| History |
Yolande was born in Dreux, France, at the end of 1218, the daughter of Pierre I, duc de Bretagne, and Alix de Thouars, duchesse de Bretagne. Her mother had died on 21 October 1221, when Yolande was not quite three years old. In 1236 Yolande received as her dowry, the titles of comtesse de Penthièvre, dame de la Fère-en-Tardenois, de Chailly, and de Longjumeau which she held _suo jure._ Her brother Jean I \'Le Roux\', duc de Bretagne, granted her the title of _suo jure_ Comtesse de Porhoët.
Sometime before 19 October 1226, when she was seven years old, Yolande was betrothed to King Henry III of England. A letter of the king dated 19 October 1226 confirms his betrothal to _Jolantem filiam Petri ducis Brittanniae et comitis Richemundiae._ The marriage never took place, and King Henry eventually married Eleanor de Provence. Yolande\'s second betrothal occurred in March 1227 to Jean de France, comte d\'Anjou et Maine, the son of King Louis VIII of France. The engagement was broken off, and in 1231 she was affianced to Thibaut IV-I, comte de Champagne, the king of Navarre from 1234. As in the case with King Henry and Jean de France, this betrothal to Thibaut did not result in marriage. However his daughter Blanche de Champagne married Yolande\'s brother Jean I \'Le Roux\' in 1235. Yolande was more fortunate in her fourth betrothal, and in January that year she married Hugues XI \'le Brun\' de Lusignan, who would succeed his father Hugues X in 1249 as comte de La Marche et d\'Angoulême. His uterine half-brother was King Henry III of England, to whom Yolande had been betrothed in 1226.
Yolande and Hugues had seven children of whom Hugues XII and Alice would have progeny. On 6 April 1250 her husband was killed at the Battle of Fariskur in Egypt. Yolande acted as regent of La Marche and Angoulême for her eldest son Hugues from 1250 to 1256.
Yolande died at the château de Bouteville, Charente, on 10 October 1272. She was buried at the Notre Dame Abbey in Villeneuve-lez-Nantes. [1, 2] |
Ellie Wood Keith Genealogy
1218 - 1272 (54 years)