Henry V the Blondell (1216 – 24 December 1281), called the Great, was the Count of

Arlon Arlon (; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Luxembourg (Belgium), province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. With a population of just over 28,000, it ...

from 1226 to his death, Lord of Ligny from 1240 to his death,

Count of Luxembourg The territory of Luxembourg has been ruled successively by counts, dukes and grand dukes. It was part of the medieval Kingdom of Germany, and later the Holy Roman Empire until it became a sovereignty, sovereign state in 1815. Counts of Luxembourg ...

and Laroche from 1247 to his death, and the

Marquis of Namur The County of Namur () was a county of the Holy Roman Empire with its military and administrative capital at the town of Namur (city), Namur, at the merging of the Sambre and Meuse rivers in what is now Wallonia, French-speaking Belgium. Under t ...

between 1256 and 1264 as Henry III. He was the son and successor of Waleran III, Duke of Limburg and Ermesinde, Countess of Luxembourg.

Reign

In 1226, following the death of his father Waleran III, Henry inherited the county of Arlon. In 1240 Henry married

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

, daughter of Henry II of Bar and Philippa of Dreux. Henry's marriage to Margaret brought him Ligny-en-Barrois as her

dowry A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...

, though, by a clause in the marriage contract, it remained under the feudal suzerainty of the

County of Bar A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

. In contempt of this, Henry paid homage in 1256 to King

Theobald II of Navarre Theobald II (6/7 December 1239 – 4/5 December 1270) was King of Navarre and also, as Theobald V, Count of Champagne and Brie (region), Brie, from 1253 until his death. He was the son and successor of Theobald I of Navarre, Theobald I and the s ...

in the latter's capacity as

Count of Champagne The count of Champagne was the ruler of the County of Champagne from 950 to 1316. Champagne evolved from the County of Troyes in the late eleventh century and Hugh I was the first to officially use the title count of Champagne. Count Theobal ...

. Henry's brother-in-law Count

Theobald II of Bar Theobald II (1221– October 1291) was a count of Bar. He was the son of Henry II of Bar and Philippa of Dreux. He became count of Bar when his father was killed during the Barons' Crusade in 1239, but news of Henry's death did not reach hi ...

took advantage of the conflict then raging between Duke Frederick III of Lorraine and the bishops of Metz. Henry V was a partisan of the duke and so Theobald took the side of the bishop. Henry was captured in battle at Prény on 14 September 1266. On 8 September 1268, King

Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), also known as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. He is widely recognized as the most distinguished of the Direct Capetians. Following the death of his father, Louis VI ...

arbitrated between the two counts and Henry was freed and repossessed of Ligny, but under the suzerainty of the Barrois. Henry inherited Luxembourg and Laroche following the death of his mother, Ermesinde, in 1247. In 1256, Henry seized Namur while the reigning margrave, Baldwin II, was also reigning

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. Baldwin sold his rights to Namur to

Guy, Count of Flanders Guy of Dampierre (; ) ( – 7 March 1305, Compiègne) was the Count of Flanders (1251–1305) and List of rulers of Namur, Marquis of Namur (1264–1305). He was a prisoner of the French when his Flemings defeated the latter at the Battle of ...

, who retook the margraviate from Henry. The two parties made peace and Guy married Henry's daughter,

Isabelle Isabel is a female name of Iberian origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of '' Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheba''). Arising in the 12th century, it became popul ...

. Upon receiving 15,000 '' tournois'' from the Pope, Henry joined Edward of England on the

Ninth Crusade Lord Edward's Crusade, sometimes called the Ninth Crusade, was a military expedition to the Holy Land under the command of Edward I of England, Prince Edward Longshanks (later king as Edward I) in 1271 – 1272. In practice an extension of t ...

. He returned with his remaining retainers after the crusaders achieved a truce with the

Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks ...

Issue

From Margaret he had the following issue: * Henry VI (died 1288), Count of Luxembourg * Waleran I (died 1288), Count of Ligny & Roussy. He is the forefather and founder of what became the French branch of the

House of Luxembourg The House of Luxembourg (; ; ) or Luxembourg dynasty was a royal family of the Holy Roman Empire in the Late Middle Ages, whose members between 1308 and 1437 ruled as kings of Germany and Holy Roman emperors as well as kings of Bohemia, List of r ...

, the so-called house of ''Luxembourg-Ligny''. *

(1247–1298), married Guy of Dampierre *

Philippa Philippa is a feminine given name meaning "lover of horses" or "horses' friend", from the Greek Philippos, which is derived from ''philein'', meaning to love and ''hippos'', meaning ''horse''. The English masculine form is Philip, which was form ...

(1252–1311), married John II, Count of Holland *Marguerite (lady of Macheren), living 1302 *Felicitas *Jeanne (died 1310), Abbess at the Abbey of Clairefontaine He also had at least two illegitimate sons, including: *Henry, bastard of Luxembourg (died 1288), married Isabelle of

Houffalize Houffalize (; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium.Sven Vrielinck: De territoriale indeling van België 1795-1963 Volume 1. Universitaire Pers Leuven 2000. page 48. On 1 January 2007 the munic ...

, heiress of Houffalize *Baldwin All of his sons perished in the

Battle of Worringen The Battle of Worringen was fought on 5 June 1288 near the town of Worringen (also spelled Woeringen), which is now part of Chorweiler, the northernmost borough (Stadtbezirk) of Cologne. It was the decisive battle of the War of the Limburg Succe ...

in 1288.

Notes

References

* * * * 1216 births 1281 deaths 13th-century Luxembourgian people 13th-century monarchs of Luxembourg 13th-century margraves of Namur House of Luxembourg Counts of Luxembourg House of Limburg Counts of Arlon Christians of Lord Edward's crusade 13th-century counts in Europe {{Germany-count-stub