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Yesterday's Roses for Today's Gardens
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Yolande d'Aragon: "The Queen of Four Kingdoms" I suspect this is true of most lovers of Old Garden Roses, but part of the fascination is the history; the (in)famous people and events that the Queen of Flowers have been named for through the ages. I am fascinated with the stories.
Classified as a Damask Perpetual or Portland rose, 'Yolande d'Aragon' is a rose to grow just for the magnificent fragrance. Fully double 3.5 inch flowers with rich mauve-pink coloring, intense Old Rose fragrance bloom flushes on a fairly compact, attractive plant. Like most members of its class, the foliage grows right up to the base of the bloom forming a charming ruff around each flower. 'Yolande' is a vigorous, upright shrub that will attain a height of about 4 or 5 feet, and with generous treatment, will repeat throughout the season, with the fall blooms being some of the finest. The ample foliage is large, matte-textured and quite disease resistant in my no-spray urban jungle. Yolande d'Aragon is an incredible rose for cutting; strong stems, long-lasting blooms... and a room-filling fragrance to make you drool (bibs not included.) The Woman: Yolande d'Aragón, duchesse d'Anjou, Complete Article: http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/yolande.htm Born at Saragosa, Aragón. Her father was Juan I, king of Aragón, and her mother was Yolande de Bar, grand daughter of Jean le Bon of France (and niece of Charles V of France). She was initially called "Violenta". On the Aragonise side, she was the granddaughter of Pedro IV of Aragón. Her father died and was succeeded by Martin as king of Aragón. Her marriage to Louis II of Anjou in December 1400, at Arles, was part of an effort, made in earlier such marriages, to resolve the contested claims upon the kingdom of Sicily and Naples between the two houses of Anjou and Aragón. Louis II of Anjou spent much of his life fighting in Italy for his claim to the kingdom of Naples. Yolande's nominal title as "The Queen of Four Kingdoms" referred to Sicily, Naples, Jerusalem, and Aragón. In France, she was the duchess of Anjou and the countess of Provence. She preferred to hold court in Angers and Saumur. Her five children were: Louis (b.25 Sep 1403), Marie (b.14 Oct 1404), René (b.16 Jan 1409), Yolande (b.1412), and Charles (b.1414). Yolande arranged in 1413 for her daughter, Marie, to marry, Charles de Ponthieu, the third son of Charles VI and Isabeau of France. This led to Yolande's personal, and crucial, involvement in the struggle for the survival of the Valois royal dynasty in France. With the victory of the English over the French at Agincourt (1415), the duchy of Anjou was threatened. The French king, Charles VI was mentally ill and his realm was in civil war between the Burgundians and the Orleanists (Armagnacs). The situation was made worse by the Burgundian duke's alliance with the English and by the French queen, Isabeau [Ysabeau] of Bavaria submitting to the duke of Burgundy's scheme to deny the crown of France to the children of Charles VI. Fearing the abusive power build under the duke of Burgundy, Louis II had Yolande move with her children and future son-in-law, Charles, to Province. In 1416, the dauphin, Charles de Ponthieu's oldest brother, Louis, died. In 1417, his second older brother (and subsequent dauphin), Jean, died. Both brothers had been in the care of the duke of Burgundy. Yolande became the protectress of her son-in-law, Charles, who became the new dauphin. On 29 April 1417, Louis II d'Anjou died of illness, leaving Yolande, at age 33, in control of the house of Anjou. She also had the fate of the French royal house of Valois in her care. Her young son-in-law, the dauphin Charles, was exceptionally vulnerable to designs of the English king, Henry V and to his older cousin, Jean sans Peur (the Fearless), duke of Burgundy. Charles' nearest older relatives, the dukes of Orléans and of Bourbon had been made prisoners at Agincourt, and were held captive by the English. With his mother, queen Isabeau, and the duke of Burgundy allied with the English, the dauphin Charles had no power to support him other than that of the house of Anjou and smaller house of Armagnac (which had taken up the Orleanists' cause). Following the assassination of Jean the Fearless at Montereau in 1419, Jean's son, Philippe le Bon (the Good), succeeded as the duke of Burgundy, and with Henry V of England forced the Treaty of Troyes (21 May 1420) on the mentally ill king Charles VI. The Treaty designated Henry as 'Regent of France' and heir to the French throne. This followed, in 1421, the dauphin Charles being declared as disinherited. When both Henry V of England and Charles VI died (31 August and 21 October, respectively) in 1422, the dauphin Charles, at age 19, became Charles VII of France. Charles' title was challenged by the English (and their Burgundian allies), who supported the infant son of Henry V and Catherine, Henry VI of England. This was the stage for the last phase of the Hundred Years' War, or the 'War of Charles VII'. In this struggle, Yolande played a prominent role in surrounding the young Valois king with advisors and servants associated with the house of Anjou. She maneuvered to have the duke of Brittany break from an alliance with the English, and was responsible for the Breton soldier, Arthur de Richemont, becoming the constable of France in 1425. Yolande's early and strong support of Jeanne d'Arc, when others had reasonable doubts, suggests the duchess' possible larger role in the orchestrating the Maid's appearance on the scene. Yolande unquestionably practiced realistic politics. Using the constable de Richemont, Yolande was behind the forceful removal of several of Charles VII's, less desirable, close advisors. The worst, La Trémoille, was attacked and forced from the court in 1433. Yolande was not adverse 'to plant', or to make use of mistresses of influential men. She had a network of such women in the courts of Lorraine, Burgundy, Brittany, and even in that of her son-in-law's. The contemporary chronicler, Juvenal Ursins, described Yolande as "The prettiest woman in the kingdom." Bourdigné, chronicler of the house of Anjou, says of her: "She who was said to be the wisest and most beautiful princess in Christendom." Later, king Louis XI of France recalled that his grandmother had "A man's heart in a woman's body." A twentieth-century French historian, Jehanne d'Orliac, authored one of the few works on Yolande and noted that the duchess remains unappreciated for her genius and influence in the reign of Charles VII. "She is mentioned in passing because she is the pivot of all important events for forty-two years in France." While "Joan [of Arc] was in the public eyes only eleven months." Complete Article: http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/yolande.htm |
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