Albert II of Holstein ( – 28 September 1403 in Dithmarschen (Ditmarsh)) was the ruling

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

of Holstein-Rendsburg from his father's death, in 1381 or 1384, until 1397. From 1397 until his death, he was Count of Holstein-Segeberg.

Life

He was a son of

Henry II, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg Count Henry II of Holstein-Rendsburg (nickname ''Iron Henry''; – ) was count of Holstein-Rendsburg and pledge lord of Southern Schleswig. He ruled jointly with his younger brother, Count Nicholas (d. 1397). Life Henry was the elder son o ...

and his wife,

Ingeborg of Mecklenburg Ingeborg of Mecklenburg (1343/45 – 25 July 1395) was a daughter of Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg and his wife, Euphemia of Sweden. Euphemia was a daughter of Ingeborg of Norway, who was the only legitimate child of King Haakon V of Norway. ...

. After his father's death, his uncle

Nicholas Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Ancient Greek, Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In ...

coordinated, as the senior member of the

House of Schauenburg The House of Schaumburg was a dynasty of German rulers. Until , it was also known as the House of Schauenburg. Together with its ancestral possession, the County of Schaumburg, the family also ruled the County of Holstein and its partitions Hols ...

, the cooperation of the various

Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein The Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein were titles of the Holy Roman Empire. The dynastic family came from the County of Schauenburg near Rinteln (district Schaumburg) on the Weser in Germany. Together with its ancestral possessions in Bückebur ...

. Nicholas died on 28 August 1397. After Nicholas' death, Albert II and his elder brother Gerhard VI divided the counties of

Holstein Holstein (; ; ; ; ) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider (river), Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost States of Germany, state of Germany. Holstein once existed as the German County of Holstein (; 8 ...

and Stormarn among themselves. Albert II chose

Segeberg Segeberg (; ) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the southwest and clockwise) the districts of Pinneberg, Steinburg and Rendsburg-Eckernförde, the city of Neumünster, the districts of Plön, Ostholstein and St ...

as his residence, he also wanted a share of the

Duchy of Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig (; ; ; ; ; ) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been div ...

, which Gerhard VI held as a fief from King

Olaf II of Denmark Olaf II of Denmark (December 1370 – 3 August 1387) was King of Denmark as Olaf II (though occasionally referred to as Olaf III) from 1376 and King of Norway as Olav IV from 1380 until his death. Olaf was the son of Queen Margaret I of Denmark ...

. However, under Danish law, he was not entitled to part of the fief. His father-in-law, Duke Eric IV of Saxe-Lauenburg raided Ditmarsh. This triggered a renewal in 1402-1404 of the ongoing

feud A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...

between Ditmarsh and the Counts of Holstein-Rendsburg. The background of this conflict was that the farming communities of Ditmarsh were officially subjects of the

Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen () was an Hochstift, ecclesiastical principality (787–1566/1648) of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church that after its definitive secularization in 1648 became the hereditary Bremen-Verden, Duchy of ...

, but in practice, Ditmarsh was an independent area, subject only to the Emperor. For decades, the Counts of Holstein-Rendsburg tried to subjugate the area. After his raid, Eric withdrew across Albert II's territory, and the farmers of Ditmarsh accused Albert II of complicity. Albert II denied having anything to do with Eric's raid. The lower nobility and councillors pushed Albert and Gerhard to renew their attempts to conquer Ditmarsh. Albert followed this advice energetically. During the fighting in Ditmarsh, he fell off his horse while making an evasive maneuver, and died of his injuries.Georg Waitz, ''Schleswig-Holsteins Geschichte in drei Büchern'', vol. 1, book 1, Göttingen, 1851, p. 290-291

Marriage

Albert was married to Agnes (d. before 1415), a daughter of Duke Eric IV of Saxe-Lauenburg (d. 1412) and Sophia of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1416). The marriage remained childless.

References

* Erich Hoffmann, ''Geschichte Schleswig-Holsteins'', vol. 4/2: ''Spätmittelalter und Reformationszeit'', Neumünster, 1990. * Georg Waitz, ''Schleswig-Holsteins Geschichte in drei Büchern'', vol. 1, book 1, Göttingen 1851

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albert 02 Holstein Rendsburg Counts of Holstein House of Schauenburg 1360s births 1403 deaths 14th-century German nobility