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Yolanda of Hainault (French: Yolande de Hainault; 1175 – September 1219), often called Yolanda of Flanders, was Empress of the Latin Empire in Constantinople from 1217 to 1219. Her husband Peter was captured and imprisoned before he could reach Constantinople, so Yolanda ruled the Empire alone. She was the ruling Margrave of Namur from 1212 until 1216.
| Yolanda of Hainault | |
|---|---|
| Marchioness of Namur Empress and Autocrat of the Romans | |
| Latin Empress of Constantinople | |
| Reign | 1217–1219[1] |
| Coronation | 9 April 1217[2] |
| Predecessor | Henry |
| Successor | Robert |
| Co-ruler | Peter (1217) |
| Born | 1175 |
| Died | 1219 (aged 43–44) |
| Spouse | Peter |
| Issue Detail |
|
| House | Flanders |
| Father | Baldwin V, Count of Hainault |
| Mother | Margaret I, Countess of Flanders |
Biography
editYolanda was the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Hainault,[3] and Countess Margaret I of Flanders. Two of her brothers, Baldwin I and then Henry, were emperors in Constantinople.[3]
In 1212, Yolanda inherited the title of Margrave of Namur from her brother, Philip I, and held the title jointly with her husband Peter.[4]
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.[5]
Her husband Peter accepted the imperial crown at her instigation.[6] Yolanda, who was empress in her own right, was crowned by Pope Honorius III together with her husband Peter.[7]
On their way there, Peter sent Yolanda ahead to Constantinople, while he fought the Despotate of Epirus, during which he was captured. Because his fate was unknown (although he was probably killed), Yolanda ruled Constantinople alone for two years.[5]
Benjamin Hendrickx described her as a regent, but Filip Van Tricht consider her as an empress in her own right, because:[8]
- For the legitimacy of his emperorship, her husband was dependent on her as the sister of the previous emperors.
- In April 1217 in Rome, she, together with her husband, confirmed the constitutional conventions of the empire in the presence of the envoys of the Venetian doge, something that is unknown of any other empress.
- From a 13th-century Venetian catalogue of emperors, she ruled the empire whilst Conon of Béthune governed it at her side, this ensuing from a woman being on the imperial throne.
She allied with the Bulgarians against the various Byzantine successor states, and was able to make peace with Theodore I Lascaris of the Empire of Nicaea, who married her daughter, Marie.[5]
She died in September 1219.[8]
Legacy
editFollowing Yolanda's death, her second son, Robert of Courtenay, became emperor because her eldest son, Philip, did not want the throne.[5] Robert was still in France at the time.
Yolanda left the title of Margrave of Namur to her eldest son, Marquis Philip II, when she went to Constantinople in 1216.[4]
Issue
editBy Peter of Courtenay she had 13 children:
- Philip II (1194–1226),[5] Marquis of Namur, who declined the offer of the crown of the Latin Empire
- Margaret (1196–1258), Marchioness of Namur, who married first Raoul d'Issoudun and then Henry count of Vianden
- Elizabeth (1199–1269), who married Walter (Gaucher) count of Bar and then Eudes sire of Montagu
- Yolanda (1200–1233), who married Andrew II of Hungary
- Robert I (1201–1228), Latin Emperor[5]
- Agnes (1202–1247), who married Geoffrey II Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea
- Constance (died after 1210)[9]
- Marie (1204–1228), who married Theodore I Lascaris of the Empire of Nicaea
- Eleonore (1208–1230), who married Philip of Montfort, Lord of Tyre
- Sybil, nun at Fontevraud-l'Abbaye; died at a young age after 1223[9]
- Peter, clergyman; died at a young age[9]
- Henry (1212–1229), Marquis of Namur
- Baldwin II (1217–1273), Latin Emperor
References
edit- ↑ Jeffreys, Elizabeth; Haldon, John F.; Cormack, Robin, eds. (2008). The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. p. 965. ISBN 978-0-19-925246-6.
- ↑ Tricht 2011, p. 85.
- 1 2 Rasmussen 1997, p. 9.
- 1 2 Woodward, B. B.; Cates, W. L. R. (1872). Encyclopaedia of Chronology: Historical and Biographical. Longmans, Green and Co. p. 1010.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nicol 1993, p. 12.
- ↑ Tricht 2011, p. 290, note 161.
- ↑ Tricht 2011, p. 87, note 109.
- 1 2 Tricht 2011, p. 290.
- 1 2 3 Bouchet, Jean Du (1661). Histoire généalogique de la Maison royale de Courtenay... par M. du Bouchet,... (in French). chez Jean Dupuis.
Sources
edit- Nicol, Donald M. (14 October 1993) [1972]. The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453 (second ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43991-6.
- Rasmussen, Ann Marie (1997). Mothers and Daughters in Medieval German Literature. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-0389-4.
- Tricht, Filip Van (23 May 2011). The Latin Renovatio of Byzantium: The Empire of Constantinople (1204–1228). BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-20323-5.