County of Isenburg-Limburg Grafschaft Isenburg-Limburg | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1258–1406 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||
| Status | State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||
| Capital | Limburg an der Lahn | ||||||||
| Government | County | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Partitioned from Isenburg-Grenzau | May 22 1258 | ||||||||
• Annexed by Archbishopric of Trier | 1406 | ||||||||
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The Countship of Isenburg-Limburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the 13th and 14th centuries, based around the city of Limburg an der Lahn in modern Hesse, Germany.
The short-lived House of Limburg (or House of Isenburg-Limburg) was a collateral line of the House of Isenburg. From the House of Limburg came several canons in Cologne and Trier. The House of Limburg also had familial relationships to the Houses of Nassau and Westerburg in addition to the other lines of the House of Isenburg.
The core of the territory was the town of Limburg an der Lahn and the Vogtship of St. George's Cathedral in Limburg. It also included the villages of Elz, Neesbach (a part of present-day Hünfelden), Oberbrechen and Werschau (both now parts of Brechen), and the Werode Zent. Along with it went the Lordship of Cleeberg, including the places Cleeberg, Oberkleen, and Ebergöns (all now part of Langgöns), Brandoberndorf (now part of Waldsolms), and a share of Schloss Schaumburg (in Balduinstein). The Lordship of Cleeberg and the share in Schaumburg, however, were later given away as a dowry.
The feudal lords of the Countship of Limburg were the Landgraviate of Hesse, Archbishopric of Mainz, and the Holy Roman Empire, each owning a third.
Limburg Castle was the residence of the Counts of Limburg, who built the majority of the structures still extant today. Gerlach I was probably the builder of the residential tower. In 1379 a fire burned parts of the castle. In 1400 John II built the southern two-story hall. [1]
The rulers of the house were buried in the Cathedral in Limburg. Construction of the cathedral had begun in 1212, and was completed by the counts in 1232. It remains the city church today. The town's Franciscan monastery was founded under Gerlach IV. John I of Limburg built St. Peter's Chapel between 1289 and 1298. [1]
The Lordship of Limburg passed to the House of Isenburg between 1219 and 1221 as an inheritance through the male line of the extinct House of Leiningen. Gerlach IV of Isenburg who succeeded, with his brother Henry II, their father Count Henry I of Isenburg-Grenzau between 1220 and 1227, chose Limburg as his residence. He took the title Lord of Limburg in 1248. [1] On May 22, 1258, Gerlach and Henry divided the inheritance between themselves. Gerlach won sole possession of the city of Limburg and took the title Gelach I, Count of Limburg.
The relationship between the Counts of Limburg and the citizenry of the city was tense. In 1279 the citizens expelled Gerlach I from the city. After negotiations, he was able to return to his castle, but he had to grant the citizenry far-reaching freedoms. In 1288, Gerlach participated together with Nassau and Westerburg at the Battle of Worringen on the side of the Archbishop of Cologne, Siegfried II of Westerburg.
The dynasty of the House of Limburg was active on behalf of the German kings. In particular, John I worked from 1292 to 1298 for his brother-in-law, King Adolf of Nassau, who was married to John's sister Imagina of Isenburg-Limburg. Despite his participation in the Battle of Göllheim on the side of King Adolf, he was later able to gain the favor of Adolf's opponent and successor, King Albert of Habsburg.
The city of Limburg an der Lahn was strategically important due to its location on the main trade route from Cologne to Frankfurt. This led to frequent conflicts with neighbouring lordships and made the city a target of robber-barons. As a result, the city was heavily fortified by the Counts of Limburg. Towers were built around the city in 1315. In 1343 walls and a moat were added to surround the town.
Under Gerlach II, the city of Limburg achieved its highest medieval flowering. The chronicler Tilemann Elhen von Wolfhagen writes in his chronicle of Limburg before 1402 that, before the plague, the city could summon over 2,000 weapons-capable citizens. Gerlach constructed the stone bridge over the Lahn and laid out suburbs in front of the Dietz and Frankfurt Gates and the approach to the bridge. With a fire in 1342 and the first wave of the Black Death in 1349, however, began its economic decline.
In 1344 half of the castle, town and lordship was pledged to Baldwin of Luxembourg, Archbishop of Trier. In 1374 Limburg's imperial sovereignty also fell to Trier. [1]
In 1365, Gerlach III died in the plague without male heirs. With the permission of Pope Urban V, his brother John put aside the office of Canon of Trier Cathedral and took over the rule of Limburg as John II. John II died in 1406 as the last male representative of the House of Limburg. The Archbishopric of Trier finally took over the city and the whole of the Lordship of Limburg.
Limburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.
Adolf was the count of Nassau from about 1276 and the elected king of Germany from 1292 until his deposition by the prince-electors in 1298. He was never crowned by the pope, which would have secured him the imperial title. He was the first physically and mentally healthy ruler of the Holy Roman Empire ever to be deposed without a papal excommunication. Adolf died shortly afterwards in the Battle of Göllheim fighting against his successor Albert of Habsburg.
The County of Isenburg was a region of Germany located in southern present-day Hesse, located in territories north and south of Frankfurt. The states of Isenburg emerged from the Niederlahngau, which partitioned in 1137 into Isenburg-Isenburg and Isenburg-Limburg-Covern. These countships were partitioned between themselves many times over the next 700 years.
Nassau is a town located in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It lies on the lower course of the Lahn River, on the mouth of the Mühlbach, between Limburg an der Lahn and the spa town of Bad Ems, and is located in the Nassau Nature Park, surrounded by the Westerwald to the north and the Taunus to the south. The town is on the German-Dutch holiday road, the Orange Route. As of 2021, it had a population of 4,592.
Otto I of Nassau, German: Otto I. von Nassau was Count of Nassau and is the ancestor of the Ottonian branch of the House of Nassau.
Isenburg-Grenzau was the name of several states of the Holy Roman Empire, seated in the Lordship of Grenzau, in modern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The first state called Isenburg-Grenzau existed 1158–1290; the second 1341–1439; and the third 1502–1664.
Imagina of Isenburg-Limburg was the Queen consort of Adolf of Nassau, King of Germany.
Seck is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Klarenthal Abbey is a former convent of the Order of Poor Ladies in the borough of Klarenthal in Wiesbaden, Germany. Klarenthal is the only abbey in present-day Wiesbaden.
Gerlach IV of Isenburg-Limburg, also known as Gerlach I of Limburg, was from 1258 Count of (Isenburg-)Limburg, ruling over the town of Limburg an der Lahn and some villages in its hinterlands. He was the founder of the short-lived House of Limburg.
John I of Isenburg-Limburg, "The blind Lord" was from 1289 Count of (Isenburg-) Limburg and the head of the House of Limburg. The core territory of the Lordship of Limburg consisted of the city of Limburg an der Lahn and several surrounding villages.
Gerlach V of Isenburg-Limburg, also called Gerlach II "the Elder" of Limburg, was Count of Isenburg-Limburg. He reigned between 1312 and 1355 as Lord of Limburg an der Lahn, and the head of the House of Limburg. The chronicler Tilemann Elhen von Wolfhagen describes him, in his pre-1402 Limburger Chronicle, as a virtuous nobleman and a bright poet in German and Latin.
Gerlach VI of Isenburg-Limburg, also known as Gerlach III of Limburg, was Count of Isenburg-Limburg and Lord of Limburg an der Lahn. He succeeded his father Gerlach V in 1355. In 1356, he married Elisabeth of Falkenstein.
SiegfriedII of Westerburg was Archbishop of Cologne from 1275 to 1297.
John II of Isenburg-Limburg was Lord of Limburg an der Lahn and the last Count of Isenburg-Limburg from 1365 until 1406. He is sometimes designated John III to differentiate him from his non-ruling older half-brother John II.
The Lahngau was a medieval territory comprising the middle and lower Lahn River valley in the current German states of Hesse and (partially) Rhineland-Palatinate. The traditional names of the Gau are Loganahe Pagus or Pagus Logenensis.
Henry I of Nassau-Siegen, German: Heinrich I. von Nassau-Siegen was Count of Nassau-Siegen, a part of the County of Nassau, and ancestor of the House of Nassau-Siegen. He comes from the Ottonian branch of the House of Nassau.
Count Adolf I of Nassau-Siegen, German: Adolf I. Graf von Nassau-Siegen, was since 1384 Count of Diez, through his first marriage. With his brothers, he succeeded his father in 1416 as Count of Nassau-Siegen, and also inherited the County of Vianden in 1417. He descended from the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau.
The Grenzau Feud was a warlike conflict between the troops of Koblenz in the Electorate of Trier on the one hand and Lord Philip of Isenburg and Lord Reynard of Westerburg on the other at Grenzau on 20 April 1347. The Koblenz soldiers were ambushed and 172 were killed.
The Barony of Westerburg, a small principality around the present day town of Westerburg in the Westerwald mountains of Germany, is first recorded in 1209. The eponymous castle, which had probably been built earlier than when it was mentioned for the first time in 1192, was the family seat of the lords of Westerburg, a branch of the lords of Runkel.
