Joanna of Aragon, Countess of Foix

Infanta Joanna of Aragon (October 1375 - September 1407) was the only surviving child of John I of Aragon and his first wife Martha of Armagnac. She was a member of the House of Aragon and was Countess consort of Foix by her marriage to Matthew of Foix.

Biography

Joanna was born at Daroca, the second of five children born into her father's first marriage. All of her siblings died not long after birth. After the birth of another child Infanta Eleanor in 1378, Martha died leaving her husband and her three-year-old daughter Joanna.

Joanna's father remarried to Violant of Bar, who like Martha bore many children but only one daughter lived to adulthood, the very much celebrated Yolande of Aragon, who played a large role in the Hundred Years' War between England and France.

Joanna's paternal grandparents were Peter IV of Aragon and his third wife Eleanor of Sicily. Her maternal grandparents were John I of Armagnac and his second wife Beatrice of Clermont.

In Barcelona, on 4 June 1392, Joanna married Matthew of Foix, son of Roger Bernard II, Viscount of Castelbon. He was her fourth cousin, both being descendants of Peter III of Aragon. They were married for fifteen years but in this time they had no children.

In 1396 King John died. He was succeeded by his brother, Joanna's uncle Martin of Aragon. However, Sicilian nobles were causing unrest and Martin was kept in Sicily, a land he'd claimed through his mother Eleanor of Sicily. In the meanwhile, Martin's wife Maria de Luna claimed the throne on behalf of Martin and acted as his representative until he arrived in 1397. Still, the delay opened the way for more problems and quarrels to surface in Aragon. His right to the throne was contested, by Matthew and Joanna, elder daughter of John I. However, Martin succeeded in quashing the invasion by the troops of Matthew and Joanna.^[1]

Joanna's younger half-sister Yolande claimed the throne with the support of her mother, despite Joanna still being alive. However, they also failed but Yolande married Louis II of Naples and had children, they all challenged Martin's rights to the throne.^[2]

Joanna, who failed to become Queen of Aragon, died childless in Valencia on September 1407. After Martin's death Yolande tried again to claim Aragon but failed.

Margaret, Countess of Tyrol's heir would have been her cousin Elisabeth of Carinthia, her son inherited these rights, he was Frederick III of Aragon, ruler of the island of Sicily. After his line died out, the succession would have gone to the grandchildren of Eleanor of Sicily, these were Joanna, who would have succeeded in 1401 and in 1407 Yolande. However, these lands instead went to Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria.

Ancestry

References