Yolanda de Bar

Early years

Yolanda was the daughter of Duke Bar of Robert I and his wife Maria de Valois ( 1344 - 1404 ). Her paternal grandfather was Henry IV de Bar, and on her maternal side was John II of France .

Yolanda was the eighth of the duke's eleven children. She married in 1380 at the age of 15 for the infante Juan, Duke of Girona , heir to the throne of Aragon , thus becoming the Duchess of Girona and Countess of Server .

Queen Aragon

In 1387, the husband of Yolanda became king Juan I of Aragon . He was often ill, and Yolanda held in her hands power over the country. She turned the Aragonese courtyard into the center of French culture, paying particular attention to the talented Provencal troubadours .

Even before the accession to the throne, Juan and his brother, the future king Martin I of Aragon , refused to recognize the fourth marriage of his father Pedro IV with Sibila de Fortia , since he could create dynastic problems, threatening the brothers' right to the throne.

Sybil had sons from a relationship with Pedro IV , but they died in infancy. The only surviving daughter, Isabella of Aragon ( 1380 - 1424 ), at the direction of Juan I , married Jaime II of Urhelsky . Sybil was placed under house arrest in Barcelona , where she remained for the rest of her life. She was treated with respect, but kept under close surveillance.

Offspring

Yolanda de Bar gave birth to Juan I of six children, but only one daughter, Yolanda , survived to adulthood.

• Infant Jacques ( 1382 - 1388 ), Duke of Girona and Earl of Server
• Infanta Yolanda of Aragon ( 1384 - 1442 ), married in 1400 to Louis II of Anjou and playing an important role in the history of France during the Hundred Years War .
• Infant Ferdinand ( 1389 - 1389 ), Duke of Girona and Earl of Server
• Infanta Juan of Aragon ( 1392 - 1396 )
• Infanta Anthony of Aragon ( 1392 - 1392 )
• Infant Pedro ( 1394 - 1394 ), Duke of Girona and Earl of Server .

Dowager Queen

After the death of Juan I in 1396, Yolanda devoted herself to raising their only surviving Yolanda .

The stepdaughter of Yolanda Juan , daughter of Juan I from his first marriage with Mate de Armagnac, tried to claim her right to the throne of Aragon . But the Cortes of Aragon chose the brother of Juan I, the Sicilian king Martin II , who became king under the name Martin I, as king Berriysky , but did not succeed and was defeated.

Yolanda de Bar died in Barcelona on August 13, 1431 at the age of sixty-six.

• John, King of Aragonia // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, France, Bar