Royal Women in Power Y

Brief lives of women who reigned or ruled in their own right or by marriage by providing their a) proprietary titles, b) parentage, c) patrimony and properties, d) persona or personality, e) powers exercised, f) patronages and g) progeny or posterity. 

Yolande d'Anjou (1428-1483) 
a. k. a. Yolande of Bar or Yolande of Lorraine. 
Proprietary Titles: Duchess of Lorraine, 1473-1483 (succeeded her nephew Nicolas of Lorraine), Duchess of Bar, 1480-1483 (succeeded her father) 
Parents/Pedigree: Daughter of Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine, and Rene of Anjou, King of Naples.
Progeny/Posterity: Ferri II of Lorraine (1420-1470), Count of Vaudemont. 


Yolande de Brittany (1218-1272)
a. k. a. Yolande of Dreux. 
Proprietary Titles: Countess of Penthievre, 1238-1272 (received as her dowry from her father on her marriage in 1238 to Hugues XI of Lusignan, Count of La Marche; Penthievre was confiscated by Jean I of Brittany on her death); Countess of Porhoet (by grant of her brother).
Parents/Pedigree: Daughter of Pierre I Mauclerc, Duke of Brittany.
Power Exercised: Countess Regent of Angouleme and La Marche, 1250-1256, for her son Hugh XII de Lusignan


Yolande de Burgundy (1248-1280) 
Countess of Nevers, 1262-1280.
 Notes:  "Her [Mahaut of Dampierre] eldest daughter, Yoland, received the county of Nevers as her dowry when in 1265 she married Jean Tristan, son of King Louis IX. She became a widow in 1270, and in 1272 married Robert de Dampierre, who became count of Flanders. Her descendant by her second marriage, Marguerite, daughter and heiress of Louis II. de Male, count of Flanders, married successively two dukes of Burgundy, Philip I. de Rouvre and Philip II. the Bold. Philip (d. 1415), the third son of Philip the Bold, received the counties of Nevers and of Rethel and the barony of Donzy. His last male descendant, John, died in 1491." 

Yolande de Chatillon  (1223-1254)
Proprietary Titles:  Lady of Donzy, 1225-1254 [150], Countess of Tonnerre, 1250-1254 "...Other descendants of Herve of Gien were yet more illustrious. His only daughter, by Matilda of Courtenai, was Agnes de Donzi (affianced to Louis of France, afterwards Louis VIII.), who married Gui de Chatillon, Comte de St. Pol. Their son Gaucher was Lord of St. Aignan, Donzi, &c. Their daughter Yolande married Archambaut de Bourbon, and bare to him Matilda, who became heiress of the Counties of Nevers, Auxerre, and Tonnerre, of the Baronies of Donzi and Perche-Gouet, as well as of the lordship of Bourbon...." (SIANH, p. 316) 

Yolande de Dampierre  (c1331-1395) 
Heiress to Cassel and Marle. 

Yolande de Dreux (1212-1248) 
Countess of Auxonne (Ossone)

Yolande de Dreux (1218-1272) 
Lady of the Fere en Tardenois.

Yolande de Dreux (1263-1322) 
Countess of Montfort-L’Aumary, 1311-1322.

Yolande van Flanders 
Margravine of Namur, 1212-1216 
Latin Empress of Constantinople, 1217-1219.

Yolande van Flanders (1331-1395) 
Lady of Cassel & Countess of Marle.

Yolande di Montferrat (1274-1317) 
renamed Irene after marrying Andronikos II of Byzantium 
Notes:  "...was unable to comprehend the succession rights of her eldest stepson, Michael IX, and since her husband remained obstinately unmoved by her representations she flounced off with her three sons to Thessalonika where she kept a separate court for many years from 1303 to her death in 1317. From her own domain she issed her own decrees, conducted her own foreign policy and plotted against her husband with the Serbs and Catalans... She died embittered and extremely wealthy." (Garland, p. 225) 


Yolande de Montfort (1263-1322) 
Countess of Montfort-l'Aumary.

YOLANDE DE NESLE [Tree1]

Proprietary Titles:  Viscountess of Soissons, Lady of Coeuvres.
Parents/Pedigree:  Daughter of Raoul de Nesle (1223-1272), Viscount of Soissons, Lord of Coeuvres, and of Comtesse de Hengest.
Partner/Progeny:  Married Bernard V de Moreuil.