Guy van Avennes (also spelt as Guy van Avesnes; Dutch Gwijde van Avesnes) (c. 1253 – 23 May 1317,
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
) was
Bishop of Utrecht
List of bishops and archbishops of the diocese and archdioceses of Utrecht.
Medieval diocese from 695 to 1580
Founders of the Utrecht diocese
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from 1301 to 1317.
Family
He was descended from an important
Hainaut family, the
House of Avesnes
The Avesnes family played an important role during the Middle Ages. The family has its roots in the small village Avesnes-sur-Helpe, in the north of France.
One branch produced a number of Counts of Holland during the 13th century. The family di ...
. He was the brother of
John II John II may refer to:
People
* John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (1455–1499)
* John II Casimir Vasa of Poland (1609–1672)
* John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (died 1302)
* John II Doukas of Thessaly (1303–1318)
* John II Komnenos (1087–1 ...
,
Count of Hainaut
The Count of Hainaut (; ; ) was the ruler of the county of Hainaut, a historical region in the Low Countries (including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany). In English-la ...
and
Count of Holland
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 Gerolf, Count in Frisia (Dijkstra suggests th ...
, and their parents were
John I of Avesnes
John of Avesnes (1 May 1218 – 24 December 1257) was the count of Hainaut from 1246 to his death.
Life
Born in Houffalize, John was the eldest son of Margaret II of Flanders by her first husband, Bouchard IV of Avesnes. As the marriage of Marg ...
and
Adelaide of Holland.
Life
It was John II who ensured Guy's appointment as bishop of Utrecht in 1301, instead of
Adolf II van Waldeck, and he was consecrated bishop by the
archbishop of Cologne
The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop governing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and is also a historical state in the Rhine holding the birthplace of Beethoven and northern Rhineland-Palati ...
in 1302, the following year. He brought about a reconciliation between the Lichtenbergers and the Fresingen. However, in 1304 he weakened his brother John's position by leading an offensive of Flemish troops which then occupied Holland and
the Sticht. Guy was then captured at the
Battle of Duiveland on 20 March 1304. In Guy's absence, the Fresingen seized power in Utrecht with the support of the guilds, whose privileges they fixed in the "Gildenbrief" of 9 May 1304. On 14 September 1305, the guilds' regime had to capitulate to bishop Guy (who had been released), but from then on the city retained a high degree of autonomy. However, it took until 1309 before the king fully recognised the bishop as Utrecht's secular lord.
In 1311, Guy took his place at the first
Council of Vienne
The Council of Vienne was the fifteenth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church and met between 1311 and 1312 in Vienne, France. One of its principal acts was to withdraw papal support for the Knights Templar at the instigation of Phili ...
, and from that date on he was frequently abroad. He knew well that a compromise had to be made between the various parties in the Sticht and in Utrecht itself, and so took up a middle-of-the-road position. He personally managed the possessions of the lordships of
Aemstel and of
Woerden
Woerden () is a city and a municipality in central Netherlands. Due to its central location between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, and the fact that it has rail and road connections to those cities, it is a popular town for commu ...
, and as such granted
town privileges
Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...
to
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
in 1306. After his death these lordships definitively devolved to the count of Holland. He was buried in
Utrecht Cathedral and his tomb, damaged during the iconoclasm in the 16th century, still survives.
Guy had two daughters, Aleid (who married
Otto van Asperen van Heuckelom
Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity".
The name is recorded f ...
) and Maria (who married
Arnold, Lord of IJsselstein
Arnold, Lord of IJsselstein (also known as ''Arnoud'', 1304 – 12 February 1363) was the second Lord of IJsselstein and Stoutenburg and Schout of Amersfoort and the Eem Valley.
Life
He was a son of Gijsbrecht, Lord of IJsselstein and Bert ...
).
Bibliography
* G.C. van Nieuwenhuizen: ''Gwijde van Avesnes, Bisschop van Utrecht 1301-1317''; scriptie RUU (1976)
* G. van der Zee: ''Vaderlandsche Kerkgeschiedenis''; Kampen (1936)
{{Authority control
Avesnes family
Prince-Bishops of Utrecht
1253 births
1317 deaths
Burials at St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht
14th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Holy Roman Empire