Wilhelm IV. (Jülich)

Count Wilhelm IV of Jülich (* 1210 ; † March 16, 1278 in Aachen ) was Count of the County of Jülich from 1225 until his death . His sarcophagus is in the church of St. Johannes in Nideggen . The first city seal of Jülich from around 1230 showed a crenellated wall with two towers and a city gate in which the lion's shield of Wilhelm IV was.

He is not to be confused with Duke Wilhelm IV of Jülich († 1511).

Life

Wilhelm was born in 1225, six years after the death of his father Wilhelm III. († 1219), Count of Jülich. In the same year he confirmed the donation made by his father in 1219 from the churches of Siersdorf and Nideggen to the Teutonic Order . In the following years he consolidated and expanded his domain.

In 1234 he raised Jülich to the rank of town without taking into account the rights of the Archbishops of Cologne , with whom the county was in constant dispute. This intensified the conflict, and in 1239 the archbishop destroyed the city. During the expansion of his rule, Wilhelm collided with the Archbishop of Cologne around 1240 with the acquisition of parts of the Hochstaden inheritance, from which he acquired property around Münstereifel . The dispute broke out openly under Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden . In the course of this, Wilhelm captured Archbishop Engelbert II († 1274) in the battle of Zülpich in 1267 and had him incarcerated in his castle in Nideggen for three and a half years until 1271 , whereupon Pope Clemens IV pronounced the interdict on Jülich after unsuccessful negotiations . There were further disputes under Archbishop Siegfried von Westerburg .

From 1265 to 1269 Wilhelm had the Wilhelmstein Castle, named after him, built on the remains of an older border fortress .

death

On March 16, 1278 Wilhelm was with his sons Roland and Wilhelm as well as Wirich I. von Frentz (other sources: with three sons) in the so-called " Gertrudisnacht " in Aachen to collect taxes for King Rudolf I. von Habsburg. A riot broke out and Wilhelm was killed by the citizens of Aachen. In the atonement agreement concluded on September 20, 1280 at Schönau Palace , the city of Aachen was obliged to pay high damages to his widow Richarda for this murder.

An investigation in August 2019 revealed a room under the St. Johannes Baptist Church in Nideggen, 3.16 by 3.43 meters deep, in which “there was even room for two sarcophagi”. The assumption is that Count Wilhelm IV of Jülich, who was murdered 742 years ago in Aachen, could be buried here.

literature

• Woldemar Harleß :  Wilhelm (Count of Jülich) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, pp. 94-97.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.aachener-zeitung.de/lokales/dueren/nideggen/platz-fuer-zwei-sarkophage-in-der-nideggener-gruft_aid-46199945#successLogin

predecessor	Office	successor
William III.	Count of Jülich 1219–1278	Walram