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). Barcelona within Barcelonès Population (2003) 1,582,738 Area 1004 Km2 Population density (2001) 15,764/Km2 Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, an autonomous region in northeastern Spain (41°23′ N 2°11′ E). ... Events End of the reign of Emperor Chokei of Japan Emperor Go-Kameyama ascends to the throne of Japan Births Pope Eugenius IV Deaths March 1 - Amadeus VI of Savoy, Count of Savoy (b. ... John I (1350-1395), king of Aragon, was the son of Peter IV. and his third wife Eleanor of Sicily. ... John II the Good (French: Jean II le Bon) (April 16, 1319 – April 8, 1364), was King of France from 1350 to 1364. ...

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: The Angevin French prince, Louis II of Anjou (1377 - 1417) was the rival of Ladislas as king of Naples. ... December 2 is the 336th day (337th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events Henry IV quells baron rebellion and executes The Earls of Kent, Huntingdon and Salisbury for their attempt to have Richard II of England restored as King Jean Froissart writes the Chronicles Medici family becomes powerful in Florence, Italy Births Owen Tudor, seventh generation descedant of Rhys ap Gruffydd (approximate...

1. Louis III (1403-1434) - duke of Anjou, King of Naples
2. Marie (1404-1463) - wife of King Charles VII of France
3. [?] (1406-) - wife of a count of Geneva ????
4. René (1408-1480) - duke of Anjou, Duke of Bar, Duke Consort of Lorraine, titular King of Sicily and Naples
5. Yolande (1412-1440), m Duke of Brittany
6. 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 Province), France and Aragon, during the first half of 15th Century. 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. Louis III (1403 - 12 November 1434) was Titular King of Naples, Count of Provence and Duke of Anjou. ... Marie dAnjou Marie dAnjou ( 1404 - 1463) was the wife of King Charles VII, and queen consort of France. ... Charles VII the Victorious, a. ... René dAnjou, René I of Naples (René I the Good, French Le bon roi René) (January 16, 1409–July 10, 1480), was Duke of Anjou, Count of Provence (1434–1480), Count of Piedmont, Duke of Bar (1430–1480), Duke of Lorraine (1431–1453), King of Naples (1438–1442; titular... This is a list of counts and dukes of Maine, France. ... For other uses, see Anjou (disambiguation). ... Capital Zaragoza Area  – Total  – % of Spain Ranked 4th  47 719 km²  9,4% Population  – Total (2003)  – % of Spain  – Density Ranked 11th  1 217 514  2,9%  25,51/km² Demonym  – English  – Spanish  Aragonese  aragonés Statute of Autonomy August 16, 1982 ISO 3166-2 AR Parliamentary representation  – Congress seats  – Senate seats... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... John I (1350-1395), king of Aragon, was the son of Peter IV. and his third wife Eleanor of Sicily. ... Martin I (1356—1410), the Elder, the Humane, the Ecclesiastic, King of Aragon (1396 - 1410)), King of Sicily (1409 - 1410) was the last direct descendant in legitimate male line of Wilfred the Hairy, Count of Barcelona, to rule Aragon. ... Ferdinand and his wife Isabella of Castile Ferdinand II (Fernando de Aragón in Spanish and Ferran dAragó in Catalan), nicknamed the Catholic (March 10, 1452 – June 23, 1516) was king of Aragon, Castile, Sicily, Naples, Valencia, Sardinia and Navarre and Count of Barcelona. ... Louis III (1403 - 12 November 1434) was Titular King of Naples, Count of Provence and Duke of Anjou. ... The Compromise of Caspe made in 1412 was an act and resolution of parliamentarian representatives on behalf of kingdoms Aragon and Valencia and principality of Catalonia to resolve the interregnum commenced by the death of King Martin I of Aragon in 1410 without a legitimate heir. ... Yolande of Aragon (1383-1443) was called, from 1410 at the latest, the Queen of Four Kingdoms/La Reine des Quatre Royaumes. ...

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. A map of Europe in the 1430s, at the height of the Hundred Years War The Hundred Years War was a 116-year-long armed conflict between the Kingdom of England and France, beginning in 1337 and ending in 1453. ... Charles VII the Victorious, a. ... Categories: People stubs | Queen consorts ...

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.

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.

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.

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 [Ysabeau] 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.

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).

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'.

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.

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 [of Arc] was in the public eyes only eleven months."

Yolande retired retired to Angers, and then to Saumur, where she died on November 14, 1442. She died at the château de Tuce-de-Saumur on 14 December 1443. November 14 is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 47 days remaining. ... Events The community of Rauma, Finland was granted its town rights. ... December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events Albanians, under Turks John Hunyadi defeats Turks at the Battle of Nis Vlad II Dracul begins his second term as ruler of Wallachia, succeeding Basarab II. Births May 31 - Margaret Beaufort (mother of Henry VII of England) December 5 - Pope Julius II Marriages Deaths August 16 - Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Ashikaga...

Brief Chronology

1379 Yolande born at Zaragoza, Aragon.

1400 Yolande married Louis II of Anjou, at Arles, France in December.

1410 death of king Martin of Aragon

1412 Yolande's son Louis was not recognized as king of Aragon, instead the kinsman Ferdinand I became king there.

1413 Louis II d'Anjou aligned with the Orleanists [later known as 'Armagnacs'] faction in opposition to Burgundian faction.

1413 Yolande took Charles, her prospective son-in-law, to her court in Angers.

1417 Yolande was widowed 29 April. Yolande refused the queen, Isabeau's orders to return Charles [now 'dauphin', after the death of his elder brothers] to the French court. Yolande reportedly replied, "We have not nurtured and cherished this one for you to make him die like his brothers or to go mad like his father, or to become English like you. I keep him for my own. Come and take him away if you dare."

1419 On 29 June, Yolande gained an audience with Charles VI and prevailed upon him to sign the decree making his son 'lieutenant general of the kingdom' and gave the reason that Charles was the 'son of the king', and the monarch's acknowledgment of him as his son and rightful heir. The act removed Isabeau from any claim to be regent. Yolande retired to Provence.

1423 Yolande returned from Provence. She initiated the first of a few short-lived treaties with Brittany.

1424-27 Yolande presided over the Estates General. Yolande again obtained a treaty with the duke of Brittany and enlisted the duke's brother, Arthur de Richemont to support the Valois cause.

1427 The English regent in France, duke Bedford, moved to take the duchy of Anjou for himself. Yolande responded with a series of Valois court appointments and marriage agreements among various noble houses that frustrated English and Burgundian initiatives, and sustained the threatened Valois crown until more dramatic reversal could be established. Discord between la Trémoïlle, a key advisor to Charles VII, and the constable Richemont led to Richemont beng banished from the Valois court.

1429 Yolande was placed in charge of one of the examinations of Jeanne d'Arc, whom the duchess strongly supported. Yolande arranged for financing 'Jeanne d'Arc's army' that went to relieve Orléans.

1431 Yolande resided at Saumur, where Charles VII met with his Assembly. Yolande's youngest daughter, Yolanda, married the hereditary prince of Brittany. Yolande's son René inherited the duchy of Lorraine, but was made prisoner at the battle of Bulgneville on June 30, 1431.

1433 Richemont [who had returned to the court in 1432] overthrew La Trémoïlle. Yolande's youngest son, Charles, comte de Le Maine, assumed the position as chief advisor to Charles VII.

1434 Yolande's son, Louis III d'Anjou died, and René became duc d'Anjou, as well as heir to the titular claim to Sicily. [Queen Joan of Naples and Sicily had made Louis III her co-regent and heir and, after Louis' death, she named René as his brother's heir.]

1437 René was released from Burgundian prison for a substantial ransom. He went to Italy in 1438 and engaged in a war against Alfonso d'Aragon for the disputed title to the kingdom of Naples. René was forced to abandon Naples in the summer of 1442. Soon Yolande died.

Fictional Portrayals

Yolande appears as a character in the 1999 film The Messenger, in which she is played by actress Faye Dunaway. Faye Dunaway (born Dorothy Faye Dunaway on January 14, 1941 in Bascom, Florida) is an Academy Award winning actress. ...

Sources

• Jehanne d'Orliac "Yolande d'Anjou, la reine des quatre royaumes" (Paris, Plon, 1933)
• Philippe Erlanger "Charles VII et son mystère" (Paris, Gallimard 1945, Perrin 1973, 1981)
• Philippe Erlanger "9 femmes qui ont fait la France," Historia (Septembre 1971, pp.40-53)