Emich III. (Nassau-Hadamar)

Emich III. von Nassau-Hadamar († 1394 or later) was the fifth and youngest son of Count Johann von Nassau-Hadamar († January 20, 1365 ) and his wife Elisabeth von Waldeck († before June 22, 1385). He was nominally the last count of the "Elder Line" Nassau-Hadamar , but was under guardianship for almost the entire time due to illness-related incapacity to govern.

Emich had already participated in some government affairs during his father's lifetime, and even after his father's death in 1365 he was at least nominally involved with his older brother Heinrich in the government of the county of Nassau-Hadamar. When Heinrich died childless a few years later (1368), Emich was the only remaining son and thus the legitimate successor. However, he was feeble-minded and was therefore regarded as incapable of governing, and so the Hadamar succession dispute began immediately after Heinrich's death . Emich himself was put in the Arnstein monastery by his relatives , while they and Landgrave Heinrich II of Hesse fought over his inheritance.

Emich's guardianship and government affairs in Hadamar was taken over by his brother-in-law Ruprecht der Streitbare von Nassau-Sonnenberg , from the Walram line of the Nassau family, who had married Emich's sister Anna († 1404) in 1362. At the same time, however, Emich's cousin Johann I von Nassau-Dillenburg , senior of the Ottonian line, raised hereditary claims to the Hadamar property, and in 1371 at the latest there was an open break between Ruprecht and Johann. During the next 14 years the two fought each other in long-term feuds , only twice (1374 and 1382) interrupted by comparisons brokered by third parties and only short-lived. Only a settlement brokered in 1385, which essentially confirmed the agreements of 1374 and 1382, proved to be more or less tenable. When Ruprecht died on September 4, 1390, the dispute began again almost immediately. His widow Anna was married again to Count Diether VIII von Katzenelnbogen between January 10 and February 19, 1391 , and the latter immediately claimed Nassau-Hadamar. The dispute between the houses in Nassau-Dillenburg and Katzenelnbogen dragged on until 1408.

From his paternal inheritance, Emich himself probably only kept his share in Nassau Castle and an annual allowance . The latter does not seem to have been very generous: In the settlement concluded on June 21, 1394 between Ruprecht and Johann I, Johann undertook to provide for Emich's maintenance as long as he was in Nassau. On this occasion Johann also certified that he owned the Hadamarschen part of Nassau, with all accessories, because of Emichs, recognized him as a Count of Nassau, and would pay homage to him in the Hadamarschen parts of Nassau.

When Emich III. died is not known. He is mentioned for the last time in the comparison between Johann and Ruprecht from June 21, 1394. With him, the older Nassau-Hadamar line became extinct in the male line.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Two brothers of the same name had died before he was born.

literature

• Johannes von Arnoldi: History of the Orange-Nassau countries and their regents. Volume 3, Neue Gelehrtenbuchhandlung, Hadamar 1799, pp. 106-108
• Hellmuth Gensicke: State history of the Westerwald. 3. Edition. Historical Commission for Nassau, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-922244-80-7

predecessor	Office	successor
Heinrich	Count of Nassau-Hadamar 1365-1394	Johann I of Nassau-Dillenburg