Violant of Aragon

Violant or Violante of Aragon, "also known as Yolanda of Aragon" (1236 - 1301) Queen consort of Castile and León (1252-1284).

She was born in Zaragoza, the daughter of King James I of Aragon (1213-1276) and his second wife the queen Yolande of Hungary (ca.1215-1253). Her maternal grandparents were Andrew II of Hungary and Violant of Courtenay.

On December 26 1246 she married in Valladolid with the future King Alfonso X of Castile and Leon (1221-1284). Because of her youth (Violante was only 10 years old at the time of the marriage), she produced no children for several years and it was feared that she was barren. The oft-repeated claim that Alfonso almost had their marriage annulled is untrue, and they went on to have twelve children:

# Fernando, died in infancy, and buried in Las Huelgas in Burgos.
# Berengaria of Castile (1253-after 1284). She was betrothed to Louis, the son and heir of King Louis IX of France, but her fiance died prematurely in 1260. She entered the convent in Las Huelgas, where she was living in 1284.
# Beatriz of Castile (1254-1280). She married William VII, Marquess of Montferrat.
# Ferdinand de la Cerda, Infante of Castile (October 23, 1255-July 25, 1275). He married Blanche, the daughter of King Louis IX of France, by whom he had two children. Because he predeceased his father, his younger brother Sancho inherited the throne.
# Leonor of Castile (1257-1275)
# Sancho IV of Castile (May 13, 1258-1295)
# Constanza of Castile (1258-August 22, 1280), a nun at Las Huelgas.
# Pedro of Castile (June 1260-October 10, 1283)
# Juan of Castile, Lord of Valencia (March or April, 1262-June 25, 1319).
# Isabella, died young.
# Violante of Castile (1265-1296). She married Diego Lopez de Haro
# Jaime of Castile (August 1266-August 9, 1284)

She died at Roncevalles.

ource

* [http://genealogy.euweb.cz/barcelona/barcelona2.html#VJ1 Genealogy.Euweb.cz (Barcelona 2)]