William VIII of Jülich, Count of Ravensberg ( – 22 November 1428) was the youngest son of

William VII of Jülich, 1st Duke of Berg William II ( – 25 June 1408) was born in Jülich, as the son of Gerhard VI of Jülich, Count of Berg and Ravensberg, and Margaret, daughter and heiress of Otto IV, Count of Ravensberg, and Margaret of Berg.Walther Möller, ''Stammtafeln westd ...

and Anna of the Palatinate.Walther Möller, ''Stammtafeln westdeutscher Adelsgeschlechter im Mittelalter'' (Darmstadt, 1922, reprint Verlag Degener & Co., 1995), Vol. 1, page 14. Along with his brother,

Adolf Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in vari ...

, William rebelled against his father but surrendered in 1404 and received his father's title as Count of Ravensberg which he held until his death in 1428. In 1401, William was appointed Bishop of

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

Pope Boniface IX Pope Boniface IX ( la, Bonifatius IX; it, Bonifacio IX; c. 1350 – 1 October 1404, born Pietro Tomacelli) was head of the Catholic Church from 2 November 1389 to his death in October 1404. He was the second Roman pope of the Western Schism.Richa ...

through the influence of his uncle,

Rupert, King of Germany Rupert of the Palatinate (german: Ruprecht von der Pfalz; 5 May 1352 – 18 May 1410), sometimes known as Robert of the Palatinate, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, was Elector Palatine from 1398 (as Rupert III) and King of Germany from ...

. William's elder brother Rupert had held the same post from 1389–1394. Like his uncle, King Rupert, William was a follower of the Roman Popes. As Prince-Bishop, William aroused heavy unrest with his ecclesiastical reform effort and quarreled with Waldeck and Lippe, compelling acknowledgement of Paderborn's sovereignty over parts of Lippe. Despite territorial policy successes, he faced opposition and renounced Paderborn in 1414. He attempted to become Archbishop of Cologne but failed against Dietrich of Moers who also replaced William as Bishop of Paderborn. William then married Dietrich's niece, Adelheid of Tecklenburg, and became the father of the new line of the Dukes of Jülich-Berg and Counts of Ravensberg, when his brother Adolf died without an heir. William and Adelheid are buried in the Stiftskirche in Bielefeld.

Family and children

On 19 February 1416, William married Adelheid of Tecklenburg, daughter of

Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

, Count of Tecklenburg and Elisabeth of Moers. They had one son: #

Gerhard Gerhard is a name of Germanic origin and may refer to: Given name * Gerhard (bishop of Passau) (fl. 932–946), German prelate * Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg (1292–1340), German prince, regent of Denmark * Gerhard Barkhorn (1919–19 ...

(c. 1416–1475), married Sophie of Saxe-Lauenburg, daughter of

Bernard II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg Bernard II of Saxe-Lauenburg (german: Bernhard II.; c. 1385/1392–16 July 1463) was a member of the House of Ascania and Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg from 1426 to 1463. His full title was Duke of Saxony, Angria and Westphalia, however only ruling th ...

Ancestry

References

External links

genealogie-mittelalter.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Julich, William VIII of, Count of Ravensberg 1428 deaths Roman Catholic bishops of Paderborn Year of birth uncertain William VIII

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...