Dietrich III. (Holland)

Dietrich III. called the Jerusalemer (Theodericus Hieroselymita; also Diederik or Dirk) († May 27, 1039 ) was Count of Holland from 993 to 1039.

The county

Until 1101 the county of Holland was called Westfriesland , so Dietrich's actual title was that of a count in Friesland . West Friesland at the time was very different from today's Netherlands; Most of the country was uninhabited Wadden Sea and marshland , only the dunes on the coast and the river valleys were inhabited .

Dietrich's reign

Dietrich III. belonged to the Gerulfinger family ; he was a son of Count Arnulf and the Luitgard, a daughter of Count Siegfried I of Luxembourg. In his first years he was under the reign of his mother, a sister of Empress Kunigunde , the wife of Emperor Heinrich II. He is ascribed by the surname of the Jerusalemites ( Hieroselymita ), from which it is concluded that he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land .

Conflict with the emperor

Before 1018 Dietrich was a powerless vassal of Henry II, although his fiefdom was in a strategically important position: Utrecht , located in the Rhine delta , was the largest trading town of the German kings, the traders had to sail through Dietrich's county to reach the North Sea .

Dietrich III. had a fortress built in Vlaardingen , with the help of which he collected customs duties without the permission of the emperor. Merchants from Tiel also alerted the emperor to violent attacks against them by Dietrich's people. The emperor decided to end Dietrich's rule and transferred the land to the bishop of Utrecht . A large imperial army marched against the new fortress. In the subsequent Battle of Vlaardingen on July 29th, Dietrich III. but an extremely important victory from it, as a result of which he not only retained his property but was also given permission to continue to collect tariffs.

After Dietrich's death in 1039, the imperial army invaded the country several times to claim the land of the Dutch counts. The powerful Count Robert I of Flanders helped Dietrich V , great-grandson of Dietrich III. and his own stepson to restore the count's position of power.

family

Dietrich was married to Othelendis († March 9, 1044), daughter of Bernhard von Sachsen . He had three children with her:

• Dietrich IV. († January 13, 1049), 1039 Count of Holland;
• Florens I († June 18, 1061), 1049 Count of Holland;
• Bertrada, ∞ Dietrich I. († 1056), Count in Lies- and Rittigau .

literature

• Thimo de Nijs, Eelco Beukers: Geschiedenis van Holland . Part 1: Dead 1572. Hilversum 2002.
• Dirk P. Blok: Dietrich III . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 3, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-7608-8903-4 , Sp. 1023.
• Huibert A. Poelman: Dirk III . In: Philipp C. Molhuysen, Petrus J. Blok (eds.): Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek . Part 1, AW Sijthoff, Leiden 1911, column 719.
• PL Müller:  Dietrich III. (Count in Friesland) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 177 f.
• Abraham Jacob van der Aa : Biographical woordenboek der Nederlanden. Part 4, JJ van Brederode, Haarlem 1858, pp. 186-187.

Web links

Commons : Dirk III, Count of Holland  - collection of images

predecessor	Office	successor
Arnulf	Count of Holland 993-1039	Dietrich IV.