs de la Bretagne ducale 1213-1532, Ouest-France Université, 1992. Page 435. ISBN2-7373-2187-5.
^Christophe Levantal. Ducs et pairs et duchés-pairies laïques à l'époque moderne : (1519-1790). Maisonneuve & Larose, coll. Mémoires de France, 1996. Pages 479-481. ISBN2-7068-1219-2.
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