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Willem II, Count of Holland
1234-1256, Emperor-Elect, (1227-1256)
Born 19 July 1227 / 3 October 1227 Leiden
Died 28 January 1256 Hoogwoud (in battle)
Married 25 January 1252 Braunschweig
Duchess Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lueneburg,
daughter of Otto I "das Kind", Duke of Brunswick-Lueneburg 1235-1252
and Matilde von Brandenburg
Born circa 1229
Died 27 May 1266
Child by (a) NN
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Willem II was only seven years old when he became Count of Holland.
At first his two uncles, Otto and Willem, acted as regent. However, Otto
became Elect of Utrecht in 1233 while Willem was killed in a tournament
in 1238, so from then on it was his mother, Machteld, who acted as his
regent.
Aged only twenty, he became Emperor Elect, first on 3 October 1247
and again on 25 March 1252; but it was only after the death of Konrad IV
in 1254 that he was generally accepted. In 1252 he married Elisabeth of
Brunswick and they became the parents of two children. In December 1255
they were in Worms when Elisabeth, on an outing to the
castle Trifels near Speyer, was abducted by the robber baron Herman
von Rietberg who, after a high ransom was paid, released her.
In February 1255 he placed himself at the head of the 'Rheinische Staedtebund'.
However, before he could be crowned Emperor he was killed, on 28 January
1256 near Hoogwoud, in a minor battle against the West Friesians. It took
until 1284 before his body was recovered
and then buried in the Abbey Church of Middelburg.
Source: Leo van de Pas |
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