![]() | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(July 2013) |
Dirk III | |
---|---|
Count in Frisia | |
Reign | 1005 – 27 May 1039 |
Predecessor | Arnulf |
Successor | Dirk IV |
Born | c. 982 |
Died | 27 May 1039 |
Burial | |
Spouse | Othelindis |
Issue | Dirk IV Floris I |
House | of Holland |
Father | Arnulf |
Mother | Luitgard of Luxemburg |
Dirk III (also called Dirik or Theodoric) was the count with jurisdiction over what would become the county of Holland, often referred to in this period as "West Frisia", from 993 to 27 May 1039. Until 1005, this was under regency of his mother. It is thought that Dirk III went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land around 1030, hence his nickname of Hierosolymita ("the Jerusalemite" in Latin).
The area over which Dirk ruled was called Holland for the first time only in 1101 and was known as a southern part of Frisia at this time. Modern writers often distinguish it as "West Friesland". At the time, this Western Frisia was very different from the area as it exists today (forming the modern provinces of North Holland and South Holland). Most of the territory was boggy and subject to constant flooding and hence very sparsely populated. The main areas of habitation were in the dunes at the coast and on heightened areas near the rivers.
Count Dirk was a member of the house of Holland, an important family within Germany at that time. His mother, Luitgard of Luxemburg, was regent in the county while Dirk was still a minor, from 993 to 1005. She was the sister-in-law of Emperor Henry II, and with his help, she managed to maintain the county for her son. After Dirk assumed the government of the county, she still used her family connections to acquire imperial assistance, in one instance an imperial army helped Dirk suppress a Frisian revolt. The chronicle of the bishops of Cambrai, in its entry for 1017, openly complains that the sisters-in-law of Emperor Henry II had been arousing rebellions against the status quo, which it associated with their bishop Gerard of Florennes and his cousin Godfrey II, Duke of Lower Lorraine, who led the unsuccessful campaign against Dirk III in 1018 at the Battle of Vlaardingen. [1]
Prior to 1018, Count Dirk III was a vassal of Henry II, but the bishops of Trier, Utrecht and Cologne all contested the ownership of Dirk's fiefdom, which was in a strategically important location. Utrecht, situated in the Rhine delta, was the largest trading town of the German kings in the area and traders had to sail through the territories of Dirk III, by way of the Rhine and Vecht rivers, in order to reach the North Sea. Also, the German kings and emperors were frequently resident in Utrecht and the nearby estate of Nijmegen. Another trade route that ran through Dirk's territory was from the city of Tiel to England.
It was along this second route that Count Dirk built a stronghold at Vlaardingen, in a newly habitable area where many Frisians had recently settled by his invitation. He was not permitted to levy tolls or hinder trade in any way, but eventually he defied imperial rule. Working together with the Frisians now living in the area, he stopped passing ships, demanding payment of tolls. Merchants from the town of Tiel sent alarmed messages to the king and Bishop Adelbold of Utrecht about acts of violence against them by Dirk's men. Emperor Henry then decided to end Dirk III's reign and awarded his lands to Bishop Adelbold.
A large imperial army, made up of troops supplied by the various bishops of region, under the command of Godfrey II, Duke of Lower Lorraine, then headed for the stronghold at Vlaardingen. The ensuing Battle of Vlaardingen was a disaster for the imperial army and a tremendous victory for Count Dirk; many of the imperial commanders perished and Duke Godfrey was captured. Following this victory, Dirk III was permitted to keep his lands and he continued levying tolls. Later on, Dirk also managed to acquire more lands east of his previous domains at the expense of the Bishop of Utrecht. After the death of Emperor Henry II in 1024, Dirk supported Conrad II for the succession to the kingship.
After Count Dirk III's death in 1039, imperial armies were sent on a few more occasions seeking to reclaim the lands held by the Frisian counts. The powerful Robert I, Count of Flanders (called Robert the Frisian) helped Dirk V, grandson of Dirk III and his own stepson, to restore Frisia to the counts.
Dirk III married Othelindis, perhaps daughter of Bernard I, Duke of Saxony. They had (at least) two children:
There is also evidence for two daughters: Bertrada, who married Dietrich I. von Katlenburg , and Suanhildis (Swanhilde) who married Emmo van Loon , Count of Loon.
After Dirk's death on 27 May 1039, his widow went back to Saxony, where she died on 31 March 1044. Dirk was buried at Egmond Abbey.
The Bishopric of Utrecht was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, in the present-day Netherlands. From 1024 to 1528, as one of the prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire, it was ruled by the bishops of Utrecht.
The counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.
The County of Holland was a state of the Holy Roman Empire and from 1433 part of the Burgundian Netherlands, from 1482 part of the Habsburg Netherlands and from 1581 onward the leading province of the Dutch Republic, of which it remained a part until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. The territory of the County of Holland corresponds roughly with the current provinces of North Holland and South Holland in the Netherlands.
Floris III was the count of Holland from 1157 to 1190. He was a son of Dirk VI and Sophia of Rheineck, heiress of Bentheim.
William I was count of Holland from 1203 to 1222. He was the younger son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon.
Godfrey II (965–1023), called the Childless, son of Godfrey I, Count of Verdun was the first of several members of his family to become duke of Lower Lorraine which roughly corresponded to modern Belgium, southern Netherlands, and the northern part of the German Rhineland.
Dirk V was Count of Holland from 1061 to 1091.
Dirk VI was Count of Holland between 1121 and 1157, at first, during his minority, under the regency of his mother Petronilla. He was the son of Count Floris II. After his death he was succeeded by his eldest son Floris III. He married Sofie of Salm, Countess of Rheineck and Bentheim. She was heiress of Bentheim, which she ruled together with her husband and which was inherited by the couple's second son Otto after his parents' death.
Dirk VII was the count of Holland from 1190 to 1203. He was the elder son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon.
Dirk IV was Count of Holland from 1039 to 1049. Dirk's date of birth is unknown but it was probably ca. 1030 or shortly before, he was described as "adolescent" at the time of his death. His base of operations was the stronghold his father built at Vlaardingen. Contemporary chroniclers referred to him as "Theodericus de Phlardirtinga" (Vlaardingen) and as margrave thereof. The exact extent of his domain is not known, but at one time or another it stretched north to at least Rijnsburg and east to roughly Aalburg.
The (First) Battle of Vlaardingen was fought on 29 July 1018 between troops of the Holy Roman Empire and West Frisia. As a result of a trade dispute, Emperor Henry II sent an army towards West Frisia to subdue the rebellious Count Dirk III. However, the Imperial army was decisively defeated and fled in panic.
William I served as Bishop of Utrecht from 1054 until his death in 1076.
Adalbold II of Utrecht was a bishop of Utrecht (1010–1026).
Gertrude of Saxony, also known as Gertrude Billung, was a countess of Holland by marriage to Floris I, Count of Holland, and countess of Flanders by marriage to Robert I, Count of Flanders. She was regent of Holland in 1061-1067 during the minority of her son Dirk V, and regent of Flanders during the absence of her spouse in 1086–1093.
Gerolf or Gerulf was the second count of this name who is attested in the area of Friesland. Gerolf's main area of power seems to have been in Kennemerland. Count Gerolf is often regarded as the founder of the County of Holland, although the actual name "Holland" is from a later time. His ancestry is unclear, but he may have been a son or, more likely, a grandson of the earlier Gerolf, who was a count in the area of Frisia at the time of the reign of Emperor Louis the Pious and who later joined a monastery. The earlier Gerolf died in 855. There is some limited and vague evidence that this earlier Gerolf was a son of a certain Theodoric, who in turn supposedly descended from the Frisian king Redbad. Count Gerolf is often identified as the father of Count Dirk I and seen as the founder of the first house of the Counts of Holland, which ruled the county until it was inherited by John II of Hainaut in 1299.
Dirk II or Theoderic II was a count in West Frisia, and ancestor of the counts of Holland. He was the son and heir of Dirk I and his wife Geva.
The Seignory of Frisia or Seignory of Friesland was a feudal dominion in the Netherlands. It was formed in 1498 by King Maximilian I and reformed in 1524 when Emperor Charles V conquered Frisia.