Count of Holland

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The Counts of Holland ruled over the county of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.

House of Holland

The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Count Gerulf II of Frisia (Dijkstra suggests that Dirk may have been the son of a sister of Gerulf and that his own father died while he was still an infant). He received land around Egmond from Charles the Fat at a place called Bladella (modern day Bladel near Eindhoven, The Netherlands) in 922. This is seen as the beginning of the county of Holland. However, until about 1100, the usual names for the county were West-Friesland, Frisia or Kennemerland; despite this the counts from Dirk I onwards are named of Holland.

Note that the chronology of the first counts is uncertain. The existence of a count between Dirk I and Dirk II was only discovered in recent research.

Gerulf (r. 880 – 896)
Dirk I (r. 896 – 931)
Dirk I bis (r. 931 - 939), son of Dirk I
Dirk II (r. 939 – 988), son of Dirk I bis
Arnulf I (r. 988 – 993), son of Dirk II
Dirk III Hierosolymita (r. 993 – 1039), son of Arnulf I
Dirk IV (r. 1039 – 1049), son of Dirk III
Floris I (r. 1049 – 1061), brother of Dirk IV

Gertrude of Saxony (regent), widow of Floris I
Robert the Frisian (regent), second husband of Gertrude
Godfrey the Hunchback, Duke of Lower Lorraine (regent)

Dirk V (r. 1061 – 1091), son of Floris I
Floris II the Fat (r. 1091 – 1121), first to be called 'Count of Holland', son of Dirk V
Dirk VI (r. 1121 – 1157), son of Floris II
Floris III (r. 1157 – 1190), son of Dirk VI
Dirk VII (r. 1190 – 1203), son of Floris III
Ada I (r. 1203 - 1207), daughter of Dirk VII

Louis II of Loon (r. 1203 - 1207), husband of Ada

William I (r. 1203 – 1222), brother of Dirk VII
Floris IV (r. 1222 – 1234), son of William I
William II (r. 1234 – 1256), King of Germany, son of Floris IV
Floris V the Peasants' God (r. 1256 – 1296), son of William II

Wolfert van Borselen (r. 1296 - 1299, regent)

John I (r. 1296 – 1299), son of Floris V

House of Avesnes

When John I died childless, the county was inherited by John II of Avesnes, count of Hainaut from 1298. John of Avesnes was a son of Adelaide of Holland, sister of William II of Holland.

John II (r. 1299 - 1304), grandson of Floris IV
William III (r. 1304 - 1337), son of John II
William IV the Bold (r. 1337 - 1345), son of William III
Margaret I (r. 1345 - 1354), daughter of William III

House of Wittelsbach

During the rule of Margaret, her son William V had the real power in the county. He became ruler in his own right as a result of the Hook and Cod wars. He was also Duke William I of Bavaria-Straubing.

Louis the Bavarian (r. 1345 –1347), husband of Margaret
William V (r. 1354–1388), son of Louis and Margaret
Albert I (r. 1388–1404), brother of William V
William VI (r. 1404–1417), son of Albert
Jacqueline (r. 1417–1432), daughter of William VI

John III the Pitiless (r. 1417–1425), Duke of Bavaria-Straubing, brother of William VI, rival of Jacqueline
John IV (House of Leuven) (r. 1418–1427), Duke of Brabant, cousin and husband of Jacqueline
Humphrey (House of Lancaster) (r. 1422–1425), Duke of Gloucester, husband of Jacqueline
Francis of Borselen (r. 1432), husband of Jacqueline

There was a war of succession between John and Jacqueline. This war was won by Philip of Burgundy, who had inherited John's claims on the county. Philip was a nephew of William VI, who had married a daughter of Philip the Bold of Burgundy. In 1432 he forced Jacqueline to abdicate from Hainaut and Holland on his behalf.

House of Valois

Philip I the Good (r. 1432-1467), grandson of Albert I
Charles I the Bold (r. 1467-1477), son of Philip I
Mary I the Rich (r. 1477-1482), daughter of Charles I

House of Habsburg

Maximilian (r. 1482-1494, regent), Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, husband of Mary I
Philip II the Handsome (r. 1494-1506), King Philip I of Castile
Charles II (r. 1515-1555), Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, King of Spain
Philip III (r. 1555-1581, 1581-1598 titular only), King Philip II of Spain

During the 'foreign rule' by Burgundy and Habsburg, the county was governed by a stadtholder in name of the count. In 1581, the Estates General of the United Provinces declared themselves independent from the Spanish rule of Philip II (who was Philip III of Holland). Until the Treaty of Münster in 1648, the kings of Spain used the title Count of Holland, but they had lost the actual power over the county to the States of Holland.

Philip IV (1598 - 1621, titular only), King Philip III of Spain
Philip V (1621 - 1648, titular only, renounced 1648), King Philip IV of Spain

References

B.K.S. Dijkstra, Een stamboom in been, Amsterdam 1991.
Counts of Holland