Aleid of Poelgeest (

Koudekerk aan den Rijn Koudekerk aan den Rijn (English: ''Cold Church upon Rhine'') is a village located in the List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands. It is located about 4 km west of the urban centre, in the Pro ...

, c. 1370 -

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, September 22, 1392) was the

mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a ...

of the Count of Holland, Albert I of Bavaria.DVN, een project van Huygens ING en OGC (UU). Bronvermelding: Dimphéna Groffen, Poelgeest, Aleid van, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Poelgeest, Aleid van 3/01/2014/ref>

Life

Aleid van Poelgeest was the daughter of the court official Jan van Poelgeest and Aleid van Beest Gerbrandsdr. She is traditionally assumed to have served as a maid-of-honour to the spouse of Albert,

Margaret of Brieg Margaret of Brieg (1342–1386) was a daughter of Ludwik I the Fair and his wife, Agnes of Sagan. She was Duchess consort of Bavaria by her marriage to Albert I, Duke of Bavaria. Family Margaret was the eldest of six siblings, her brother was ...

, prior to becoming his mistress. She never married. van Poelgeest is noted to have been present at court at least since 1386. In June 1388, Albert gave her an allowance, her own house and maids and installed her as his official mistress. It was noted that she followed him around on his journeys in his domains. She was reputed to have had great influence over Albert, but whether this was true is unconfirmed. She was murdered along with the "Meesterknaap" (a high court dignitary), William Cuser in The Hague by

Hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

nobles. Why exactly Aleid was killed, is not certain. Albrecht saw the murder as a personal attack on his authority and used this event to settle some scores with a number of political opponents.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poelgeest, van Aleid People murdered in the Netherlands Medieval Dutch women Mistresses of German royalty 14th-century women of the Holy Roman Empire