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Yolanda(French:Yolande de Hainault;1175 – August 1219), often calledYolanda of Flanders,was Empress of theLatin EmpireinConstantinople,first as the wife ofEmperor Peterfrom 1216 to 1217 and thereafter asregentuntil her death in 1219. Peter was captured and imprisoned before he could reach Constantinople, so Yolanda assumed the duties of governing the Empire. She was rulingMarchioness of Namurfrom 1212 until 1217.
| Yolanda | |
|---|---|
| Latin Empress regent of Constantinople | |
| Regency | 1217 – August 1219 |
| Predecessor | Peter |
| Successor | Robert |
| Latin Empress consort | |
| Tenure | 1216 – 1217 (de facto) or 1219 (de jure) |
| Born | 1175 |
| Died | 1219 (aged 43–44) |
| Spouse | Peter, Latin Emperor |
| Issue Detail | |
| House | Flanders |
| Father | Baldwin V, Count of Hainault |
| Mother | Margaret I, Countess of Flanders |
Biography
editYolanda was the daughter ofBaldwin V, Count of Hainault,[1]and CountessMargaret I of Flanders.Two of her brothers,Baldwin Iand thenHenry,were emperors in Constantinople.[1]
In 1212, Yolanda becameMarchioness of Namurafter her brother, Marquis Philip I.
After the death of her brother emperor Henry in 1216 there was a brief period without an emperor, before Peter was elected to succeed her brother.
Because ofSalic Law,Yolande could not succeed to the throne, and her husband became emperor instead.[2]
On their way there, Peter sent Yolanda ahead to Constantinople, while he fought theDespotate of Epirus,during which he was captured. Because his fate was unknown (although he was probably killed), Yolanda governed Constantinople alone for two years.
She allied with theBulgariansagainst the various Byzantine successor states, and was able to make peace withTheodore I Lascarisof theEmpire of Nicaea,who married her daughter, Marie.
Her husband died after two years in prison, and she died herself in August 1219.[3]
Legacy
editFollowing Yolanda's death, her second son,Robert of Courtenay,became emperor because her oldest son, Philip, did not want the throne.[4]Robert was still inFranceat the time.
Yolanda was, in her own right,Marchioness of Namur,which she inherited from her brother, Marquis Philip I, in 1212 and left to her eldest son, Marquis Philip II, when she went to Constantinople in 1216.
Issue
editBy Peter of Courtenay she had 10 children:
- Philip(d. 1226),[4]Marquis of Namur, who declined the offer of the crown of the Latin Empire
- Robert of Courtenay(d. 1228), Latin Emperor[4]
- Henry(d. 1229), Marquis of Namur
- Baldwin II of Constantinople(d. 1273)
- Margaret,Marchioness of Namur, who married first Raoul d'Issoudun and then Henrycount of Vianden
- Elizabeth,who married Walter (Gaucher) count ofBarand then Eudes sire ofMontagu
- Yolanda,who marriedAndrew II of Hungary
- Eleanor, who marriedPhilip of Montfort, Lord of Tyre
- Marie,who marriedTheodore I Lascarisof theEmpire of Nicaea
- Agnes, who marriedGeoffrey II Villehardouin,Prince of Achaea
References
edit- ^abRasmussen 1997,p. 9.
- ^Hazlitt, William Carew (1860).History of the Venetian Republic: Her Rise, Her Greatness, and Her Civilization.Vol. 2. Smith. p. 132.
The provisions of the Salic Law precluding Yolande from the succession in her own person, she was forced to content herself with ascending the throne in the right of her husband, Peter Courtenay, Count of Namur, whom the Barons of Romania consented to invest with the imperial title.
- ^Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne(in French). Vol. 33. Michaud. 1854. p. 250.
Yolande gouverna son petit empire avec sagesse pendant la prison de son mari et mourut elle-même en août 1219.
- ^abcNicol 2002,p. 12.
Sources
edit- Nicol, Donald M. (2002).The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453.Cambridge University Press.
- Rasmussen, Ann Marie (1997).Mothers and Daughters in Medieval German Literature.Syracuse University Press.ISBN978-0-8156-0389-4.
- Van Tricht, Filip (2011).The Latin Renovatio of Byzantium.BRILL.ISBN978-9004203235.