Mechtild of Nassau, german ''Mechthild von Nassau'', (before 1280 – 19 June 1323) was the youngest child of

Adolf, King of the Romans Adolf (c. 1255 – 2 July 1298) was the count of Nassau from about 1276 and the elected king of Germany from 1292 until his deposition by the prince-electors in 1298. He was never crowned by the pope, which would have secured him the imperial ...

and his wife

Imagina of Isenburg-Limburg Imagina of Isenburg-Limburg (ca. 1255 – 29 September 1313?) was the Queen consort of Adolf of Nassau, King of Germany. Life Imagina was born in about 1255 (probably in Limburg an der Lahn) to Gerlach I of Limburg and Imagina of Blieskastel. ...

. Mechtild is also known as ''Matilda of Nassau''. She was

Duchess consort of Bavaria There have been three kinds of Bavarian consorts in history, Duchesses, Electresses and Queens. Most consorts listed are Duchesses. The first ever consort of Bavaria was Waldrada in the 6th century. The final consort was Maria Theresia of Austri ...

, by her marriage to Rudolf I, Duke of Upper Bavaria.

Family

Mechtild was the youngest of eight children, however only Mechtild and three other siblings lived to adulthood:

Gerlach I of Nassau-Wiesbaden Gerlach I of Nassau (1271 – 7 January 1361), Count of Nassau in Wiesbaden, Idstein, Weilburg, and Weilnau. He was a son of Adolf of Nassau, elected King of the Romans, and Imagina of Isenburg-Limburg. Family and children He was married t ...

Walram III of Nassau-Wiesbaden Waleran, Galeran, or Walram is a Germanic first name, common in the Middle Ages, that may refer to: People *Waleran I of Limburg (died 1082) *Waleran the Hunter (fl. 1086) *Walram (bishop of Naumburg) (r. 1091–1111) *Waleran of Le Puiset (died 11 ...

and Adelheid, Abbess of

Klarenthal Abbey Klarenthal Abbey (''Kloster Klarenthal'' in German) is a former convent of the Order of Poor Ladies in the borough of Klarenthal in Wiesbaden, Germany. Klarenthal is the only abbey in present-day Wiesbaden. History as an active monastery Klarent ...

. Rudolf succeeded his father in 1294 and supported his father-in-law king

Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg Adolf (c. 1255 – 2 July 1298) was the count of Nassau from about 1276 and the elected king of Germany from 1292 until his deposition by the prince-electors in 1298. He was never crowned by the pope, which would have secured him the imperial ...

against his uncle, the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

Albert of Austria. After Adolf’s death Rudolf joined Albert’s party but the strong dynastic policy of the new king caused a new conflict. Rudolf's mother,

Matilda of Habsburg Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse * Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...

acted as regent for her son Rudolf as well as her other son, the future

Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV (german: Ludwig; 1 April 1282 – 11 October 1347), called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328. Louis' election as king of Germany in ...

. A civil war against Louis due to new disputes on the partition of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

was ended in 1313, when peace was made at Munich. Rudolf died in 1319, in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor had taken the Palatinate by force of arms. In August 1322, the war finally came to an end, but only after Mechtild's death in June 1323, when the three brothers finally were able to make peace with their uncle. Louis' sons inherited Bavaria and Rudolf and Mechtild's sons inherited the Upper Palatinate and the Palatinate in line with the

Treaty of Pavia (1329) The Treaty of Pavia which divided the House of Wittelsbach into two branches, was signed in Pavia in 1329. Under the accord, Emperor Louis IV granted during his stay in Italy the Electorate of the Palatinate (including the Bavarian Upper Pal ...

. Metchild died 19 June 1323 in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. She was buried at Klarenthal Abbey.

Marriage

She married in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

1 September 1294

Rudolf I, Duke of Bavaria Rudolf I of Bavaria, called "the Stammerer" (german: link=no, Rudolf der Stammler; 4 October 1274 – 12 August 1319), a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty, was Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1294 until 1317. Life R ...

John I of Isenburg-Limburg John I of Isenburg-Limburg, "The blind Lord" (died September 29, 1312) was from 1289 Count of (Isenburg-) Limburg and the head of the House of Limburg. The core territory of the Lordship of Limburg consisted of the city of Limburg an der Lahn and ...

helped make the final agreement. Mechtild and Rudolf had: # Ludwig (1297 – before 5 April 1311) #

Adolf, Count Palatine of the Rhine Adolf of the Rhine (german: Adolf der Redliche von der Pfalz) (27 September 1300, Wolfratshausen – 29 January 1327, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Neustadt) from the house of Wittelsbach was formally Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1319 to 1327 ...

(27 September 1300,

Wolfratshausen Wolfratshausen () is a town of the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, located in Bavaria, Germany. The town had a population of 19,033 as of 31 December 2019. History The first mention of "Wolveradeshusun" appears in documents from the year ...

– 29 January 1327) # Rudolf II the Blind (8 August 1306, Wolfratshausen – 4 October 1353, Neustadt) # Rupert I the Red (9 June 1309, Wolfratshausen – 16 February 1390) # Mathilde (1312 – 25 November 1375), married 1330/1 to Count

John III of Sponheim Johann III, Count of Sponheim-Starkenburg, the Older (b. ca. 1315 – d. 30 December 1398), reigned over the County of Sponheim for 67 years. He also received many epithets such as "the Noble" and, because of his declining vision, "the Blind". Li ...

# Anna (1318–1319).

Ancestors

References

Sources

* * {{Authority control 1323 deaths 14th-century German women House of Nassau-Weilburg Year of birth uncertain