Yolanda, Latin Empress
| 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, Latin Emperor |
| Issue Detail | |
| House | Flanders |
| Father | Baldwin V, Count of Hainault |
| Mother | Margaret I, Countess of Flanders |
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 ruling Marchioness of Namur from 1212 until 1217.
Biography
Yolanda 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 became Marchioness of Namur after 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.
Yolanda, who was empress in her own right, was crowned by Pope Honorius III together with her husband Peter.[4]
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 governed Constantinople alone for two years.
Benjamin Hendrickx described her as a regent, but Filip Van Tricht consider her as an empress in her own right, because:[5]
- 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, had 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, Conon of Béthune occupied an important place at her side in the imperial administration.
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.
She died in September 1219.[5]
Legacy
Following Yolanda's death, her second son, Robert of Courtenay, became emperor because her oldest son, Philip, did not want the throne.[6] Robert was still in France at 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
By Peter of Courtenay she had 10 children:
- Philip (d. 1226),[6] Marquis of Namur, who declined the offer of the crown of the Latin Empire
- Robert of Courtenay (d. 1228), Latin Emperor[6]
- Henry (d. 1229), Marquis of Namur
- Baldwin II of Constantinople (d. 1273)
- Margaret, Marchioness of Namur, who married first Raoul d'Issoudun and then Henry count of Vianden
- Elizabeth, who married Walter (Gaucher) count of Bar and then Eudes sire of Montagu
- Yolanda, who married Andrew II of Hungary
- Eleonore of Courtenay, who married Philip of Montfort, Lord of Tyre
- Marie, who married Theodore I Lascaris of the Empire of Nicaea
- Agnes of Courtenay, who married Geoffrey II Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b Rasmussen 1997, p. 9.
- ^ Tricht 2011, p. 87, note 109.
- ^ a b Tricht 2011, p. 290.
- ^ a b c Nicol 1993, p. 12.
Sources
- Nicol, Donald M. (14 October 1993) [1972]. The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453 (2 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.