Ada ( – 1234/37) was

Countess Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

between 1203 and 1207, ruling jointly with her husband, Louis II of Loon. She was deposed and exiled by her paternal uncle,

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 108 ...

.Marion van Bussel,
Ada van Holland
in Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland, 13/01/2014 (in Dutch)

Family

Ada was the only surviving daughter of Count

Dirk VII of Holland Dirk VII (died 4 November 1203, in Dordrecht) was the count of Holland from 1190 to 1203. He was the elder son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon. Life Due to a civil war in the Holy Roman Empire, Emperor Henry VI had to find ways to make frie ...

and his wife Adelaide of Cleves. Huwelijk Ada van Holland met Lodewijk II met stervende Dirk VII van Holland

She succeeded her father but immediately had to deal with her uncle

William William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conq ...

, who claimed Holland for his own. Ada married Count Louis II of Loon to strengthen her position. She was in such a hurry, that she married even before her father was buried, which caused a scandal.Ada van Holland
in Inghist (English) These events led to the outbreak of the Loon War (1203–1206).

Succession struggle

Ada was quickly captured by the supporters of William and taken prisoner in the citadel of

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

. She was first imprisoned on the island of

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of ...

and afterwards she was taken to

John Lackland John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empi ...

in the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. On ...

. William had to accept Louis and Ada as count and countess at a treaty of

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Scienc ...

in 1206. Louis managed to free Ada in 1206, and the couple returned to Loon in 1207. Their reign was short-lived, since Emperor Otto IV regarded William to have more right to the title Count of Holland in 1208. She did not accept the loss of her county, and Ada and Louis continued the fight. Ada remained childless. Louis died in 1218, leaving Ada to live out the rest of her life in obscurity. She was buried next to her husband in

Herkenrode Abbey Herkenrode Abbey ( li, Abdij van Herkenrode) was a Catholic monastery of Cistercian nuns located in Kuringen, part of the municipality of Hasselt, which lies in the province of Limburg, Belgium. Since 1972 some of the surviving buildings have se ...

. The civil war in Holland became part of a major international war between on one side

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

and the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...

dynasty and on the other side England and the

Welfs The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meus ...

. William could get Holland through good maneuvering between both sides. Louis and Ada had to give up their claims. Many period histories up to the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

do not include her in the list of rulers of Holland.

Family

Succession struggle

References

Further reading