Yolande of Valois

Yolande of Valois (23 September 1434 – 23 August 1478) was a Duchess consort of Savoy by marriage to Duke Amadeus IX of Savoy, and regent of Savoy during the minority of her son Philibert I of Savoy from 1472 until 1478. She was named after her grandmother, Yolande of Aragon. She is sometimes known as Yolande of France.

Yolande of Valois
Dedication by the theologian Guillaume Fichet of his book Rhetorica to Yolande of France, Duchess of Savoy (1471)
Duchess consort of Savoy
Consort29 January 1465 – 30 March 1472
Born23 September 1434
Tours
Died23 August 1478(1478-08-23) (aged 43)
Chambéry
SpouseAmadeus IX, Duke of Savoy
IssueAnne, Princess of Squillace
Louise
Philibert I, Duke of Savoy
Charles I, Duke of Savoy
HouseValois
FatherCharles VII of France
MotherMarie of Anjou

Life

She was a daughter of King Charles VII of France, "The Victorious," and Marie of Anjou. She married Duke Amadeus IX of Savoy in 1452.

Her spouse became duke of Savoy in 1465, making her duchess. Her husband's retiring disposition and epilepsy left her in control of the state, to struggle with the Savoyard barons.

Regency

After the death of her spouse in March 1472, she became regent for her son Philibert until her own death. Like her brother Charles, she was an ally to Charles, Duke of Burgundy, against her own brother Louis XI of France. After the humiliation of Burgundy at the Battle of Grandson in 1476, the duke accused her of being in league with Louis and imprisoned her. After her release, she made peace with her brother and remained on good terms with him until her death.

Yolanda was the first person to in Europe to own a tiger during the Middle Ages. She is known to have kept one in Turin in 1478.[1]

Issue

With Amadeus she had ten children:

  1. Louis of Savoy (1453)
  2. Anne of Savoy (1455–1480), married Frederick of Naples (1452–1504), prince of Altamura
  3. Charles of Savoy (1456–1471), Prince of Piedmont
  4. Maria of Savoy (1460–1511) married Philip of Hachberg-Sausenberg (1454–1503)
  5. Louise of Savoy (1462–1503), married in 1479 to Hugh de Chalon
  6. Philibert I of Savoy (1465–1482)
  7. Bernard of Savoy (1467)
  8. Charles I of Savoy (1468–1490)
  9. James Louis of Savoy (1470–1485), Count of the Genevois, France
  10. John Claude Galeazzo of Savoy (1472)

Ancestry

References
  1. Aleksander Pluskowski, "What is exotic?", in The Edges of the Medieval World (CEU Press, 2009), p. 126.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.