Henry the Blind

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Henry IV, Count of Luxembourg
Bornc. 1113
Died(1196-08-14)14 August 1196
Echternach
Noble familyHouse of Namur
Spouse(s)Laurette of Alsace
Agnes of Guelders
IssueErmesinde, Countess of Luxembourg
FatherGodfrey I, Count of Namur
MotherErmesinde of Luxembourg

Henry the Blind (c. 1113 – 14 August 1196; French Henri l'Aveugle, Dutch Hendrik de Blinde), sometimes called Henry IV of Luxembourg,

Count of Namur from 1136 until his death, and heir of his mother's family as Count of Luxembourg from 1139 until his abdication in 1189. He also inherited the smaller lordships of Longwy, La Roche-en-Ardenne and Durbuy
.

Henry is an important figure in the history of the southern Netherlands and the modern countries of Belgium and Luxembourg. He is especially important to the history of the county of Namur, where he was the last member of the first line of counts, and the most powerful of them. His important inheritances were divided again after his death, bringing Namur and Luxembourg to different families. His daughter, who was born when he was old, kept Luxembourg and the smaller Ardennes lordships, while descendants of his sister Alice, who were also counts of Flanders and Hainaut, added possession of Namur to their dominion.

Henry lost the use of his eyes in 1182, but was not referred to as "the blind" until much later. Modern historians use that byname in order to distinguish him from a later count, Henry I, Count of Vianden.[2]

Life

Henry was the second known son of Count

Godfrey I of Louvain, which followed the death of Anselm, the abbot of Gembloux.[4]

Also in 1136,

Emperor Lothair II, who thus prevented its passing to the French count of Grandpré. He therefore held the advocacies of the abbeys of Saint-Maximin at Trier and Saint-Willibrord at Echternach. After the death of his father in 1139, Henry inherited Namur.[4]

From the 10th to 12th centuries, the counts of Namur had lost power due to the expansionary policy of the neighbouring prince-bishops of Liège, and the uncertainty of comital rights versus those of the emperor. The counts had however successfully accumulated control of some territories in the Ardennes region, which may have been a deliberate policy. The marriage of Henry's parents, whereby his father acquired the succession rights to the county of Luxembourg, has been described as a completion of this family project.[5]

Under Henry's lordship, Luxembourg was joined by several smaller Ardennes possessions which the family had acquired earlier. By 1151, Henry had inherited the lordship of

Albert III of Namur, from his mother's father, Duke Gozelon; and La Roche and the advocacy of Stavelot were part of inheritance of Duke Frederic, ancestor of the dukes of Limburg, which appears to have been split off from the main inheritance and granted to his widow Ida, the mother of Henry's father.[6][5] Longwy was a personal possession of Henry's mother Ermensinde, who died 1141.[7]

In 1141, after a battle in 1140 at Fosses-la-Ville, a possession of the bishop near Namur, Henry made peace with Adalbero II "de Chiny" Bishop of Liège (died 1145), and helped lead his successful military expedition to take Bouillon under the secular control of the bishopric. Despite the improved relationship with the bishop of Liège, in 1142, Henry and the Duke of Brabant supported Otto II, Count of Duras, in his dispute with the bishop and the citizens of Sint-Truiden.[5]

In 1147, Henry gave up the advocacy of Saint-Maximin, but he regained it on the death of

archbishop of Trier, in 1152. The new archbishop of Trier, Hillin of Falmagne, exchanged the rights over the abbeys with the town of Grevenmacher
in 1155.

Although Félix Rousseau proposed that Henry would have married an earlier wife when he came of age around 1131, there is no record of this. Between 1152 and 1159 he married Laurette (d.1175), daughter of Count

Henry III of Limburg
.

In 1171, Henry married a second time, this time to Agnes, daughter of

Henry II of Champagne.[8]
Baldwin still claimed his inheritance. It was then decided that Baldwin would inherit Namur, Ermesinde would inherit Durbuy and La Roche, and Luxembourg (fief masculin) would revert to the Empire.

The fiefs were dispensed in 1189. After the planned marriage between

Noville-sur-Mehaigne. He died two years later in Echternach
.

Dynastic connections

Selected relations of Henry and his daughter
House of Ardenne
Albert I, Count of NamurGozelon,
Duke of Lower Lotharingia		Frederic I
Duke of Upper Lotharingia		Count Sigfried
Ancestor of the Counts of Bar
Albert II, Count of NamurRegelindeCount Frederic
Henry I of DurbuyAlbert III,
Count of Namur		IdaFrederic,
Duke of Lower Lotharingia		Gilbert, Count of Luxembourg
Male line endedAncestor of Dukes of Limbourg, Counts of Arlon
Henry I of La RocheConrad, Count of Luxembourg
Male line endedGodefrid, Count of NamurErmensinde of LuxembourgMale line ended
Henry the BlindAlice
Theobald I, Count of BarErmensinde IIWaleran III, Duke of Limburg,
Count of Arlon		Cunigunda of LorraineBaldwin V
Lord of Hainaut, Flanders and Namur
Latin emperors of Constantinople

References

  1. ^ Parisse, Michel (1981), "Généalogie de la Maison d'Ardenne", La maison d'Ardenne Xe-Xie siècles. Actes des Journées Lotharingiennes, 24 – 26 oct. 1980
  2. ^ Rousseau 1921, ch.1 footnote 16.
  3. ^ a b Rousseau 1921, ch.1 footnote 17.
  4. ^ a b c Rousseau 1921, ch.1.
  5. ^ a b c Rousseau 1921, ch.2.
  6. ^ Margue 2011.
  7. ^ Rousseau 1921, ch.1 footnote 35.
  8. ^ a b c d Gilbert of Mons 2005, p. xx.
  9. ^ Rousseau 1921, ch.1 footnote 21.

Sources

Henry the Blind
House of Namur
 Died: 14 August 1196
Preceded by
Conrad II
Count of Luxembourg

1136–1196 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Count of Namur

1139–1189 		Succeeded by
Baldwin I
as Margrave
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