Yolanda de Courtenay

Who was Yolanda de Courtenay?

Yolanda de Courtenay, Queen Consort of Hungary was the second wife of King Andrew II of Hungary.

Yolanda was the daughter of Count Peter II of Courtenay and his second wife, Yolanda of Flanders, the sister of Baldwin I and Henry I, the Emperors of Constantinople. Her marriage with King Andrew II, whose first wife, Gertrude had been murdered by conspirators on 24 September 1213, was arranged by her uncle, the Emperor Henry I.

Their marriage was celebrated in February 1215 in Székesfehérvár and Archbishop John of Esztergom crowned her queen consort. However, Bishop Robert of Veszprém sent a complaint to Pope Innocent III, because the coronation of the queens consort in Hungary had been traditionally the privilege of his see. The Pope sent a legate to Hungary in order to investigate the complaint and confirmed the privilege of the See of Veszprém.

Following her uncle's death on 11 July 1216, her husband was planning to acquire the imperial crown for himself, but the barons of the Latin Empire proclaimed her father emperor, instead.

Yolanda maintained good relations with her husband's children from his first marriage. Her husband survived her. She was buried in the Igriș Abbey of the White Monks.