Yolande of Aragon

Yolande of Aragon (also known as Jolantha de Aragon and Violant d'Aragó) was born in Barcelona in 1383, the daughter of John I of Aragon and his wife Yolande of Bar (who was a granddaughter of John II of France (and niece of Charles V of France and Louis I of Anjou).

Related Topics:
Barcelona - 1383 - John I of Aragon - Yolande of Bar - John II of France

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She was betrothed to the heir of Anjou, Louis (who had one year earlier succeeded in conquering Naples and become in reality King Ludovico II of Naples) in 1390, and married him on 2 December 1400 at Montpellier. Their children were:

Related Topics:
Louis - 2 December - 1400

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• Louis III (1403-1434) - duke of Anjou, King of Naples
• Marie (1404-1463) - wife of King Charles VII of France
• (1406-) - wife of a count of Geneva ????
• René (1408-1480) - duke of Anjou, Duke of Bar, Duke Consort of Lorraine, titular King of Sicily and Naples
• Yolande (1412-1440), m Duke of Brittany
• Charles (1414-1472), Count of Maine (who never was duke of Anjou, but his namesake son was)

She took an important role in the politics of the Anjou Empire (centered in Provence), France and Aragon, during the first half of 15th Century.

Related Topics:
Anjou - France - Aragon - 15th Century

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She was the surviving daughter of sonless King John I of Aragon and claimed the throne of Aragon after the death of her elder sister Joan (countess of Foix) and her uncle Martin. However, unclear though they were, the succession rules of Aragon and Barcelona at that time were understood to favor all male relatives before any female, thus Yolande's uncle (John I's younger brother) Martin of Aragon inherited the throne of Aragon. Martin died without surviving issue in 1410, and after two years of kingless period, the Estates of Aragon elected Ferdinand de Antequera as the next King of Aragon. Ferdinand was the second son of Eleanor (Queen of Castile), sister of John and Martin. The Anjou candidate was Yolande's eldest son Louis III of Anjou, duke of Calabria, whose claim lost in Pact of Caspe. Yolande and her sons regarded themselves as heirs of higher claim, and began to use the title of Kings of Aragon. From this "inheritance" forward (= Aragon added to other Anjou King titles), Yolande was called as the Queen of Four Kingdoms - the four being apparently Sicily, Jerusalem, Cyprus and Aragon (another interpretation has been Naples as separate of Sicily, and then probably Cyprus excluded). However, the truth was that Yolande and her family held only for short intervals any lands in any of the said kingdoms, and the island of Sicily as well as Cyprus-Jerusalem apparently was never held by them in reality. Their real realm was Anjou fiefdoms around France: they held uncontestably the provinces of Provence and Anjou, also sometimes Bar, Le Maine, Touraine and Valois, and her son Rene became through his marriage the lord of (Upper) Lorraine.

Related Topics:
John I of Aragon - Martin of Aragon - Ferdinand - Louis III of Anjou - Pact of Caspe - Queen of Four Kingdoms

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In the emerging second phase of Hundred Years' War, Yolande chose to support the French nationalists (for example, the Armagnac party) against the English and against the Burgundians, and to support the claim of Dauphin Charles, who relying much upon Yolande's resources and help, succeeded in becoming crowned as Charles VII of France. As Charles' own mother Queen Isabeau worked against Charles' claims, it has been said that Yolande was the person who kept the adolescent Charles alive and protected when all sorts of machinations and poisonings were attempted, and acted as mother to young Charles. She removed Charles from his parent's court and kept him in her own castles, usually in Loire Valley, where Charles received Joan d'Arc. Yolande made young Charles marry her daughter Mary of Anjou, thus becoming the mother-in-law of Charles.

Related Topics:
Hundred Years' War - Charles VII of France - Queen Isabeau - Mary of Anjou

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Her marriage to Louis II of Anjou in December 1400, at Arles, was part of an effort, made also in earlier such marriages, to resolve the contested claims upon the kingdom of Sicily and Naples between the houses of Anjou and Aragon.

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Louis II of Anjou spent much of his life fighting in Italy for his claim to the kingdom of Naples. In France, she was the duchess of Anjou and the countess of Provence. She preferred to hold court in Angers and Saumur.

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Yolande arranged in 1413 for her daughter, Marie, to marry, Charles de Ponthieu, the then third living son of Charles VI and queen Isabeau. This led to Yolande's personal, and crucial, involvement in the struggle for the survival of the Valois royal dynasty in France.

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With the victory of the English over the French at Agincourt (1415), the duchy of Anjou was threatened. The French king, Charles VI was mentally ill and his realm was in civil war between the Burgundians and the Orleanists (Armagnacs). The situation was made worse by the Burgundian duke's alliance with the English and by the French queen, Isabeau of Bavaria submitting to the duke of Burgundy's scheme to deny the crown of France to the children of Charles VI. Fearing the abusive power build under the duke of Burgundy, Louis II had Yolande move with her children and future son-in-law, Charles, to Provence in south France.

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In 1416, the dauphin Louis, Charles de Ponthieu's oldest brother, died. In 1417, his second older brother (and subsequent dauphin), Jean, died. Both brothers had been in the care of the duke of Burgundy. Yolande was the protectress of her son-in-law, Charles, who became the new dauphin. On 29 April 1417, Louis II d'Anjou died of illness, leaving Yolande, at age 33, in control of the house of Anjou. She also had the fate of the French royal house of Valois in her care. Her young son-in-law, the dauphin Charles, was exceptionally vulnerable to designs of the English king, Henry V and to his older cousin, Jean sans Peur (the Fearless), duke of Burgundy. Charles' nearest older relatives, the dukes of Orléans and of Bourbon had been made prisoners at Agincourt, and were held captive by the English. With his mother, queen Isabeau, and the duke of Burgundy allied with the English, the dauphin Charles had no power to support him other than that of the house of Anjou and smaller house of Armagnac (which had taken up the Orleanists' cause).

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Following the assassination of Jean the Fearless at Montereau in 1419, Jean's son, Philippe le Bon (the Good), succeeded as the duke of Burgundy, and with Henry V of England forced the Treaty of Troyes (21 May 1420) on the mentally ill king Charles VI. The Treaty designated Henry as 'Regent of France' and heir to the French throne. This followed, in 1421, the dauphin Charles being declared as disinherited. When both Henry V of England and Charles VI died (31 August and 21 October, respectively) in 1422, legitimately the dauphin Charles, at age 19, became Charles VII of France. Charles' title was challenged by the English (and their Burgundian allies), who supported the infant son of Henry V and Catherine, Henry VI of England. This was the stage for the last phase of the Hundred Years' War, or the 'War of Charles VII'.

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In this struggle, Yolande played a prominent role in surrounding the young Valois king with advisors and servants associated with the house of Anjou. She maneuvered to have the duke of Brittany break from an alliance with the English, and was responsible for a soldier from the Breton ducal family, Arthur de Richemont, becoming the constable of France in 1425. Yolande's early and strong support of Jeanne d'Arc, when others had reasonable doubts, suggests the duchess' possible larger role in the orchestrating the Maid's appearance on the scene. Yolande unquestionably practiced realistic politics. Using the constable de Richemont, Yolande was behind the forceful removal of several of Charles VII's, less desirable, close advisors. The worst, La Trémoille, was attacked and forced from the court in 1433. Yolande was not adverse 'to plant', or to make use of mistresses of influential men. She had a network of such women in the courts of Lorraine, Burgundy, Brittany, and even in that of her son-in-law's.

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The contemporary chronicler, Juvenal Ursins, described Yolande as "The prettiest woman in the kingdom." Bourdigné, chronicler of the house of Anjou, says of her: "She who was said to be the wisest and most beautiful princess in Christendom." Later, king Louis XI of France recalled that his grandmother had "A man's heart in a woman's body." A twentieth-century French author, Jehanne d'Orliac, wrote one of the few works specifically on Yolande, and noted that the duchess remains unappreciated for her genius and influence in the reign of Charles VII. "She is mentioned in passing because she is the pivot of all important events for forty-two years in France." While "Joan was in the public eyes only eleven months."

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Yolande retired retired to Angers, and then to Saumur, where she died on November 14, 1442.

Related Topics:
November 14 - 1442

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She died at the château de Tuce-de-Saumur on 14 December 1443.

Related Topics:
14 December - 1443

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