John III (died 10 March 1429) was between 1418 and 1429 the last independent

Marquis of Namur Namur ( nl, Namen) was a county of the Carolingian and later Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, a region in northwestern Europe. Its territories largely correspond with the present-day Belgian arrondissement Namur plus the northwestern part ...

. He was the youngest son of

William I, Marquis of Namur William I (1324 – 1 October 1391), also called the Rich, was Count of Namur from 1337 until his death. Life He was the fifth son of John I, Marquis of Namur, and Marie of Artois. Because his four elder brothers all died childless between 13 ...

and Catherine of Savoy († 1388), daughter of

Louis II of Savoy Louis II (1283×94 – 1348×49), son of Louis I of Vaud of the House of Savoy, was the Baron of Vaud from 1302 until his death. A military man, he fought widely in Italy and, during the first phase of the Hundred Years' War, in France. As a dipl ...

, baron of Vaud, and Isabella of Châlon.
When his father died in 1391, he inherited

Wijnendale Wijnendale is a village located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. It belongs to the municipality of Torhout. Wijnendale is situated at 4 km from the city center of Torhout, halfway in between this city center and Ichtegem. The villag ...

J. Borgnet - S. Bormans (edd. annott.), ''Cartulaire de la commune de Namur'', II, Namur, 1873, nr. 113, p
178
and

Ronse Ronse (; french: Renaix, ) is a Belgian city and a municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality only encompasses the city of Ronse proper. History Early settlements to 14th century The hills around Ronse show clu ...

. He succeeded his elder brother William II as Marquis of Namur, when William died without children in 1418. John never married, but had an illegitimate son with his cousin Cécile of Savoy: Philip of Namur, seigneur de Dhuy (died 1449).C. Piot, art. Jean III, in ''Biographie Nationale'' 10 (1889), col
311
John III lead a very luxurious life, and he had to raise taxes to finance his expenses. This led to revolts and high debts, which forced John to sell his County to

Philip the Good Philip III (french: Philippe le Bon; nl, Filips de Goede; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonge ...

Duke of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy (french: duc de Bourgogne) was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by France in 1477, and later by Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of Spain from the House of Habsburg ...

(23 April 1421) for 30.000 golden crowns and the clause that he could benefit from the

usufruct Usufruct () is a limited real right (or ''in rem'' right) found in civil-law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of ''usus'' and ''fructus'': * ''Usus'' (''use'') is the right to use or enjoy a thing possessed, directl ...

of his former county. Philip the Good incorporated Namur into the

Burgundian Netherlands In the history of the Low Countries, the Burgundian Netherlands (french: Pays-Bas bourguignons, nl, Bourgondische Nederlanden, lb, Burgundeschen Nidderlanden, wa, Bas Payis borguignons) or the Burgundian Age is the period between 1384 and ...

, thus ending the existence of an independent County of Namur.

Notes

References

* C. Piot, art. Jean III, in ''Biographie Nationale'' 10 (1889), coll
309-
https://archive.org/stream/biographienation10acad#page/157/mode/2up 311]. {{DEFAULTSORT:John 03, Marquis of Namur 1429 deaths Margraves of Namur Year of birth unknown