John III (died 10 March 1429) was between 1418 and 1429 the last independent

Marquis of Namur The County of Namur () was a county of the Holy Roman Empire with its military and administrative capital at the town of Namur (city), Namur, at the merging of the Sambre and Meuse rivers in what is now Wallonia, French-speaking Belgium. Under t ...

. He was the youngest son of

William I, Marquis of Namur William I (1324 – 1 October 1391), also called the Rich, was Count of Namur from 1337 until his death. Life He was the fifth son of John I, Marquis of Namur, and Marie of Artois. Because his four elder brothers all died childless between 13 ...

and Catherine of Savoy († 1388), daughter of Louis II of Savoy, baron of Vaud, and Isabella of Châlon.
When his father died in 1391, he inherited

Wijnendale Wijnendale is a village located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. It belongs to the municipality of Torhout. Wijnendale is situated at 4 km from the city center of Torhout, halfway in between this city center and Ichtegem. The villa ...

J. Borgnet - S. Bormans (edd. annott.), ''Cartulaire de la commune de Namur'', II, Namur, 1873, nr. 113, p
178
and

Ronse Ronse (; ) is a Belgian city and a municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality only encompasses the city of Ronse proper. History Early settlements to 14th century The hills around Ronse show clues of human a ...

Reign

John succeeded his elder brother William II as Marquis of Namur, when William died without children in 1418. John never married, but had an illegitimate son with his cousin Cécile of Savoy: Philip of Namur, seigneur de Dhuy (died 1449).C. Piot, art. Jean III, in ''Biographie Nationale'' 10 (1889), col
311
John III led a very luxurious life, and he had to raise taxes to finance his expenses. This led to revolts and high debts, which forced John to sell his County to

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 ...

(23 April 1421) for 30.000 golden crowns and the clause that he could benefit from the

usufruct Usufruct () is a limited real right (or ''in rem'' right) found in civil law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of ''usus'' and ''fructus'': * ''Usus'' (''use'', as in usage of or access to) is the right to use or en ...

of his former county. Philip the Good incorporated Namur into the

Burgundian Netherlands The Burgundian Netherlands were those parts of the Low Countries ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy during the Burgundian Age between 1384 and 1482. Within their Burgundian State, which itself belonged partly to the Holy Roman Empire and partly t ...

, thus ending the existence of an independent County of Namur.

Notes

References

* C. Piot, art. Jean III, in ''Biographie Nationale'' 10 (1889), coll
309-
https://archive.org/stream/biographienation10acad#page/157/mode/2up 311]. {{DEFAULTSORT:John 03, Marquis of Namur 1429 deaths 15th-century margraves of Namur Year of birth unknown