Duchy of Limburg

Who rules

Name

Henry III

Title

Duke of Limburg, count of Arlon

Since

1165 (en.wikipedia and de.wikipedia); the NDB gives him as count of Arlon 1167-1221

Born

About 1140

Family

House of Limburg, descended from Waleran (Udo), count of Arlon, and Judith, heiress of Limburg. Wife Sophia, probably a daughter of Simon I of Saarbrucken. Uncle of Henry I of Brabant.

Confidence

high

en.wikipedia Henry III; de.wikipedia Herzogtum Limburg; NDB family article.

Overlord

The king, for the ducal title; Wassenberg is held of the archbishop of Cologne; the superior advocacy of Sint-Truiden is held of the bishop of Metz.

What the realm holds

• Limbourg castle and the duchy on the Vesdre and the plateau of Herve: the later high courts (Hochbanke) of Baelen (with Eupen), Herve, Montzen and Walhorn, and the Sprimont exclave
• The Hertogenwald forest and the edge of the Hohes Venn
• The Land of Rode ('s-Hertogenrode, Herzogenrath), acquired 1136, with Klosterrath abbey
• Wassenberg on the Rur, held of Cologne by his eldest son Henry since 1178 (see Wassenberg)
• Montjoie (Monschau) in the Eifel (see Montjoie)
• The county of Arlon (see Duke of Limburg)
• The superior advocacy of Sint-Truiden abbey, assigned by the bishops of Metz

How it was acquired

Inherited; Arlon is the house's original county, Limburg came by marriage in the 11th century, Rode in 1136, Wassenberg by marriage in the early 12th century.

Allies and rivals

Allies in the throne war: Philip's party (Loon, Holland, Guelders; Trier and Theobald of Bar and Luxembourg on the Moselle). Rivals: Brabant (his nephew Henry I); the bishop of Liege, Albert of Cuyck, who beat his son Simon to the see; Hainaut, which took him at Noville in 1194 (ADB); Luxembourg in the past (war of 1172). Marriage ties: his daughters are married to the lords of Valkenburg (Goswin IV) and to Dietrich of Heinsberg and Valkenburg.

The realm that morning

Henry III holds his duchy, Rode, Arlon and his share of the Eifel. He backs Philip, while Otto holds Aachen at his door and his nephew of Brabant is Otto's chief ally: Limburg is Philip's outpost between Otto's Aachen and the Meuse.

Wealth

Forest, pasture and the roads from Liege and Maastricht to Aachen and Cologne, which cross his country; the advocacy of Sint-Truiden; rents of Rode and Arlon.

Military

Limbourg castle on its rock over the Vesdre; Rode (Herzogenrath); Wassenberg; Arlon; the new castle at Montjoie.

Threats

• Otto's garrison at Aachen
• Brabant
• Liege, should the new bishop be hostile

Consort

None living, as far as the sources show: Sophia, probably of Saarbrucken, the mother of his children, was dead before 1189, when Henry had married Adelheid of Henneberg; Adelheid died about 1198, childless (de.wikipedia).

Heirs and children

By Sophia (de.wikipedia, with the NDB): Henry (about 1165-1214), lord of Wassenberg from 1178; Waleran (about 1165-1168 to 1226), the eventual duke (1221) and lord of Montjoie; Frederick (died 1211/1212), lord of Lummen; Gerard (died 1225), later lord of Wassenberg (the NDB calls him of Wassenberg and Reifferscheid); Simon (1178-1195), elect of Liege 1193-1195 and cardinal, dead; Macharius (attested 1214); Judith (died 1202), wife of Goswin IV of Valkenburg; Isabella (died 1221), wife of Dietrich (Dirk), lord of Heinsberg and Valkenburg. Waleran's first wife is Kunigunde, called of Lorraine (en.wikipedia), of Monschau (de.wikipedia genealogy) or of Falkenburg (NDB); the marriage date is not pinned. The heir is the eldest son Henry, who dies in 1214 before his father, so Waleran succeeds in 1221.

Officers

Not pinned for 1200. The family's abbey and burial church is Klosterrath (Rolduc) in the Land of Rode.

Court winter 1199 in 1200

Not pinned; Limbourg castle is the seat.

Treaties marriages wars

1172: war with Henry the Blind of Luxembourg and Baldwin V of Hainaut, the Arlon country ravaged. 1183: backed Folmar for Trier against Barbarossa. 1189: crusade with Waleran, joining Richard I. 1189: as superior advocate of Sint-Truiden he seized the fiefs of Conon of Duras and sold part of them to Gerard of Loon. 1193-1195: pushed his son Simon for Liege; Simon was invested by Henry VI at Aachen on 13 November but lost the see to Albert of Cuyck.

1 August 1194: defeated by Baldwin V of Hainaut at Noville in the quarrel over the Liege investiture (de.wikipedia; the ADB says he was captured there).

Throne war

STAUFEN on 1 January 1200, medium confidence: the NDB says Henry III first sided with Philip after Henry VI's death and later went over to Otto; de.wikipedia says he backed Otto 'in his last years' and fought for him at Bouvines in 1214; en.wikipedia says Waleran supported Philip until 1208. No dated charter of that winter was found, and no source puts the switch before 1208.

Rome and the Church

Nothing on record for 1199; Simon's cardinalate (1195) gave the house a tie to the curia that ended with his death.

The host

The duke's knights and castles; no numbers in the sources used.

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. 1 or 2 February 1200Albert of Cuyck's death reopens Liege, the see Henry tried to win for his son Simon in 1193.Depends on: Albert's death. Stopped by: Albert surviving.
2. 1200-1208 (later course)Henry and Waleran stay with Philip until his murder in 1208 (en.wikipedia on Waleran), then turn to Otto; Henry fights for Otto at Bouvines in 1214, Waleran marries Ermesinde of Luxembourg in May 1214.Depends on: Philip's fortunes. Stopped by: An earlier switch, which the NDB leaves undated.

Where the sources disagree

• The France map (Luxembourg) says Waleran is styled marquis of Arlon. The sources used here call Henry III count of Arlon (NDB) and give Waleran Arlon only from 1214 or 1221 (en.wikipedia); the 'marquis' style in 1200 is not pinned.

Evidence: Family and lands are well known; the side in the throne war rests on the NDB's undated statement and en.wikipedia on Waleran.

On the map: The ground is drawn in Duke of Limburg, Wassenberg and Montjoie.

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 Reiner of Saint James, Liège, Reiner of Liège (1197 to 1230, kept year by year). Contemporary annals kept inside Liège. Read online
• Royal Chronicle of Cologne (in stages from about 1175 to about 1250; the section on 1198 to 1220 written soon after the events). The fullest German narrative of the throne war from the Welf and Cologne side. Read online