County of Guelders and Zutphen

Who rules

Name

Otto I

Title

Count of Guelders and Zutphen

Since

1182, on the death of his father Henry I; first named count of the joined lands of Guelders and Zutphen in 1190

Born

About 1150

Family

Son of Count Henry I of Guelders (died 1182) and Agnes of Arnstein. Wife: Richardis of Bavaria (born 1173, died 1231), daughter of Duke Otto I of Bavaria, of the Wittelsbach house, married in 1184 or about 1185. He went on the Third Crusade with Frederick I and came home in 1190.

Confidence

high

Children on 1 January 1200: Gerard, born about 1185, about 14, the heir (Count Gerard III or IV, 1207-1229); Adelaide, born about 1187, married in 1197 to William of Holland, the count of Holland's brother; Otto, born 1193 or 1195, later bishop of Utrecht (1212-1215); Louis, later provost of Utrecht cathedral, birth not pinned; Irmgard (married 1210 Adolf I of the Mark), Margaret (married Lothar of Are-Hochstaden) and Matilda (married before 1215 Henry II of Nassau), births not pinned, so whether all three are born by 1200 is not pinned. A son Henry, betrothed to Aleid of Holland, died in 1198.

Overlord

The king for the county and the Zutphen rights; the archbishop of Cologne for fiefs held of him since the early twelfth century (lands round Geldern, the county of Kempen, the Peel, the advocacy of the abbey of St Quirinus at Neuss); the bishop of Utrecht for the old comital rights in the Betuwe and Teisterbant and his claims in the Veluwe; the duke of Brabant for fiefs in the Veluwe.

What the realm holds

• The old county round the castle of Geldern on the Niers, with the lands round Roermond and Straelen
• The Betuwe, the Tielerwaard and the Bommelerwaard, with Zaltbommel (comital rights from Utrecht fiefs since the eleventh century)
• The Veluwe with Arnhem, Harderwijk and Elburg (disputed with Utrecht; Brabant fiefs there since the mid-twelfth century)
• The county of Zutphen with the town of Zutphen (town rights between 1190 and 1196) and the Achterhoek, overlordship of the lords of Bronkhorst and other vassals
• Doesburg and part of the Liemers (Cleves holds the rest)
• Mints at Arnhem (Arnhem pennies struck since 1117) and Zutphen (coins of Henry I and Otto I)
• Cologne fiefs: the advocacy of St Quirinus at Neuss, the county of Kempen and the Peel

How it was acquired

The Wassenberg counts became counts of Geldern in the early twelfth century; Zutphen came through Ermengard's marriage to Gerard of Guelders and was joined by Henry I; the Veluwe and the Betuwe rights by Utrecht and Brabant fiefs and by force.

Allies and rivals

Allies: Holland since 1197; his Wittelsbach in-laws, who are Staufen. Rivals: the bishop of Utrecht over the Veluwe and Salland; Brabant, whose duke claims overlordship as duke of Lotharingia and holds fiefs in the Veluwe; Cleves along the Rhine.

The realm that morning

Otto I holds all his lands. He backs Philip of Swabia: the German Wikipedia says he sided with the Staufen from 1198. His Lower Rhine neighbours (Cologne, Brabant, Utrecht) are Otto IV's, so Guelders is a Staufen outpost.

Wealth

Tolls on the Rhine, Waal and IJssel; the IJssel trade through Zutphen and Doesburg; the mints of Arnhem and Zutphen; cattle and grain of the Betuwe; the heath and woods of the Veluwe.

Military

Castles at Geldern, Zutphen and Arnhem (the count's courts), vassal castles at Bronkhorst and in the Betuwe; knights of the Veluwe, the Betuwe and the Zutphen county. Record: crusade of 1189-1190; defeat by Holland near Rhenen (1196); a brief captivity by Brabant linked to an alliance with Limburg (undated, German Wikipedia). No numbers are recorded.

Threats

• Brabant, Otto IV's chief ally in the Low Countries, next door
• The bishop of Utrecht over the Veluwe
• Otto IV and Archbishop Adolf, if they turn on the Staufen counts of the Lower Rhine

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1202With Dirk VII he invades Brabant and takes 's-Hertogenbosch; after Dirk's capture at Heusden (7 September 1202) he must make peaceDepends on: The Holland and Brabant quarrel turning to war Stopped by: A Brabant settlement
2. 1207, after 30 AprilOtto I dies; Gerard succeedsDepends on: Natural course Stopped by: Nothing in sight

Where the sources disagree

• The German Wikipedia's article on Otto I puts him with the Staufen from 1198; its article on the county says Otto IV supported him in his dispute with Brabant and Utrecht over the Veluwe, without a date. If that support falls before 1200, Otto was wavering. Allegiance given as Staufen, confidence medium-low.
• Dates for Henry of Guelders' betrothal (1197 in the English Wikipedia, 1198 in the German) and Otto's marriage (1184 or about 1185) differ by a year between the two.
• The study of Archbishop Adolf of Cologne (Düsseldorf, chapters IV-V, citing Ficker's register no. 52) has Bishop Dietrich of Utrecht join Philip in September 1200 and Count Otto of Guelders and his nephew Count Louis of Loon follow his example in the summer of 1201, which implies that neither count was on Philip's side before; the ADB on Otto IV counts the duke of Brabant's quarrel with the count of Guelders among the troubles 'on the Welf side' at the end of 1202. The Cologne record's likely course follows the study. Against de.wikipedia's 'Staufen from 1198', the count's side on 1 January 1200 is doubtful (left for the campaign).

Evidence: The family and the crusade are well attested; the extent of the count's own lands as against vassals in 1200 is reconstructed from later quarters and is rough.

On the map: The county is drawn on the count's own lord record (Count of Guelders); the vassal lordships inside it are separate records.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Annals of Egmond (12th century to about 1205). The house annals of Egmond, the counts of Holland's abbey, and the main native source for Holland around 1200. Read online