Adolf I, Count of Nassau-Siegen

Count Adolf I of Nassau-Siegen[note 1] (1362 – 12 June 1420), German: Adolf I. Graf von Nassau-Siegen, was since 1388 Count of Diez, through his first marriage. With his brothers, he succeeded his father in 1416 as Count of Nassau-Siegen[note 2] (a part of the County of Nassau), and also inherited the County of Vianden in 1417. He descended from the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau.

Adolf I, Count of Nassau-Siegen
Coat of arms
Reign
  • 1388–1420 (Diez)
  • 1416–1420 (Nassau-Siegen)
  • 1417–1420 (Vianden)
Predecessor
Successor
Full name
Adolf I, Count of Nassau-Siegen
Native nameAdolf I. Graf von Nassau-Siegen
Born1362
Died12 June 1420
Noble familyHouse of Nassau-Siegen
Spouse(s)
  • Jutta of Diez
  • Kunigonda of Isenburg-Limburg
Issue
Detail		Jutta
FatherJohn I of Nassau-Siegen
MotherMargaret of the Mark

Biography

Adolf was born in 1362[1][2][3] as the eldest son of Count John I of Nassau-Siegen and Countess Margaret of the Mark.[2][3]

Adolf succeeded his father-in-law Count Gerhard VII of Diez as Count of Diez.[1] Roman King Wenceslaus invested him with the county.[2][3][note 3] As Count of Diez, Adolf build Ardeck Castle.[2][3]

With his brothers, John II ʻwith the Helmetʼ, Engelbert I and John III ʻthe Youngerʼ, Adolf succeeded his father in 1416 as Count of Nassau-Siegen.[1][4][5][note 4] They had already agreed on a joint continuation of the government[4][5] on 21 December 1409. Whichever of the brothers would be native or closest to his lands on the fatherʼs death should take possession of them in all brothersʼ name until a division would have taken place. Whoever would take something for himself alone would be disinherited. All parental decrees favouring one brother over the other were declared null and void in advance. Adolf hereby tacitly renounced his right to the part of Nassau-Hadamar and the districts of Herborn, Haiger and Löhnberg, which he could have claimed in advance from the marriage contract with the heiress of the County of Diez. In accordance with this agreement, the brothers took over the government jointly after their fatherʼs death in 1416. However, the intended division did not take place: Adolf had no male offspring, the elder John was not married, the younger of the same name was a clergyman; it was to be expected that a division would not last long.[5] Together, the brothers bought back the other half of the city of Siegen from the Electorate of Cologne.[1][note 5]

When Elisabeth of Sponheim-Kreuznach, Countess of Vianden, died without issue in 1417, the four brothers, grandsons of Adelaide of Vianden, Elisabethʼs great-aunt, inherited the County of Vianden with the lordships of St. Vith, Bütgenbach, Dasburg and Grimbergen.[1][note 6]

Adolf died on 12 June 1420.[2][3][6] He was succeeded as Count of Diez by his son-in-law Godfrey VII of Eppstein-Münzenberg in one half and by his brothers in the other half. His brothers also succeeded Adolf as Count of Nassau-Siegen and Count of Vianden, dividing the County of Nassau-Siegen.[1]

  • Diez Castle. Photo: Peter Klassen, 2006.
    Diez Castle. Photo: Peter Klassen, 2006.
  • Ardeck Castle. Photo: Johannes Robalotoff, 2009.
    Ardeck Castle. Photo: Johannes Robalotoff, 2009.
  • Siegen Castle, 2011.
    Siegen Castle, 2011.
  • Vianden Castle. Photo: Vincent de Groot, 2004.
    Vianden Castle. Photo: Vincent de Groot, 2004.

Marriages and issue

First marriage

Adolf married in 1384[2][3] to Countess Jutta of Diez (after 1367 – 14 August 1397[2][3][6]), daughter of Count Gerhard VII of Diez and Countess Gertrud of Westerburg.[2][3]
From the marriage of Adolf and Jutta only one daughter was born:

  1. Jutta (d. 2 August 1424), married in 1401 to Lord Godfrey VII of Eppstein-Münzenberg (d. 28 June 1437),[2][3][6] since 1420 Count of half Diez.[2][3]

Second marriage

Adolf remarried before 25 February 1401 to Kunigunde of Isenburg-Limburg (d. 11 June 1401/1402),[6] daughter of John II of Isenburg, Lord of Limburg and Countess Hildegard of Saarwerden.[2][3][6] The marriage remained childless.[2][3][6]

Illegitimate child

Adolf had one illegitimate son:

  1. Johann von Diez, was a canon in Diez.[6]

Ancestors
Ancestors of Count Adolf I of Nassau-Siegen[1][7][8][9][10][11]
Great-great-grandparents Otto I of Nassau
(?–1289/90)
⚭ before 1270
Agnes of Leiningen
(?–after 1299)		 Thierry II of Heinsberg and Blankenberg
(?–1303)
⚭ 1253
Joanna of Gaesbeek
(?–1291)		 Godfrey I of Vianden
(?–1307/1310)
⚭ 1278
Adelaide of Oudenaarde
(?–1305)
 Louis of Arnsberg
(?–1312/13)
⚭ before 1276
Petronilla of Jülich
(?–after 1299)
 Engelbert I of the Mark
(?–1308)
⚭ 1273
Irmgard of Berg
(?–1294)		 John of Arberg
(?–1281)
⚭ before 1273
Catherine of Jülich
(?–after 1287)		 Thierry VI of Cleves
(1256/57–1305)
⚭ 1290
Margaret of Habsburg
(?–c. 1333)		 Reginald I of Guelders and Zutphen
(c. 1255–1326)
⚭ 1286
Margaret of Flanders
(?–after 1327)
Great-grandparents Henry I of Nassau-Siegen
(c. 1270–1343)
⚭ before 1302
Adelaide of Heinsberg and Blankenberg
(?–after 1343)		 Philip II of Vianden
(?–1315/16)
⚭
Adelaide of Arnsberg
(?–?)
 Engelbert II of the Mark
(?–1328)
⚭ 1299
Matilda of Arberg
(?–1367)		 Thierry VII of Cleves
(1291–1347)
⚭ 1308
Margaret of Guelders and Zutphen
(c. 1290–1331)
Grandparents Otto II of Nassau-Siegen
(c. 1305–1350/1351)
⚭ 1331
Adelaide of Vianden
(?–1376)		 Adolf II of the Mark
(?–1347)
⚭ 1332
Margaret of Cleves
(?–after 1348)
Parents John I of Nassau-Siegen
(c. 1339–1416)
⚭ 1357
Margaret of the Mark
(?–1409)

Notes
  1. In many sources he is called Adolf I of Nassau(-Dillenburg). His official title was Count of Nassau, but it is incorrect to refer to him as the only reigning Count of Nassau, because the County of Nassau was divided into Nassau-Beilstein, Nassau-Siegen, Nassau-Weilburg and Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein. Adolf co-ruled the County of Nassau-Siegen, which is erroneously called Nassau-Dillenburg in many sources. See note 2.
  2. The County of Nassau-Siegen is erroneously called Nassau-Dillenburg in many sources. The county was not named after the small, unimportant city of Dillenburg, which did not even have a church at that time, but after the, for that time, large city of Siegen, the economic centre of the county and the counts’ main residence. See Lück (1981), passim. It is also evident from the numbering of the reigning counts with the given name John. One John without regal number who ruled the County of Nassau-Dillenburg in the period 1303–1328, and eight counts by the name of John who ruled the County of Nassau-Siegen in the period 1362–1638.
  3. Both authors state that the investment took place in 1384, four years before the death of Count Gerhard VII.
  4. Dek (1970), p. 66 and Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), p. 90 state that Adolf co-ruled with his brother John II only.
  5. Lück (1981), p. 23 states that their father exchanged the County of Arnsberg in 1381 for the other half of Siegen from the Electorate of Cologne.
  6. Dek (1970), p. 66 and Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), p. 90 state that only Engelbert I, the third of the brothers, inherited the County of Vianden.

References
  1. Huberty, et al. (1981), p. 219.
  2. Dek (1970), p. 66.
  3. Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), p. 90.
  4. Joachim, Ernst (1881). "Johann I. (Graf von Nassau-Dillenburg)". Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German). Vol. Band 14. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. p. 251.
  5. von Stramberg (1865), p. 722.
  6. Cawley, Charles. "Medieval Lands – Adolf von Nassau-Dillenburg". Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  7. Dek (1970).
  8. Vorsterman van Oyen (1882).
  9. Europäische Stammtafeln.
  10. Theroff, Paul. "An Online Gotha". Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  11. Cawley, Charles. "Medieval Lands. A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families". Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Retrieved 7 January 2023.

Sources
  • Becker, E. (1983) [1950]. Schloss und Stadt Dillenburg. Ein Gang durch ihre Geschichte in Mittelalter und Neuzeit. Zur Gedenkfeier aus Anlaß der Verleihung der Stadtrechte am 20. September 1344 herausgegeben (in German) (Neuauflage ed.). Dillenburg: Der Magistrat der Stadt Dillenburg.
  • Dek, A.W.E. (1970). Genealogie van het Vorstenhuis Nassau (in Dutch). Zaltbommel: Europese Bibliotheek.
  • Huberty, Michel; Giraud, Alain & Magdelaine, F. & B. (1981). l’Allemagne Dynastique (in French). Vol. Tome III: Brunswick-Nassau-Schwarzbourg. Le Perreux: Alain Giraud.
  • Lück, Alfred (1981) [1967]. Siegerland und Nederland (in German) (2nd ed.). Siegen: Siegerländer Heimatverein e.V.
  • von Stramberg, Chr. (1865). Denkwürdiger und nützlicher Rheinischer Antiquarius, welcher die wichtigsten und angenehmsten geographischen historischen und politischen Merkwürdigkeiten des ganzen Rheinstroms, von seinem Ausflusse in das Meer bis zu seinem Ursprunge darstellt. Von einem Nachforscher in historischen Dingen. Mittelrhein. Der II. Abtheilung 18. Band. Der Rheingau. Historisch und topografisch (in German). Vol. Vierter Band. Coblenz: Rud. Friedr. Hergt.
  • Vorsterman van Oyen, A.A. (1882). Het vorstenhuis Oranje-Nassau. Van de vroegste tijden tot heden (in Dutch). Leiden: A.W. Sijthoff/Utrecht: J.L. Beijers.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.