County of Moha

Last updated August 23, 2023

During the Middle Ages, the County of Moha (Latin : comitatus Muhae or Mohae) was a small territory in the pagus of Hesbaye in the Duchy of Lower Lorraine in the Holy Roman Empire, in what is now eastern Belgium. It was centred around the village of Moha on the right bank of the river Mehaigne and its nearby castle.^[1]

Alberts I and II

The first recorded lord (not count) of Moha was Albert I, known from a charter of the bishopric of Liège dated 1031 and from another of Archbishop Poppo of Trier dated to 1040–44. This Albert may have belonged to the House of Verdun, since he signed immediately after Count Albert II of Namur in 1031 and Duke Godfrey the Bearded in the 1040s. Furthermore, Archbishop Poppo's charter was issued on behalf of Count Gozelo I of Montaigu and his wife.^[1]

Albert I was succeeded by Albert II, but how or even whether they are related is unknown. Albert II married Hedwig (Heilwig), a daughter of Count Henry I of Dagsburg and Egisheim, himself a son of Count Henry VI and nephew of Pope Leo IX. According to a letter of Pope Leo, his nephew Henry was dead by 1050. He was succeeded in Dagsburg by his son Hugh VII and in Egisheim by his daughter, who thus passed the county to Albert II.^{[lower-alpha 1]} He became, by a combination of his new title (count) with his old allodial lordship (Moha), the first count of Moha. The Codex Hirsaugiensis explicitly refers to Albert as count of Egisheim.^{[lower-alpha 2]} In his own donation to Marbach Abbey, he refers to himself as "the count of Egisheim, called of Moha".^{[lower-alpha 3]} Finally, in a document from Sint-Truiden Abbey he is called simply the count of Moha.^{[lower-alpha 4]}^[1]

In 1089, Hugh VII died and Albert II inherited Dagsburg. After the death of Hedwige, he married Ermesindis, daughter of Count Conrad I of Luxembourg. Hugh VIII, his son by Hedwig, succeeded to the county of Dagsburg around 1098, while Egisheim passed to another branch of the family. Thereafter, Moha remained in the hands of the counts of Dagsburg until the death of the last of the line in 1212.^[1]

War of succession

In 1201, Count Albert II of Dagsburg (Albert III of Moha) made Duke Henry I of Brabant his heir for the castle of Dagbsurg and the county of Metz if he should die without an heir of the body. Moha was included in this grant. In 1204, Albert altered the terms of his will, leaving the same possessions to the bishopric of Liège. In these two wills the legal status of the territory is not confused by the traditional title of "county". It is described as the allodium de Muha [or Musal] et de Waleve.^[1]

On Albert's death in 1212, the county of Moha was disputed between Liège and Brabant. Duke Henry, assisted by Waleran, heir of the Duchy of Limburg, marched an army as if to attack Moha, while Bishop Hugues de Pierrepont moved with his army to Huy. Bypassing Moha, the duke attacked undefended Liège while the bishop force-marched his army back from Huy. Liège was occupied on 3 May and looted for four days. On 8 May, Henry began the siege of Moha, but failing to take it quickly, abandoned it on 10 May.^[2]

The bishop immediately set to work strengthening and rebuilding Liège. In July, strengthened by alliances with Marquis Philip I of Namur, Count Louis II of Looz and Count Ferdinand of Flanders, he moved against Brabant. Threatened by a superior force, Henry opened negotiations. In the end, he relinquished his claim on Moha.^[2]

The settlement did not last. In October 1213, Bishop Hugues and Ferdinand invaded Brabant from two sides, claiming that Henry was not fulfilling his obligations under the prior treaty. When Ferdinand was forced to divert his attention to his French border, the bishop called on the count of Looz. Henry marched an army through the county of Moha and the two sides met in the Battle of Steppes on 13 October 1213. The Liègeois were victorious. The county of Moha was confirmed to the bishop.^[2]

List of lords and counts

Albert I (or Adalbert I), fl. 1031 – c. 1042
Albert II (or Adalbert II), before 1050 – 1097/8
For subsequent counts, see County of Dagsburg

Notes

↑ There seems to have been another line of counts of Egisheim descended from Henry VI's brother Gerard I, indicating perhaps that the county was partitioned.
↑ Latin: Adalbertus comes de Egensheim et uxor ejus Heilewig.
↑ Latin: Albertus comes de Egisheim dictus de Musal.
↑ Latin: Albertus comes de Musal.

Related Research Articles

The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia, the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from its creation in 976 AD until its elevation to a duchy in 1156, and from then until the extinction of the line in 1246, whereafter they were succeeded by the House of Habsburg, to which they were related.

Theobald I was the duke of Lorraine from 1213 to his death. He was the son and successor of Frederick II and Agnes of Bar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince-Bishopric of Liège</span> State of the Holy Roman Empire (980–1795)

The Prince-Bishopric of Liège or Principality of Liège was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was situated for the most part in present-day Belgium. It was an Imperial Estate, so the bishop of Liège, as its prince, had a seat and a vote in the Imperial Diet. The Prince-Bishopric of Liège should not be confused with the Diocese of Liège, which was larger and over which the prince-bishop exercised only the usual responsibilities of a bishop.

The County of Loon was a county in the Holy Roman Empire, which corresponded approximately with the Belgian province of Limburg. It was named after the original seat of its count, Loon, which is today called Borgloon. During the middle ages the counts moved their court to a more central position in Kuringen, which is today a part of Hasselt, the modern capital of the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Godfrey I, Count of Louvain</span>

Godfrey I, called the Bearded, the Courageous, or the Great, was the Landgrave of Brabant, Count of Brussels and Leuven (Louvain) from 1095 to his death and Duke of Lower Lorraine from 1106 to 1129. He was also Margrave of Antwerp from 1106 to his death.

Godfrey III was count of Louvain, landgrave of Brabant, margrave of Antwerp, and duke of Lower Lorraine from 1142 to his death.

Louis II was count of Loon between the end of the 12th century to 1218. He was the son of Gerard, Count of Looz, and Adelaide of Gelderland, daughter of Henry I, Count of Guelders, and Agnes of Arnstein, daughter of Louis III of Arnstein. He also claimed to be the legitimate Count of Holland during the Loon War (1203–1206).

The Battle of Steppes was fought in modern-day Belgium on 13 October 1213 between Hugh Pierrepont, Bishop of Liège, and Henry I, Duke of Brabant.

Count Lambert "the Bearded" was the first person to be described as a count of Leuven in a surviving contemporary record, being described this way relatively late in life, in 1003. He is also the patrilineal ancestor of all the future counts of Leuven and dukes of Brabant until his descendant John III, Duke of Brabant, who died in 1355.

The County of Huy was a division of Lotharingia during the early Middle Ages, centred on the town of Huy and its citadel overlooking the Meuse.

The County of Metz originated from the frankish Metzgau. In the second half of the 9th century it went to the Gerhardiner (de), which held at the same time the County of Paris.

Arnold IV of Loon (Looz) (died between November 1272 and October 1273; most likely on February 22, 1273), was Count of Loon from 1227 to 1273 and Count of Chiny (as Arnold II) from 1228 to 1268. He was the son of Gérard III, Count of Rieneck and Cunegonde von Zimmern.

Godfrey of Namur was a Lotharingian nobleman. He was Count jure uxoris of Porcéan from 1097 until his death. From 1102, he was also Count of Namur. He was the oldest son of Count Albert III and his wife Ida of Saxony, the heiress of Laroche.

The counts of Chiny were part of the nobility of Lotharingia that ruled from the 9th to the 14th century in what is now part of Belgium.

Otto II, Count of Chiny, son of Arnold I, Count of Chiny, and Adélaïs.

Arnold V de Looz, was Count of Loon from 1279 to 1323 and Count of Chiny from 1299 to 1310. He was the son of John I, Count of Looz and Mathilde Jülich.

Arnold I, Count of Loon (Looz) from about 1079, son of Emmo, Count of Loon, and Suanhildis, daughter of Dirk III, Count of Holland, and his wife Othelandis.

Count Gerard of Loon, was son and successor of Louis I, Count of Loon, and Agnes of Metz. He was count of Loon and of Rieneck. Because of a widespread misunderstanding concerning a document from 1101, some generations earlier, he is sometimes wrongly referred to as the second Gerard in this dynasty, "Gerard II".

Conon II (Cono) (died 1189 or after), Count of Montaigu and Count of Duras, son of Godefroi, Count of Montaigu, and his wife Julienne, daughter of Otto II, Count of Duras.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 Léon Vanderkindere, La formation territoriale des principautés belges au Moyen Âge, vol. 2 (Brussels: H. Lamertin, 1902), pp. 151–56.
1 2 3 J. F. Verbruggen, The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the Middle Ages: From the Eighth Century to 1340, 2nd ed. (Boydell, 1997), pp. 155–58.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[2] There seems to have been another line of counts of Egisheim descended from Henry VI's brother Gerard I, indicating perhaps that the county was partitioned.

[3] Latin: Adalbertus comes de Egensheim et uxor ejus Heilewig.

[4] Latin: Albertus comes de Egisheim dictus de Musal.

[5] Latin: Albertus comes de Musal.

[Vanderkindere-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Léon Vanderkindere, La formation territoriale des principautés belges au Moyen Âge, vol. 2 (Brussels: H. Lamertin, 1902), pp. 151–56.

[Verbruggen-6] 1 2 3 J. F. Verbruggen, The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the Middle Ages: From the Eighth Century to 1340, 2nd ed. (Boydell, 1997), pp. 155–58.

[1]

[lower-alpha 1]

[lower-alpha 2]

[lower-alpha 3]

[lower-alpha 4]

[2]