John of Arkel or Jan van Arkel (1314 – 1 July 1378 in
Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
) was a
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 1342 to 1364 and
Prince-Bishop of Liège from 1364 to 1378.
John was the son of John III, lord of Arkel, and his second wife Kunigonda of Virneburg. After the death of Bishop
John of Diest in 1340 there was a problem with the succession. The chapters had elected John of Bronkhorst, but
Pope Benedict XII
Pope Benedict XII ( la, Benedictus XII, french: Benoît XII; 1285 – 25 April 1342), born Jacques Fournier, was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1334 to his death in April 1342. He was the third Avignon pope. Benedict was a careful p ...
had appointed
Nicola Capocci
Nicola Capocci (died 1368) was an Italian Cardinal.
He studied law at the University of Perugia; later, in 1362, he founded there the Collegium Gregorianum (later called the Sapienza vecchia).
He was proposed as bishop of Utrecht in 1341, but t ...
. This was not accepted by the chapters, and Nicola was forced to withdraw. The eventual appointment of John of Arkel as bishop was due to the influence of Count
William IV of Holland
William II (1307 – 26 September 1345) was Count of Hainaut from 1337 until his death. He was also Count of Holland (as William IV) and Count of Zeeland. He succeeded his father, Count William I of Hainaut. While away fighting in Prussia, the Fr ...
.
His predecessor had left the
Sticht
The term Prince of the Church is today used nearly exclusively for Catholic cardinals. However, the term is historically more important as a generic term for clergymen whose offices hold the secular rank and privilege of a prince (in the widest s ...
as a semi-protectorate of
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 ...
, and the reign of Jan van Arkel was aimed at removing its dependence on Holland. In this he was very successful, and he also straightened out the bishopric's finances. He was supported in these actions by the city of Utrecht, which understood that without a strong central authority, the minor nobility had
free rein, which had resulted in the appearance of
robber barons and
pirates
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
. The city decided to act independently of Holland, and signed an alliance with the bishop in 1344.
John of Arkel, who had moved to
Grenoble in 1343 to save the costs of a household, was called back by his brother and deputy Robert of Arkel in 1345, when Count William IV of Holland decided to deal with the wayward city of Utrecht by sending a large force, besieging the city on 8 July. After eight weeks of siege, Utrecht was forced to recognise the authority of the
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 ...
. However, the count was killed two months later, at which the
Hook and Cod wars erupted in Holland. Soon the
Duchy of Gelderland also became involved in the war, which meant that the Bishopric of Utrecht was left alone for a while.
As a result of the distraction of its neighbouring counties, the position of the diocese became stronger, and new measures against Holland became possible. With support from Utrecht, the Holland towns of
Eemnes
Eemnes () is a municipality and a village in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht.
The town of Eemnes
Eemnes formerly consisted of two villages, Eemnes-Binnen ("Inner Eemnes") and Eemnes-Buiten ("Outer Eemnes"). These names referred to t ...
and
IJsselstein were attacked in 1346, and in 1348 the bishop clashed with both Holland and Gelre. All of these actions cost John more than he could pay, and thus he came into trouble. He loaned the entire
Oversticht
Overijssel (, ; nds, Oaveriessel ; german: Oberyssel) is a province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name translates to "across the IJssel", from the perspective of the Episcopal principality of Utr ...
, except for
Vollenhove, to Frederick Eese, who had helped him defeat the
Zutphen bannerlord Gijsbrecht of Bronkhorst, in order to pay him off. The following year both Vollenhove and the
Nedersticht were also given away in loan. Moreover, the Pope sent a mandate to seize John's goods, because he had not paid the ''Serviti'', or papal confirmation tax.
John withdrew to Grenoble again, but in 1351 he returned and regained his position and restored his authority in the diocese. He again acted against the robber barons, and he captured several strategically located castles in Utrecht. Stability within the city was restored by the expulsion of the pro-Holland party of the
Gunterlingen. After a final campaign against Holland in 1355–1356, a preliminary peace was signed.
The bishopric was then in a better position than it had been for a long time. The diocese had removed itself from the influence of the count of Holland, and the robber barons had been pacified. However, one of the results was that the city of Utrecht had gained more power in exchange for financial support of John's military operations, which made the city of Utrecht more and more independent.
In 1364, John of Arkel was moved to the Bishopric of Liège by
Pope Urban V. Because of the power of the guilds in Liege, he had less power than in Utrecht, though he annexed the
County of Loon in 1366. In 1373 he was forced to set up the Tribunal of the XXII. This was a sovereign decision-making court that defended citizens against any unlawful action of the episcopal officials. It previously had a short-lived existence during the reign of
Adolph II de la Marck.
After his death, John of Arkel was buried in the
Cathedral of Utrecht. Following 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 ...
, parts of his tomb were incorporated in a fence that seals off a chapel named after him.
Because members of the house of Arkel generally had the same name, John, it can be easy to confuse them. Therefore, the bishop John of Arkel is generally referred to as just John, while his namesake family members usually have numerals behind their name to identify them (for example, his father was known as John III of Arkel).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:John Of Arkel (Bishop)
Prince-Bishops of Utrecht
John
1314 births
1378 deaths
Burials at St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht
14th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Holy Roman Empire