Godfrey III, Count of Louvain

Godfrey III
Duke of Lower Lorraine
Landgrave of Brabant
Count of Louvain
Count of Brussels
Spouse(s) Marguerite of Limbourg
Imagina of Looz

Issue

Titles and styles

The Duke of Lower Lorraine
The Landgrave of Brabant
The Count of Louvain and Brussels
Noble family House of Reginar
Father Godfrey II, Count of Louvain
Mother Luitgarde of Sulzbach
Born ca. 1142
Died 21 August 1190

Godfrey III (1142 – died 21 August 1190) was count of Louvain (or Leuven), landgrave of Brabant, margrave of Antwerp, and duke of Lower Lorraine (as Godfrey VIII) from 1142 to his death.

Origins

He was the son of Godfrey II and Lutgarde of Sulzbach.[1] He was still an infant at his succession (therefore called dux in cunis) of which a few Brabantian vassals sought to take advantage to become independent of the duke (Wars of Grimbergen, 1141–1159).

Career

On 30 March 1147, Godfrey was present at the coronation of Henry Berengar, son of Conrad III of Germany, in Aachen. When Conrad left on Crusade, war began anew in 1148. Peace was elusive until the election of Conrad's successor, Frederick Barbarossa. By marriage to Margaret, daughter of Henry II of Limburg, Godfrey united two powerful and antagonistic houses in the region. Their son was Henry I, Duke of Brabant.

In 1159 Godfrey ended the war with the Berthout, lords of Grimbergen, by burning their impressive motte at Grimbergen. In 1171, Godfrey was at war with Hainaut, but was defeated. In 1172, he bought the County of Aarschot from its wayward count Godfried III, which in future generations would give rise to the dynasty of the Dukes of Aarschot that remain to this day. In 1179, he gave his son Henry in marriage to a niece of Philip of Alsace, Count of Flanders.

Between 1182 and 1184 Godfrey went on a Jerusalem campaign. In the interim, Barbarossa granted Henry the title "Duke of Brabant". Godfrey died in 1190, on 10 or 21 August. He left an increased territory and built the fortress of Nedelaer (near Vilvoorde). The ducal title was transmitted to his son at the Diet of Schwäbisch Hall (September 1190).

Marriages & progeny

Godfrey married twice:

Ancestry

Sources

  1. Frans Theuws and Nico Roymans, Land and Ancestors: Cultural Dynamics in the Urnfield Period and the Middle Ages in the Southern Netherlands, (Amsterdam University Press, 1999), 331.
  2. 1 2 Cawley, Charles, Brabant and Louvain, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, at Medieval Lands
  3. Raymond H. Schmandt, The Election and Assassination of Albert of Louvain, Bishop of Liège, 1191-92, Speculum, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Oct., 1967), pp. 639-660, JSTOR
  4. Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960, p.130, Little Easton
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Godfrey II
Duke of Lower Lorraine
1142–1190
Succeeded by
Henry I, Duke of Brabant

as Duke of Lothier

Preceded by
Godfrey II
Margrave of Antwerp
11421190
Succeeded by
title merged with

Duke of Lothier

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