Arnold of Egmond

Arnold von Egmond (born July 14, 1410 at Castle a / d Hoef in Egmond-Binnen , Noord-Holland ; † February 23, 1473 at Grave Castle in Grave , Noord-Brabant ), from the House of Egmond , was from 1423 to 1465 and 1471 to 1473 Duke of Geldern .

Arnold of Egmond

family

He was the son of Johann II von Egmond , Herr auf Arkel, and Maria van Arkel , as well as the great-nephew (grandson of the sister) of Rainald IV. Until 1436 he was under the tutelage of his father.

Arnold von Egmond married Katharina von Kleve (1417–1479) in Kleve on January 26, 1430 . He had the following six children with her:

• Maria (1432–1463) ⚭ 1449 with James II of Scotland (1430–1460)
• Eduard (1434, died as a small child)
• Wilhelm (1435, died as a small child)
• Margarete (born August 11, 1436, † November 2, 1486) ⚭ 1454 with Count Palatine Friedrich I of Palatinate-Simmern (1417–1480).
• Adolf (1438–1477) ⚭ 1463 with his cousin Catherine de Bourbon (around 1441–1469). He was considered Katharina's favorite son.
• Katharina (1439–1497), secretly ⚭ with the bishop of Liège, Ludwig von Bourbon (1438–1482 / 86). The marriage produced three sons.

In addition to his legitimate children, Arnold had several bastards :

His second marriage was to Katharina von Strasbourg, daughter of Johannes van Straesborch. Before that she was Arnold's concubine .

• Their daughter was Aleid Bastardin von Geldern, who was legitimized on May 7, 1460 .

The children come from other relationships with unknown women:

• Johann Bastard von Geldern zu Arcen († 1498), Lord of Grunsfoort, 1478 Conventual to Mariendael.
• Jakob Bastard von Geldern, 1468 chaplain with his father.
• Katharina Bastardin von Geldern († October 7, 1483), nun to Mariendael near Utrecht.
• Wilhelm Bastard von Geldern.
• Jolante Bastard of Geldern.
• Agnes Bastardin von Geldern, nun in the Bethanien monastery near Arnhem.
• Friedrich Bastard von Geldern († June 3, 1467).

Arnold von Egmond had been a Knight of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem since 1451 .

War of Succession with Adolf von Berg

→ Main article : Second War of the Geldr Succession

After the death of the childless Duke of Geldern and Jülich, Rainald IV († June 25, 1423), the only thirteen-year-old Arnold von Egmond, a descendant of Rainald's sister Margarethe, claimed his successor. His entitlement was challenged by Johann II von Loon-Heinsberg and Duke Adolf von Berg - which led to a conflict that lasted for decades.

At first it seemed as if Arnold would be able to prevail against his competitors. By increasing the privileges of the Geldrian estates, he secured their support. On July 8, 1423, he was elected almost unanimously as sovereign in Nijmegen by the knighthood and the cities of Geldern. On August 15, 1424 he was enfeoffed by the Roman-German king and later Emperor Sigismund with the duchies of Geldern and Jülich. However, since Arnold did not succeed in bringing in the 14,000 guilders required for this in time, Sigismund ordered the feudal deeds that had already been drawn up to be destroyed and, instead of Arnold, enfeoffed his rival Adolf von Berg with rule over Geldern on May 24, 1425.

Thereupon there were first armed conflicts in which Arnold was able to assert himself against the Bergische troops in possession of funds. He succeeded in doing this thanks to the support of Duke Philip of Burgundy, an alliance that was later strengthened by his marriage to Katharina von Kleve, Philip's niece. In July 1429 a temporary armistice was concluded. Adolf von Berg now tried to reach his goal by complaining to the future emperor. Although the Reichsacht was then imposed on Arnold in 1431 and even the Aberacht in 1433, he was able to maintain power in Geldern. After the armistice had expired, Arnold even hoped to be able to enforce his claims to the Duchy of Jülich. However, the fighting between 1433 and 1436 ended unsuccessfully in the conclusion of another armistice, which came about through the mediation of Duke Philip of Burgundy.

War of succession with Gerhard von Jülich-Berg

After the death of Adolf von Berg, his successor Gerhard II von Jülich-Berg tried to get Geldern under his control at the beginning of the 1940s and reopened the War of Succession. Despite Gerhard's victory in the Battle of Linnich (November 3, 1444), none of the pretenders was able to oust the other, which resulted in a new armistice. This ended the Bergisch-Geldrischen inheritance dispute de facto, although both sides initially upheld their mutual claims.

Conflict with Adolf von Egmond

The end of the conflict gave Arnold the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem around 1450, but the duchy should not come to rest. The endless feuds and the elaborate court keeping of Arnold brought him increasingly in opposition to the estates of Gelderland. Philip of Burgundy, who had fallen out with his former ally in the conflict over the occupation of the Utrecht bishopric, supported the resistance of the estates. The conflict escalated in 1456 when Arnold's own son Adolf was raised to open civil war. Finally Adolf succeeded in capturing his father in January 1465 and thus prevailed for the time being.

The capture of Arnold, however, only led to an expansion of the conflict beyond Geldern's borders, since Duke Johann I von Kleve intervened as Arnold's brother-in-law. Adolf then allied himself with the Archbishop of Cologne against the Duke and defeated his troops in the Battle of Straelen on June 23, 1468. As a result of the old Klevian-Burgundian alliance, the disempowered Arnold grew up with the Burgundian Duke Charles the Bold, however, a new ally. After Charles the Bold invited Arnold and Adolf to a mediation meeting in Hesdin and the son had refused to leave Arnold the title of duke, the use of Gave and a sufficient pension for life, Adolf was taken over by the Burgundians on February 10, 1471 Namur imprisoned.

Pledging of Gelderns

After Adolf's capture, Arnold first tried to get his renewed recognition as a duke from the Geldrian estates. However, the ideas of his protector Charles the Bold looked different, he demanded the transfer of the protective bailiwick and thus rule over Geldern. Arnold initially refused to follow Karl's instructions and continued the war against his rebel subjects with his own hands, but was only able to bring the upper quarters under his control. Since he was unable to enforce his claim to power in three quarters of the country that was holding on to Adolf, he finally resigned and pledged the entire duchy on December 1, 1471 for 300,000 guilders to the Duke of Burgundy, who then forcibly his rule over Geldern until 1473 forced. In February 1473 Arnold von Egmond died of a stroke.

Even if his grandson Karl von Egmond opposed the Burgundian claim to rule, which was passed on to the House of Habsburg in 1477, for decades, Arnold's decision to pledge the Duchy of Geldern should in the long term lead to the loss of Geldrian independence. In the Peace of Venlo in 1543, the Habsburgs succeeded in finally enforcing their claim to rule over Geldern.

literature

• Petra Ehm: The overpowering neighbor: Geldern and Burgundy under Philip the Good and Charles the Bold , in: Johannes Stinner / Karl-Heinz Tekath (eds.), Gelre-Geldern-Gelderland. History and culture of the Duchy of Geldern , Geldern 2001, p. 136.
• Henny Grüneisen:  Arnold von Egmond. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 376 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Lambert van Hout: Arnold von Egmond and the succession in Geldern , in: Johannes Stinner / Karl-Heinz Tekath (eds.), Gelre, Geldern, Gelderland. History and culture of the Duchy of Geldern , Geldern 2001, pp. 107–112.
• Clemens von Looz-Corswarem: Geldern and the neighbors Kleve, Jülich and Berg from the late Middle Ages to 1543 , in: Johannes Stinner / Karl-Heinz Tekath (eds.), Gelre-Geldern-Gelderland. History and culture of the Duchy of Geldern , Geldern 2001, p. 125.

Web links

• Tripota - Trier portrait database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ AP van Schilfgaarde, Zegels en genealogische Gegevens van de graven en hertogen van Gelre, graven van Zutphen, Arnhem 1967
2. ↑ Ralf G. Jahn, The Genealogy of the Vögte, Counts and Dukes of Geldern , In: Gelre, Geldern, Gelderland. History and culture of the Duchy of Geldern, ed. by Johannes Stinner and Karl-Heinz Tekath, Geldern 2001 (accessed April 17, 2017)
3. ^ Dieter Geuenich: Middle Ages on the Rhine and Maas. Contributions to the history of the Lower Rhine , Waxmann Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-8309-1380-X , page 182.

predecessor	Office	successor
Rainald IV.	Duke of Geldern Count of Zutphen 1423–1465	Adolf von Egmond
Adolf von Egmond	Duke of Geldern Count of Zutphen 1471–1473	Charles the Bold