Yolande of Aragon

Timeline

1. 1381–1417Zaragoza · AragonYolande was the daughter of John I and Yolande of Bar. In December 1400 she married Louis II, Duke of Anjou and claimant to the throne of Naples, bearing children including Louis III, Marie, and René, uniting Aragonese blood with Anjou's territorial politics in southern France and Italy.
2. 1417–1428Angers · AnjouAfter Louis II's death in 1417, Yolande governed Anjou and Provence as guardian of her sons. She had earlier arranged Marie's betrothal to the Dauphin Charles, and after the Treaty of Troyes still refused to recognize the English succession, providing money, troops, and diplomatic cover to the Bourges–Chinon faction, keeping Charles a foothold between his northern and southern lands.
3. 1429–1435Chinon · Loire ValleyDuring the siege of Orléans, Yolande pushed the court to accept Joan of Arc's campaign and deployed Anjou resources to support the relief and the coronation route to Reims. After 1429 she continued to coordinate cooperation between Anjou's descendants and Charles VII as a queen-mother-level adviser, gradually withdrawing from front-line governance around the time of the Peace of Arras.
4. 1435–1442Saumur · AnjouFrom about 1435 Yolande reduced her direct involvement in governance, retiring around Saumur while still advising Charles VII and her daughter Marie. She died on 14 November 1442, and the center of Anjou politics gradually passed to her son René.