Yolande de Dreux

Yolande de Dreux (1263–2 August, 1330) was Queen Consort of the Kingdom of Scotland. She was the daughter of Robert IV, Count of Dreux, and Beatrice of Montfort.

Yolande's family was distantly related to the Capetian Kings of France and had close ties to other prominent noble families. Her father was a patrilineal descendant of King Louis VI of France, her paternal grandmother Marie de Bourbon was a cousin of Guy of Dampierre, Count of Flanders, while her mother Beatrice was the only child of Count John I of Montfort-l'Amaury and his wife Jeanne de Chateaudun. From her mother Yolande inherited the title of Countess of Montfort in her own right.

Yolande was the second wife of Alexander III, King of Scots, who married the young Frenchwoman in search of an heir following the death of the last surviving child of his marriage to Margaret, daughter of Henry III of England, also named Alexander. As well as being intended to provide an heir for the kingdom of Scots, Alexander's marriage to the French Yolande represented a move to distance Alexander from his neighbour Edward I of England and to emphasise Scots independence. Yolande was very closely related to her husband Alexander III, since both shared the same ancestors in the french noble houses of Coucy and of Dreux.

The marriage was celebrated on 15 October 1285 at Jedburgh Abbey. King Alexander died on either 18 March or 19 March, 1286, from a fall from his horse, while riding from his court at Edinburgh to join Yolande at Kinghorn. It appears that by this time the Queen was believed to be pregnant with the expected heir, and Guardians were elected to govern the kingdom by a parliament held at Scone, Perth and Kinross on 2 April or 28 April 1286.

It is unclear what happened to her pregnancy, most likely she had a miscarriage. However by one account the Guardians gathered at Clackmannan of Saint Catherine's Day — 25 November, 1286 — to witness the birth, but the child was stillborn, or just possibly she had a phantom pregnancy, and according to one dubious English account she was faking pregnancy. [Peter Traquair "Freedom's Sword"]

Yolande's second marriage, in 1292, to Arthur II, Duke of Brittany, was longer lasting and more fruitful. Yolande and Arthur had at least six children:
* John, born c. 1294, later Count of Montfort
* Béatrix, born c. 1295, married Guy X of Laval
* Jeanne, born c. 1296, married Robert, son of Robert III of Flanders
* Alix, , born c. 1297, married Bouchard VI of Vendôme
* Blanche, born c. 1300, died young
* Marie, born c. 1302, entered religion

Arthur died in 1312, being succeeded by his son John, born of his first marriage and not to be confused with his son by Yolande named John. Yolande survived Arthur, dying on 2 August, 1330. Her county of Montfort passed to her son John, who would later unsuccessfully fight for his claim to his father's Duchy in the Breton War of Succession.

References

* Duncan, A.A.M., "The Kingship of the Scots 842–1292: Succession and Independence." Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2002. ISBN 0-7486-1626-8
* Macdougall, Norman, "L'Écosse à la fin du XIIIe sieclè: un royaume menacé" in James Laidlaw (ed.) "The Auld Alliance: France and Scotland over 700 Years." Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, 1999. ISBN 0-9534945-0-0