Arnold I (b. about 1045 – d. about 1130),

Count of Loon The County of Loon ( , ) was a county in the Holy Roman Empire, which corresponded approximately with the modern Belgian province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg. It was named after the original seat of its count, Loon, which is today called Borgloo ...

(Looz) from about 1079, son of Emmo, Count of Loon, and Suanhildis, daughter of

Dirk III, Count of Holland Dirk III (also called ''Dirik'' or ''Theodoric'') was the count with jurisdiction over what would become the county of Holland, often referred to in this period as "West Frisia", from 993 to 27 May 1039. Until 1005, this was under regency of his ...

, and his wife Othelandis. He was an ally of Henry of Verdun and Otbert, both bishops of Liège. In 1078, he endowed the collegiate churches of Huy and of St. John at Liège. In 1088, he negotiated at the request of Bishop Henry of Verdun to end a conflict in the abbey of Sint-Truiden where the bishop and

emperor Henry IV Henry IV (; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son of Henry III, Holy ...

had appointed rival abbots. As a result of his diplomacy, the emperor transferred the authority of the abbey from Henry I, Duke of Lower Lorraine, to Arnold. Arnold forced Henry and his ally

Godfrey of Bouillon Godfrey of Bouillon (; ; ; ; 1060 – 18 July 1100) was a preeminent leader of the First Crusade, and the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1100. Although initially reluctant to take the title of king, he agreed to rule as pri ...

, to withdraw from the monastery. The domain of Arnold expanded with the County of Rieneck by his marriage to Agnes of Mainz, daughter of Gerhard I, Count of Rieneck, and Helwig von Bliescastel. Sources disagree on their number of children, but they are believed to include: * Arnold II, Count of Looz. He is distinguished from his father of the same name by historians who note records for counts named Arnold or Arnulf between 1179 and 1141, which seems too long to be one person. The first Arnold must have died between 1125 when Count Arnold appears in a record with his son also named Arnold, and 1135, when a new Count Arnold appears with his own son and successor Louis.See for example Baerten. * Gertrude van Loon (1100–1154), married to Hugo XI, Count of Dagsburg. Their son was Hugo XII, Count of Dagsburg, who married Luitgarde, widow of

Godfrey II, Count of Louvain Godfrey II (; 1110 – 13 June 1142) was the count of Louvain, Duke of Brabant, landgrave of Brabant by inheritance from 23 January 1139. He was the son of Godfrey I of Louvain, Godfrey I and Ida of Chiny. He was also the duke of Lower Lorraine ( ...

. She was daughter of Berengar II of Sulzbach, and sister of

Gertrude von Sulzbach Gertrude of Sulzbach (; – 14 April 1146) was German queen from 1138 until her death as the second wife of the Hohenstaufen king Conrad III. Life She was the daughter of the Bavarian count Berengar II of Sulzbach (c.1080–1125) and Adelhe ...

, wife of

Conrad III of Germany Conrad III (; ; 1093 or 1094 – 15 February 1152) of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was from 1116 to 1120 Duke of Franconia, from 1127 to 1135 anti-king of his predecessor Lothair III, and from 1138 until his death in 1152 King of the Romans in t ...

, and Bertha, wife of

Manuel I Comnenus Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of ...

, the emperor of Byzantium. Their granddaughter was Gertrude of Dagsburg, wife of Theobald I, King of Navarre. * Agnes van Loon (born {{circa, 1100), married Gerhard IV,

Count of Jülich 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: ...

* Beatrix van Loon (died after 1132), married

Arnout III, Count of Aarschot Arnout or Arnoud is a Dutch language masculine given name equivalent to Arnold (given name), Arnold. Notable persons with that name include: Persons with the given name * Arnout II, Count of Aarschot, 12th-century count of Aarschot, Flanders * ...

and had issue. Another son who appears in some older publications,

Gerard Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other Germanic name, early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful ...

, did not exist. He appears in books such as the oldest edition of Belgian National Biographies, based upon a charter of 1101. Baerten (1969 p. 40 footnote 2) describes this as a mistake caused by modern edition with a wrongly placed comma, and gives references to the literature. Although the confusion about this non-existent "Gerard" remains, Arnold is now generally understood to have been succeeded upon his death by his son Arnold as Count of Looz.

Sources

* J.-J. Thonissen, "Arnoul Ier et Arnoul II", ''

Biographie nationale de Belgique The ''Biographie nationale de Belgique'' (; ) is a biographical dictionary of Belgium. It was published by the Royal Academy of Belgium in 44 volumes between 1866 and 1986. A continuation series, entitled the ''Nouvelle Biographie Nationale'' (, ...

'', vol. 1 (Brussels, 1866
link
*Vanderlinden, H., "Le tribunal de la paix de Henri de Verdun (1082) et la transformation de la principauté de Liège", in Mélanges Henri Pirenne, 1926 *Baerten, Jean (1969), Het Graafschap Loon (11de – 14de eeuw)
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11th-century nobility House of Loon 1040s births 1120s deaths People from Lower Lotharingia