Thierry de Heinsberg, Count of Looz

Last updated

Thierry de Heinsberg (Theodoric of Looz, Dietrich) (d. between 17 and 21 January 1361), Count of Looz and Count of Chiny (1336-1361), was the son of Godefroy II, Lord of Heinsberg (son of Dietrich, Lord of Heinsberg, and Jeanne de Louvaine), and Matilda (daughter of Arnold V, Count of Looz and Chiny, and Marguerite Vianden).

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. The County of Chiny was created in the early 10th century out of the ancient county of Ivois. The county now forms part of the province of Luxembourg in present-day Belgium. The county of Chiny included the present-day cantons of Virton, Etalle, Florenville, Neufchâteau, Montmédy and Carignan, as well as the castles of Warcq on the Meuse, which was built in 971 by Otto, ancestor of the later Counts of Chiny. There is a close relationship between the Counts of Chiny and the Counts of Looz, the Counts of Verdun and the Bishops of Verdun.

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.

In 1336, Thierry's uncle Louis IV, Count of Looz and Chiny, died without having had children. An agreement of 1190 stipulated that if the House of Looz were extinguished, the county would then be integrated with the Principality of Liege and a succession crises emerged.

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.

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 Looz into the principality, while Thierry maneuvered to assume the title of count. However, since Thierry 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 Looz and Chiny by the Heinsbergs, because Adolph’s nephew Engelbert III succeeded him as Prince-Bishop of Liege. Englebert removed the threat of excommunication pronounced against Thierry and allowed him to remain at the head of the counties until his death.

Engelbert III von der Mark was the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne from 1364 until 1368 and the Prince-Bishop of Liège from 1345 until 1364.

In 1336, Thierry 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).

Engelbert I, Count of the Mark was a German nobleman. He was the ruling Count of the Mark from 1249 until his death.

Blieskastel Place in Saarland, Germany

Blieskastel is a city in the Saarpfalz (Saar-Palatinate) district, in Saarland, Germany which is divided into villages, one of the largest being Wolfersheim. It is situated on the river Blies, approximately 10 kilometres southwest of Homburg (Saar), 8 km (5 mi) west of Zweibrücken, and 20 km (12 mi) east of Saarbrücken.

Theirry and Kunigunde had one son:

Reginald II, Duke of Guelders Dutch noble

Reginald II of Guelders, called "the Black", was Count of Guelders, and from 1339 onwards Duke of Guelders, and Zutphen, in the Low Countries, from 1326 to 1343. He was the son of Reginald I of Guelders and Marguerite of Flanders.

Mechelen Municipality in Flemish Community, Belgium

Mechelen is a city and municipality in the province of Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium. The municipality comprises the city of Mechelen proper, some quarters at its outskirts, the hamlets of Nekkerspoel (adjacent) and Battel, as well as the villages of Walem, Heffen, Leest, Hombeek, and Muizen. The Dyle flows through the city, hence it is often referred to as the Dijlestad.

Upon his death in 1361, Thierry’s nephew and heir, Godfrey de Heinsberg, Lord of Daelenbroeck, claimed the counties of Looz and Chiny, while the Bishopric of Liege 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

Medieval Lands Project, Herren von Heinsberg (Sponheim)

Medieval Lands Project, Upper Lotharingian Nobility, Comtes de Looz

Related Research Articles

County of Mark county and state in the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire

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.

County of Loon countship

The County of Loon was a county in the ancien regime Holy Roman Empire, which corresponded approximately with the modern boundaries of the Belgian province of Limburg. It was named after the original seat of its count, Loon, which is today called Borgloon, but 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 area.

Duchy of Cleves State of the Holy Roman Empire

The Duchy of Cleves was a State of the Holy Roman Empire which emerged from the mediaeval Hettergau (de). It was situated in the northern Rhineland on both sides of the Lower Rhine, around its capital Cleves and the towns of Wesel, Kalkar, Xanten, Emmerich, Rees and Duisburg bordering the lands of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster in the east and the Duchy of Brabant in the west. Its history is closely related to that of its southern neighbours: the Duchies of Jülich and Berg, as well as Guelders and the Westphalian county of Mark. The Duchy was archaically known as Cleveland in English.

House of La Marck historical German noble family

La Marck, original German name von der Mar(c)k, was a noble family, which from about 1200 appeared as the Counts of Mark.

Adolph III of the Marck was the Bishop of Münster from 1357 until 1363, the Archbishop of Cologne in 1363, the Count of Cleves from 1368 until 1394, and the Count of Mark from 1391 until 1393.

Arnold IV, Count of Loon Belgian noble

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 en Cunigonde 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.

Louis IV the Young, Count of Chiny from 1189 to 1226, son of Louis III, Count of Chiny, and Sophie. Louis was the last of the first dynasty of Counts of Chiny. Having no son, he prepared his eldest daughter Jeanne as his successor. Louis marked his reign by issuing the first postage stamp in the county.

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.

John I (Jean), Count of Looz and Count of Chiny, eldest son of Arnold IV, Count of Looz and Chiny, and Jeanne, Countess of Chiny. He succeeded his father in 1272 or 1273, as the Count of Looz and Chiny. Virtually nothing is known about his reign.

Godfrey de Heinsberg, Lord of Daelenbroeck, Count of Looz and Count of Chiny (1361-1362), son of John of Heinsberg, Lord of Daelenbroeck, son of Arnold V, Count of Looz and Chiny, and Catherine de Vroon.

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.

Gérard , Count of Loon (1171–1191), was son and successor of Louis I, Count of Looz, and Agnes of Metz. Because of a widespread misunderstanding concerning a document from 1101, some generations earlier, he is often wrongly referred to as the second Gerard in this dynasty.

John II ,, 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.