Nicholas, Count of Schauenburg and Holstein-Rendsburg (also known as '' Claus of Holstein''; 1321 – 8 May 1397 in

Itzehoe Itzehoe (; ) is a town in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. As the capital of the district Steinburg, Itzehoe is located on the Stör, a navigable tributary of the Elbe, 51 km (31.7 mi) northwest of Hamburg and 24 km (14.9&nb ...

) was a titular Count of Schauenburg. Together first with his brother and then with his nephews, Nicholas was the co-ruling Count of Holstein-Rendsburg from 1340 until his death. In 1390 Nicholas and his nephews inherited

Holstein-Kiel The imperial county of Holstein-Kiel was a line of the counts of Schauenburg and Holstein, House of Schauenburg and Holstein from 1261 to 1390. History The County of Holstein was ruled until 1238 by Adolphus IV of Schauenburg and Holstein. When ...

, which itself included former Holstein-Plön through reversion in 1350. So except of Holstein-Pinneberg Nicholas and his nephews had united all of Holstein. He was also co-ruler of Schleswig from 1375 to 1386. He was thus a leading 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 ...

and an influential figure in the area north of the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

. He was the second son of Count

Gerhard III of Holstein-Rendsburg Gerhard III of Holstein-Rendsburg ( – 1 April 1340), sometimes called Gerhard the Great, and in Denmark also known as ''Count Gert'' or ''den kullede greve'' ("the bald count"), was a German prince from the Schauenburg family who ruled Ho ...

and his wife, Sophia of Werle. He ruled

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 di ...

jointly with his elder brother

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

from 1375 to 1384, thereafter alone. In 1386, he abdicated as Duke of Schleswig in favour of Henry II's son Gerhard VI of Holstein-Rendsburg, who was confirmed as Gerhard II as Duke of Schleswig by 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 ...

.Jansen 1778, pp. 740-741 In 1354, he married Elisabeth, the daughter of Duke William II of Brunswick and Lüneburg, Prince of Lunenburg. She was the widow of Otto of Saxe-Wittenberg, a son of Rudolph I. They had one daughter: * Elisabeth (1360 – 25 January 1416 in Cammin), married: *# Duke Albert IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1363-1388) *# in 1404 to Duke Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg ( – 1435) Nicholas died in 1397 and was buried in

. His nephew Gerhard VI acted as

guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

for his underage daughter Elisabeth. After Nicholas' death his co-ruling nephews Albert II and the elder Gerhard VI partitioned Holstein-Segeberg as a

secundogeniture A secundogeniture (from 'following, second', and 'born') was a dependent territory given to a younger son of a princely house and his descendants, creating a cadet branch.Luard, Evan. The Balance of Power: The System of International Relations, ...

for Albert from Holstein-Rendsburg. Gerhard VI then continued ruling Holstein-Rendsburg as the sole count.

Notes

References

* Counts of Holstein Dukes of Schleswig House of Schauenburg 1321 births 1397 deaths 14th-century German nobility {{Germany-noble-stub