Diederik of Heinsberg (French: Thierry, German: Dietrich, English: Theodoric) (died between 17 and 21 January 1361), Count of Loon (French: Looz) and Count of Chiny (1336-1361), was the son of Godfrey II, Lord of Heinsberg (son of Diederik, Lord of Heinsberg, and Joanna of Leuven), and Matilda (daughter of Arnold V, Count of Loon and Chiny, and Marguerite Vianden).
In 1336, Diederik's uncle Louis IV, Count of Loon and Chiny, died without having had children, and a succession crises emerged. An agreement of 1190 stipulated that if the House of Loon were extinguished, the county would then be integrated with the Principality of Liège.
The reaction of the Chapter of Saint-Lambert was immediate. The Prince-Bishop of Liège Adolph of La Marck moved to incorporate the County of Loon into the principality, while Diederik maneuvered to assume the title of count. However, since Diederik had married Adolph's sister and the bishop was fond of their son, family relations won out. Until his death in 1344, the prelate used all of his influence to ensure that the county remained in possession of his brother-in-law.
But the death of the bishop did not terminate possession the Counties of Loon and Chiny by the Heinsbergs, because Adolph's nephew Engelbert III succeeded him as Prince-Bishop of Liège. Engelbert removed the threat of excommunication pronounced against Diederik and allowed him to remain at the head of the counties until his death.
In 1336, Diederik married Kunigunde of the Mark, (d. 1343), daughter of Engelbert I, Count of the Mark, and Kunigonde of Blieskastel, sister of Adolph of the Marck and Eberhard II, Count of the Mark (also his uncle through marriage to Matilda's sister Marie).
Diederik and Kunigunde had one son:
Godfrey of Loon-Heinsberg (died 1347), married in 1336 to Mathilde of Guelders (d.1384), daughter of Reginald II, Duke of Guelders, and Sophie Berthout, Lady of Mechelen.
Upon his death in 1361, Diederik's nephew and heir, Godfrey of Heinsberg, Lord of Daelenbroeck, claimed the counties of Loon and Chiny, while the Prince-Bishopric of Liège claimed it as fief of the church.
Sources
Marchandisse, Alain, La fonction épiscopale à Liège aux xiiie et xive siècles: étude de politologie historique, Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Philosophie et de Lettres de l'Université de Liège, 1998
Arlette Laret-Kayser, Entre Bar et Luxembourg: Le Comté de Chiny des Origines à 1300, Bruxelles (éditions du Crédit Communal, Collection Histoire, série in-8°, n° 72), 1986
The County of Mark was a county and state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle. It lay on both sides of the Ruhr river along the Volme and Lenne rivers.
The County of Loon was a county in the ancien regime 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.
La Marck was a noble family, which from about 1200 appeared as the counts of Mark.
William V, Duke of Jülich was a German nobleman. Some authors call him William I, because he was the first Duke of Jülich; the earlier Williams had been Count of Jülich. Other authors call the subject of this article "William VI"; they count the son and co-ruler of William IV as William V.
Arnold IV of Loon (Looz), was Count of Loon from 1227 to 1273 and Count of Chiny from 1228 to 1268. He was the son of Gérard III, Count of Rieneck and Cunegonde von Zimmern.
Adolph II of the Marck was Count of the Marck.
Eberhard I was a German nobleman. He was Count of the Mark from 1277 until his death. He was the son of Engelbert I, Count of the Mark and Kunigunde of Blieskastel, daughter of Count Henry I of Blieskastel.
Margaret of Cleves, also spelled Margaretha or Margarethe was the wife of Count Adolf II of the Marck and mother of Adolf III of the Marck. She was a daughter of Count Dietrich VIII of Cleves and Margaret of Guelders, who was a daughter of Reginald I of Guelders.
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.
Joan was the Countess of Chiny. Joan was the daughter of Louis IV, Count of Chiny, and Matilda of Avesnes, and became ruler of the county upon her father’s death on 7 October 1226. She married Arnold IV, Count of Loon, son of Gerard III, Count of Rieneck, and Kunigunde von Zimmern, in 1228, whereupon he assumed the role of Count of Chiny.
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.
Louis IV, Count of Looz (1323-1336) and Count of Chiny (1313-1336), son of Arnold V, Count of Looz and Chiny, and Marguerite Vianden.
Godfrey de Heinsberg, Lord of Daelenbroeck, Count of Looz and Count of Chiny (1361–1362), son of John of Heinsberg, Lord of Daelenbroeck.
Arnold VI de Rumigny, Count of Looz and Count of Chiny (1362–1364), son of William of Oreye, Lord of Rumigny, and Jeanne de Looz, daughter of Arnold V, Count of Loon and Chiny, and, Marguerite Vianden, Lady of Perwez and Grimbergen.
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".
John II of Loon, Lord of Jülich, Heinsberg and Löwenberg, son of Godfrey de Heinsberg, Count of Looz, and Philippa of Jülich, daughter of William V, Duke of Jülich, and Joanna of Hainaut. Although John was the first son of Godfrey, he did not inherit the countship of Looz, the title instead going to Arnold of Rumingy.
Adolph II von der Mark was the Prince-Bishop of Liège from 1313 until his death in 1344.
The Wars of the Loon Succession is the name of the war of succession that arose after the childless death of Louis IV, Count of Loon on 22 January 1336. In the first period, the County of Loon led by claimant Diederik of Heinsberg managed to maintain its autonomy in relation to the Prince-Bishopric of Liège. During the second period, however, Arnold of Rummen, the last indigenous claimant to the title of count of Loon, first had to sell the County of Chiny to the Duchy of Luxemburg to cover his military expenses, and soon after conceded defeat. The wars came to an end with the annexation of Loon by Liège in 1366.
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