Engelbert I (Nassau)

Engelbert (kneeling) in the Grafmonument in the Grote Kerk in Breda

Engelbert I (* 1370 in Dillenburg ; † May 3, 1442 in Breda ) was Count of Nassau-Dillenburg from 1420 to 1442 .

Life

Engelbert was a son of Johann I , Count of Nassau-Dillenburg from the House of Nassau , and Margarethe von Mark-Kleve. He studied in Cologne to become a priest as the count's younger son. He was provost of the cathedral in Münster from 1399 to 1403 , but then turned away from the priestly career.

He married the wealthy Johanna von Polanen (1392–1445), mistress of Breda, heir to Johann III in Breda in 1403 . von Polanen († 1394). The marriage brought him numerous goods on the Lower Rhine , Breda, de Lek , Oosterhout and Niervaart became so Nassau.

From 1406 to 1407, as Marshal of Westphalia, he was the deputy of the Archbishop of Cologne in the Duchy of Westphalia .

When his second aunt Elisabeth von Sponheim-Kreuznach died in 1417 , he inherited the county of Vianden from the rights of his paternal grandmother, Adelheid von Vianden († 1376) .

When his father died in 1416, Engelbert's older brother Adolf inherited him . It was only when Adolf died in 1420 without male descendants that Engelbert succeeded him in the county of Nassau-Dillenburg.

Engelbert lived mainly in the Netherlands and was an advisor to Duke Anton von Brabant . For this he traveled to Prague in 1409 to conduct the marriage negotiations with Elisabeth of Luxembourg . He also secured the successor to the minor Johann after Anton fell in the Battle of Azincourt in 1415.

In 1426 Engelbert founded the University of Leuven .

His grave is in the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk in Breda .

progeny

The marriage resulted in the following children:

• Johann IV. (* 1410; † 1475), 1442 Count of Nassau-Dillenburg
• Heinrich II. (1414–1451), 1442–1451 co-regent of Nassau-Dillenburg
• Margarethe (* 1415; † before May 27, 1467), ⚭ 1435 Count Dietrich von Sayn (* August 7, 1416; † 1452)
• Wilhelm (* December 1416)
• Maria (February 2, 1418 - October 2, 1472), ⚭ June 17, 1437 Count Johann von Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein
• Philipp (born October 13, 1420)

In addition to the children mentioned, Engelbert I. also had an illegitimate son named Johann. When he grew up, he was entrusted with the office of rentmaster in the county of Vianden. Through his marriage to Johanna von Raven (Jeanette de Rauw) he became the progenitor of a new "bastard line" that died out in 1773.

literature

swell

• State Main Archive Koblenz, Best. 211
• Trier City Archives, Hs. 1644, Straser Collection
• Parish archive Detzem
• Camille Wampach (Ed.): Document and source book on the history of the old Luxembourg territories up to the Burgundian period. St. Paulus-Druckerei et al., Luxembourg 1935– * ( Publications du Center Luxembourgeois de Documentation et d'Études Médiévales - CLUDEM ).

Secondary literature

• Kamill Behr: Genealogy of the princely houses ruling in Europe together with the order of all the popes. Tauchnitz, Leipzig 1854, digitized .
• Jules Vannérus: Le Premier Livre de Fiefs du Comté de Vianden. In: Publications de la Section Historique de l'Institut Grandducal de Luxembourg. 59, 1919, ISSN  1018-306X , pp. 219-338 (special reprint: Huss, Luxembourg 1919).
• Ulrich Schuppener: The county of Vianden and its affiliation to Nassau. In: Nassau Annals . 107, 1996, pp. 7-46.
• Josef Hilgers: The barons of Nassau to Detzem. In: Nassau Annals. 113, 2002, pp. 297-315.
• Josef Hilgers: Ad decimum lapidem. Detzem. The story of a Moselle village. (= Publication series Ortschroniken des Trier Land , vol. 34), Working Group for Regional History and Folklore of the Trier Area, Trier 2001, ZDB -ID 629731-6 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Adolf V. von Berg	Marshal of Westphalia 1406–1407	Johann von Hatzfeld
Johanna von Polanen	Lord of Breda (de iure uxoris ) 1403–1442	Johann IV.
Elisabeth von Sponheim-Kreuznach	Count of Vianden (de iure uxoris) 1417–1442	Johann IV.
Adolf	Count of Nassau-Dillenburg 1420–1442	Johann IV.