Yolande of Aragon

Yolande of Aragon, (11 August 1384 – 14 November 1442), was a throne claimant and titular queen regnant of Aragon, titular queen consort of Naples, Duchess of Anjou, Countess of Provence, and regent of Provence during the minority of her son. She was a daughter of John I of Aragon and his wife Yolande of Bar (daughter of Robert I, Duke of Bar and Marie Valois).

She was also known as Jolantha de Aragon and Violant d'Aragó. Tradition holds that she commissioned the famous Rohan Hours.

Claim to the Aragonese throne

Yolande was born in Saragosa, Aragon on 11 August 1384, the eldest daughter of King John I of Aragon by his second wife, Yolande of Bar, the granddaughter of King John II of France. She had three brothers and two sisters, as well as five older half-siblings from her father's first marriage to Martha of Armagnac. Yolande later played an important role in the politics of the Angevin Empire, France, and Aragon, during the first half of the 15th century. As the surviving daughter of King John I of Aragon, she claimed the throne of Aragon after the deaths of her elder sister Joanna, Countess of Foix and her uncle, King Martin I of Aragon. However, unclear though they were, the laws of succession for Aragon and Barcelona at that time were understood to favour all male relatives over the females (this is how Yolande's uncle, Martin of Aragon came to inherit the throne of Aragon). Martin died without surviving issue in 1410,...
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