John II, Count of Nassau-Siegen

Count John II ʻwith the Helmetʼ of Nassau-Siegen[note 1] (d. early May 1443), German: Johann II. ‘mit der Haube’ Graf von Nassau-Siegen, succeeded, with his brothers, his father in 1416 as Count of Nassau-Siegen[note 2] (a part of the County of Nassau). With his brothers, he inherited the County of Vianden in 1417, and also inherited half of the County of Diez in 1420. He descended from the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau.

John II ʻwith the Helmetʼ, Count of Nassau-Siegen
Coat of arms
Reign
  • 1416–1443 (Nassau-Siegen)
  • 1417–1443 (Vianden)
  • 1420–1443 (half Diez)
Predecessor
Successor
Full name
John II ʻwith the Helmetʼ, Count of Nassau-Siegen
Native nameJohann II. ‘mit der Haube’ Graf von Nassau-Siegen
Born?
Diedearly May 1443
Dillenburg Castle
BuriedKeppel Abbey
Noble familyHouse of Nassau-Siegen
Spouse(s)–
FatherJohn I of Nassau-Siegen
MotherMargaret of the Mark

Biography

John was the second son of Count John I of Nassau-Siegen and Countess Margaret of the Mark.[1][2][3]

With his brothers, Adolf I, Engelbert I and John III ʻthe Youngerʼ, John succeeded his father in 1416 as Count of Nassau-Siegen.[4][5][6][note 3] They had already agreed on a joint continuation of the government[5][6] 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.[6] Together, the brothers bought back the other half of the city of Siegen from the Electorate of Cologne.[4][note 4]

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.[4][note 5]

After the death of the eldest brother Adolf in 1420, the three remaining brothers succeeded him, but they lost half of the County of Diez,[note 6] as well as ¼ of Camberg in 1428.[note 7] The County of Nassau-Siegen was divided by the brothers; John obtained Dillenburg in this division.[4]

John was invested with the Duchy of Cleves and the County of Mark by Roman King Sigismund in 1422, but settled for financial compensation two years later.[9] Duke Adolf IV of Cleves paid him 12,000 gold guilders.[10] In 1429 or 1439, the counts of Virneburg paid the brothers 21,000 gold guilders to buy off their claims to the heerlijkheid of Ravenstein with Herpen and Uden.[10]

After the death of their youngest brother John III ʻthe Youngerʼ in 1430, John II and Engelbert I jointly ruled Nassau-Siegen, Vianden and Diez again.[4]

John died unmarried at Dillenburg Castle in early May 1443[10][11][note 8] and was buried in Keppel Abbey near Hilchenbach.[1][2][3][11] He was succeeded by his nephews John IV and Henry II of Nassau-Siegen, the sons of Engelbert I.[4][11]

  • Siegen Castle, 2011.
    Siegen Castle, 2011.
  • Vianden Castle. Photo: Vincent de Groot, 2004.
    Vianden Castle. Photo: Vincent de Groot, 2004.
  • Diez Castle. Photo: Peter Klassen, 2006.
    Diez Castle. Photo: Peter Klassen, 2006.
  • Keppel Abbey Church, 2018.
    Keppel Abbey Church, 2018.

Illegitimate children

John had two illegitimate children:[1][3]

  1. Adelheid von Nassau, was a nun in Keppel Abbey in 1438.
  2. Tilman von Nassau, mentioned as student in Heidelberg in 1425, as student in Cologne in 1447, obtained Wallenfels Castle as a fief and a house in Herborn in 1461.

Ancestors
Ancestors of Count John II of Nassau-Siegen[4][12][13][14][15][16]
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 John II 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. John 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. Dek (1970), p. 66 and Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), p. 90 state that John co-ruled with his brother Adolf only.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. “The other half came to the Count of Eppstein who had married Adolfʼs only daughter. Half of this half (i.e. ¼) passed to the counts of Katzenelnbogen (1479). Hesse inherited that in 1500.”[7]
  7. “The lords von Eppstein, already possessors of one half, then held ¾ of the Amt Camberg. One of these quarters passed to Katzenelnbogen, then, in 1479, to Hesse and returned to Nassau in 1557. The other two quarters came to the lords of Königstein, then to the Elector of Trier in 1564, and finally, in 1803, to Nassau, who thus again found itself in sole possession of the Amt.”[8]
  8. Huberty, et al. (1981), p. 219 also mentions the year of death 1443. Dek (1970), p. 66, Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), p. 90 and Medieval Lands – Nassau state that John died in Dillenburg in May 1448. Considering the fact that Johnʼs successors divided their possessions on 22 February 1447, the year of death 1448 cannot be correct.

References
  1. Dek (1970), p. 66.
  2. Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), p. 90.
  3. Cawley, Charles. "Medieval Lands – Nassau". Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  4. Huberty, et al. (1981), p. 219.
  5. Joachim, Ernst (1881). "Johann I. (Graf von Nassau-Dillenburg)". Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German). Vol. Band 14. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. p. 251.
  6. von Stramberg (1865), p. 722.
  7. Huberty, et al. (1981), p. 223.
  8. Huberty, et al. (1981), p. 224.
  9. Lück (1981), p. 23.
  10. von Stramberg (1865), p. 728.
  11. Becker (1983), p. 12.
  12. Dek (1970).
  13. Vorsterman van Oyen (1882).
  14. Europäische Stammtafeln.
  15. Theroff, Paul. "An Online Gotha". Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  16. Cawley, Charles. "Medieval Lands. A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families". Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Retrieved 8 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.
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