Namur (county)

At the beginning of the 10th century, there was the county of Lomm (Lommgau), the count of which was Count Berenguer since 907.

In 946, the county was ruled by his relative Robert I , the ancestor of the Namur House . His son Albert I (d. 1011) married Irmengard (Aleida), daughter of the Duke of Lower Lorraine Charles I. In 992, Albert received the title of Count of Namur.

His grandson Geoffrey I (1067/1068 - August 19, 1139) married Ermesind I (1075 - June 24, 1143), the heiress of Luxembourg , thanks to which their son Henry I Blind (1111/1113 - August 14, 1196) inherited after the death of Count of Luxembourg Conrad II in 1136 Luxembourg. After the death of his father in 1139, Henry inherited Namur, combining both counties. Heinrich also inherited after the death of his cousins ​​the counties of La Roche and Durbuy .

Henry only had a daughter, Ermezind II (1186 - February 12, 1247). But back in 1171, the childless then Henry appointed his nephew Count Eno Baudouin (Baldwin) V (1150 - December 17, 1195) as heir to the county. And Baudouin, after the birth of his daughter to Heinrich in 1186 , turned to Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa , who in 1189 brought Namur to Margrave and transferred it to Baudouin V de Hainaut, while Durbuy and La Roche had to inherit Ermezind, and the emperor transferred Luxembourg to the count Burgundy Otton I , but he in 1197 returned Luxembourg to Ermezinda. Henry retained the titles of Count Namur and Luxembourg until his death.

After the death of Baudouin, Namur was inherited by his second son, Philip I the Noble (1175 - October 12, 1212). After his brothers went on the Fourth Crusade , he became regent of the possessions of his older brother, Baldwin . He was later the guardian of the daughters of Baldwin, but sold the guardianship to the king of France in 1208. Before his death, the childless Philip passed Namur to the son of his sister Yolanda and Pierre II de Courtenay (who became the emperor of the Latin Empire in 1216 ), Philippe II de Courtenay (1195-1226).

After the death of Philip II, the county was to be inherited by his younger brother Robert de Courtenay , but he ceded the county to his other brother Henry II de Courtenay in exchange for the latter’s abandonment of the throne of the Latin Empire .

After the death of Henry, the rights to the county passed to their older sister Margarita de Courtenay . However, in 1237, her brother challenged her rights - Baldwin II de Courtenay , who was also the emperor of the Latin Empire at that time. However, the last emperor of the Latin Empire, Baldwin II de Courtenay, laid Namur to the king of France , as he was in dire need of money.

At the same time, Countess of Flanders Margarita II claimed Namur, whom Emperor Frederick II granted to Namur in linen in 1245 , after which a struggle broke out for Namur between the sons of Margarita from two marriages: on May 19, 1250, Guillaume II of Flanders (from his second marriage) signed with his consolidated brother Jean I d'Aven agreement on Namur, homage to which in 1249 Margarita lost to Jean, and whom Emperor William II recognized as Margrave in 1248 . But under the Perron Treaty in 1256, Jean d'Aven was forced to abandon Namur, who soon, taking advantage of the lack of strong power in the Holy Roman Empire, captured the Count of Luxembourg Heinrich Belokury (1216–1281), the son of Ermezinda II and the grandson of Count Henry I the Blind .

In 1263, Baldwin II de Courtenay sold the rights to Namur to the son of Count of Flanders Guy de Dampier (1225-1305). Guy began the war against Heinrich of Luxembourg, which ended in 1264 with the conclusion of an agreement under which Guy married Heinrich's daughter, Isabella (c. 1247-1298), and received Namur as a dowry.

After her death, Namur received Jean I , Guy's eldest son from this marriage. His descendants ruled Margrave until the death in 1429 of the grandson of Jean I, Jean III (d. 1429), who in 1421 sold the rights to Namur to the Duke of Burgundy, Philip III Good . From this moment, Namur became part of the Duchy of Burgundy .

• List of Counts and Margraves of Namur

• Pirenne A. Medieval cities of Belgium. - SPb. : Publishing group "Eurasia", 2001. - 512 p. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 5-8071-0093-X .

• Namur Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Date of treatment August 24, 2010.
• Miroslav Marek. Namurian house . GENEALOGY.EU. Date of treatment August 24, 2010. Archived March 10, 2012.
• Miroslav Marek. Flanders House GENEALOGY.EU. Date of treatment August 24, 2010. Archived March 10, 2012.
• Miroslav Marek. Courtenay House GENEALOGY.EU. Date of treatment August 24, 2010. Archived March 10, 2012.
• Miroslav Marek. House Dampier . GENEALOGY.EU. Date of treatment August 24, 2010. Archived March 10, 2012.