Adolph of

Cleves Kleve (; traditional ; ; ; ; ; Low Rhenish: ''Kleff'') is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century onwards, Cleves was capital of a county and later a duchy ...

, Lord of

Ravenstein Ravenstein may refer to: Places * Ravenstein, Germany in the district Neckar-Odenwald, Baden-Württemberg * Ravenstein, Netherlands in Oss, North Brabant * Ravenstein railway station Films Ravenstein a 2020 British Horror film People with the ...

(1425–1492) was the youngest son of

Adolph I, Duke of Cleves Adolph I of Cleves () (2 August 1373 – 23 September 1448) was the second Count of Cleves and the fourth Count of Mark. Life He was the son of Adolph III, Count of Mark, and Margaret of Jülich (and thus the brother of Margaret of Cleves) ...

, and of his wife Marie of Burgundy, a sister of

Philip the Good Philip III the Good (; ; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) ruled as Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death in 1467. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonged. During his reign, ...

Duke of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy () was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by the Crown lands of France, French crown in 1477, and later by members of the House of Habsburg, including Holy Roman E ...

Marriage and issue

Philip the Good of Burgundy and his wife, Isabel of Portugal, decided to arrange the marriage of their nephew Adolph, who became engaged to

infanta Infante (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as "infant" or translated as "prince", is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to the ...

Beatrice of Coimbra, daughter of

Pedro, Duke of Coimbra Dom Peter, Duke of Coimbra, KG ( ; 9 December 1392 – 20 May 1449) was a Portuguese ''infante'' (prince) of the House of Aviz, son of King Dom John I of Portugal and his wife, Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt. In Portugal, he ...

. Beatrice had taken refuge in Burgundy, under her aunt's protection, following the defeat of her father's army in the

Battle of Alfarrobeira The Battle of Alfarrobeira () took place on 20 May 1449. It was a confrontation between the forces commanded by King Afonso V of Portugal and his uncle Afonso, Duke of Braganza, against the army of the rebellious Peter, Duke of Coimbra. The ...

in Portugal in 1449. Adolph and Beatrice were married on 13 May 1453 and they subsequently had two children: *

Philip of Cleves, Lord of Ravenstein Philip of Cleves (1459 in Le Quesnoy – 28 January 1528 in Wijnendale Castle), Lord of Ravenstein, Wijnendale and Enghien, was a nobleman from the Burgundian Netherlands, Low Countries and army commander, first for Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emp ...

; and *Louise of Cleves (who died at a young age). Following Beatrice's death, Adolph married his cousin

Anne of Burgundy Anne of Burgundy, Duchess of Bedford () (30 September 1404 – 13 November 1432) was a daughter of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (1371–1419), and his wife Margaret of Bavaria (1363–1423). Duchess of Bedford In June 1423 at Troyes, Anne ...

, a natural daughter of duke

and governess of Mary of Burgundy, Duchess of Burgundy. In 1463, Adolph inherited

Wijnendale Castle Wijnendale Castle (, ) is a historic residence in Wijnendale, West Flanders in Belgium which was once a medieval castle. The present buildings largely date to a nineteenth century restoration, though parts of the north wing still date to the fift ...

, where in 1482 Mary of Burgundy would fall from her horse suffering fatal injuries. This accident would have major implications for the history of the Low Countries.

Career

Adolph participated in all the battles that involved the Dukes of Burgundy. He was knighted after the Battle of Gavere, which ended the

Revolt of Ghent (1449–1453) Revolt of Ghent may refer to: * Revolt of Ghent (1379–1385), a rebellion by the city of Ghent against Louis II, Count of Flanders * Revolt of Ghent (1449–53), a rebellion by the city of Ghent against Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy * Revolt ...

. In 1454, he participated in the

Feast of the Pheasant The Feast of the Pheasant () was a banquet given by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy on 17 February 1454 in Lille, now in France. Its purpose was to promote a crusade against the Turks, who had taken Constantinople the year before. The crus ...

and became a knight of the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece (, ) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in 1430 in Brugge by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal. T ...

in 1456. In 1467, he played an important role in the Battle of Brustem during the Liège Wars. In 1475, he was

stadtholder In the Low Countries, a stadtholder ( ) was a steward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and ...

-general of the Low Countries during the absence of

Charles the Bold Charles Martin (10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), called the Bold, was the last duke of Burgundy from the House of Valois-Burgundy, ruling from 1467 to 1477. He was the only surviving legitimate son of Philip the Good and his third wife, ...

who was fighting the

Burgundian Wars The Burgundian Wars (1474–1477) were a conflict between the Burgundian State and the Old Swiss Confederacy and its allies. Open war broke out in 1474, and the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was defeated three times on the battlefield in th ...

, a position confirmed by Mary of Burgundy after Charles' death in the

Battle of Nancy The Battle of Nancy was the final and decisive battle of the Burgundian Wars, fought outside the walls of Nancy on 5 January 1477 by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, against René II, Duke of Lorraine, and the Swiss Confederacy. René's ...

in 1477.

Ancestry

References

Genealogy of Adolph of Cleves, Lord of Ravenstein
House of La Marck Knights of the Golden Fleece Lords in Germany People from the Duchy of Cleves 1425 births 1492 deaths Lords of Ravenstein 15th-century governors Stadtholders of Hainaut {{Germany-duke-stub