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William II (February 1227 – 28 January 1256) was 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 ...
and
Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...
from 1234 until his death. He was elected anti-king of
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
in 1248 and ruled as sole king from 1254 onwards.


Early life

William was the eldest son and heir of Count Floris IV of Holland and Matilda of Brabant.M. A. Pollock, Scotland, ''England and France After the Loss of Normandy, 1204-1296'', (The Boydell Press, 2015), xv. When his father was killed at a tournament at
Corbie Corbie (; nl, Korbei) is a commune of the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography The small town is situated up river from Amiens, in the département of Somme and is the main town of the canton of Corbie. It lies i ...
, William was only seven years old. His paternal uncles William and
Otto 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 recorde ...
, bishop of Utrecht, were his guardians until 1239.


Kingship

With the help of his maternal uncle Duke Henry II of Brabant and the
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden, William was elected
king of Germany This is a list of monarchs who ruled over East Francia, and the Kingdom of Germany (''Regnum Teutonicum''), from the division of the Frankish Empire in 843 and the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 until the collapse of the German Emp ...
after
Emperor Frederick II Frederick II ( German: ''Friedrich''; Italian: ''Federico''; Latin: ''Federicus''; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Je ...
was excommunicated by
Pope Innocent IV Pope Innocent IV ( la, Innocentius IV; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254. Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universitie ...
. He succeeded Landgrave Henry Raspe of Thuringia who had died within a year after his election as anti-king in 1246. The next year, William decided to extend his father's hunting residence to a palace which met his new status. This would later be called the Binnenhof (''Inner Court'') and was the beginning of the city of
The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...
. Meanwhile, after a siege of five months, William besieged Aachen for six months before capturing it from Frederick's followers. Only then could he be crowned as king by Archbishop Konrad of Cologne. He gained a certain amount of theoretical support from some of the German princes after his marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of the Welf duke Otto of Brunswick-Lüneburg, on 25 January 1252. He was elected as King of the Romans a second time on 25 March 1252 at Brunswick. The electors were the Archbishops of Cologne, Mainz and Trier, the Margrave of Brandenburg and the Duke of Saxony. The Count Palatine, who was also Duke of Bavaria, was excluded from taking part in the election on the ground that, as a supporter of Conrad IV, he was under sentence of excommunication. After the election, the King of Bohemia sent ambassadors conveying his consent to it. However, although "William lacked neither courage nor chivalrous qualities... his power never extended beyond the Rhineland." In his home county, William fought with Countess Margaret II of Flanders for control of Zeeland. As king of Germany, he made himself count of Zeeland. In July 1253, he defeated the Flemish army at Westkapelle (in modern-day
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
) and a year later a cease-fire followed. His anti-Flemish policy worsened his relationship with
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
. From 1254 to his death he fought a number of wars against the
West Frisians The West Frisians or, more precisely, the Westlauwers Frisians ( nl, Friezen or Westerlauwerse Friezen, fy, Friezen or Westerlauwerske Friezen), are those Frisian peoples in that part of Frisia administered by the Netherlands: the Province of ...
. He built some strong castles in
Heemskerk Heemskerk () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is located in the Kennemerland region. Local government As of March 2022, the municipal council of Heemskerk consists of 25 seats, which are divid ...
and Haarlem and created roads for the war against the Frisians. William gave city rights to Haarlem,
Delft Delft () is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, and The Hague, to the northwest. Together with them, it is part of both the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan ...
, 's-Gravenzande and
Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...
. According to the '' Annales Wormatienses'', on 10 November 1255 William "eliminated the rights of citizens who are called Pfahlbürger so that among other restrictions, none of the cities were permitted to have them or receive them"; a later scribe added a gloss to clarify that the ''
Pfahlburger ''Ausburger'' and ''Pfahlburger'' (sometimes ''Ausbürger'' and ''Pfahlbürger'') were two classes of men in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages. An ''Ausburger'' (external citizen or "outburgher") was a citizen of an imperial free city ...
''s "were citizens who were not resident in the city".


Marriage and issue

William married
Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1230 – 27 May 1266) was Queen of the Romans, Countess of Holland, and Countess of Zeeland as the wife of William II of Holland. Biography Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg was born in 1230 to Otto I, D ...
, daughter of Otto the Child, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, in 1252. They had a son,
Floris V Floris V (24 June 1254 – 27 June 1296) reigned as Count of Holland and Zeeland from 1256 until 1296. His life was documented in detail in the Rijmkroniek by Melis Stoke, his chronicler. He is credited with a mostly peaceful reign, modern ...
(1254 – 1296).


Death

In battle near
Hoogwoud Hoogwoud (; West Frisian: ''Hougwoud'') is a small city in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Opmeer, and lies about northeast of Heerhugowaard. History Hoogwoud was first mentioned in 1289 as Officii d ...
on 28 January 1256, William tried to traverse a frozen lake by himself, because he was lost, but his horse fell through the ice. In this vulnerable position, William was killed by the Frisians, who secretly buried him under the floor of a house. His body was recovered 26 years later by his son Floris V, who took terrible vengeance on the West-Frisians. William was then buried in Middelburg. Contemporary sources, including the chronicle of Melis Stoke, portray William as an Arthurian hero. A golden statue of William can be found on the Binnenhof in
The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...
, the inner court of the parliamentary complex of the Netherlands.


See also

* Counts of Holland family tree


References


External links

* , - {{Authority control
William II, Count of Holland William II (February 1227 – 28 January 1256) was the Count of Holland and Zeeland from 1234 until his death. He was elected anti-king of Germany in 1248 and ruled as sole king from 1254 onwards. Early life William was the eldest son and hei ...
William II, Count of Holland William II (February 1227 – 28 January 1256) was the Count of Holland and Zeeland from 1234 until his death. He was elected anti-king of Germany in 1248 and ruled as sole king from 1254 onwards. Early life William was the eldest son and hei ...
13th-century Kings of the Romans Dutch monarchs Counts of Holland Military personnel killed in action Medieval child rulers Anti-kings