Ancestral Trails 2016 » GODFREY de LOUVAIN III (1142-1186)

Personal data GODFREY de LOUVAIN III 

• He was born in the year 1142 in Louvain, Brabant, Belgium.

  Attention: Age at marriage (??-??-1155) below 16 years (13).

• Title: Count of Louvaine, Duke of Lower Lorraine (as Godfrey VIII)
• Title: Landgrave of Brabant, Margrave of Antwerp
• (Ancestry) : House of Reginar.
• He died on August 21, 1186 in Louvain, Brabant, Belgium, he was 44 years old.
• A child of GODFREY de LOUVAIN and LUITGARDE von SULZBACH

Household of GODFREY de LOUVAIN III

(1) He is married to MARGARET von LIMBOURG.

They got married in the year 1155 at Louvain, Brabant, Belgium, he was 13 years old.

Child(ren):

1. Albert de LOUVAIN  1166-1192
2. HEINRICH de BRABANT  1165-1235 

(2) He is married to IMAGINA von LOOS.

They got married in the year 1174 at Louvain, Brabant, Belgium, he was 32 years old.

Child(ren):

1. William de LOUVAIN  ± 1176-????
2. GODFREY de LOUVAIN  1175-1226 

Notes about GODFREY de LOUVAIN III

Godfrey III (1142 - died 21 August 1190) was count of Louvain (or Leuven), landgrave of Brabant, margrave of Antwerp, and duke of Lower Lorraine (as Godfrey VIII) from 1142 to his death.

He was the son of Godfrey II and Lutgarde of Sulzbach. He was still an infant at his succession (therefore called dux in cunis) of which a few Brabantian vassals sought to take advantage to become independent of the duke (Wars of Grimbergen, 1141-1159).

On 30 March 1147, Godfrey was present at the coronation of Henry Berengar, son of Conrad III of Germany, in Aachen. When Conrad left on Crusade, war began anew in 1148. Peace was elusive until the election of Conrad's successor, Frederick Barbarossa. By marriage to Margaret, daughter of Henry II of Limburg, Godfrey united two powerful and antagonistic houses in the region. Their son was Henry I, Duke of Brabant.

In 1159 Godfrey ended the war with the Berthout, lords of Grimbergen, by burning their impressive motte at Grimbergen. In 1171, Godfrey was at war with Hainaut, but was defeated. In 1172, he bought the County of Aarschot from its wayward count Godfried III, which in future generations would give rise to the dynasty of the Dukes of Aarschot that remain to this day. In 1179, he gave his son Henry in marriage to a niece of Philip of Alsace, Count of Flanders.

Between 1182 and 1184 Godfrey went on a Jerusalem campaign. In the interim, Barbarossa granted Henry the title "Duke of Brabant". Godfrey died in 1190, on 10 or 21 August. He left an increased territory and built the fortress of Nedelaer (near Vilvoorde). The ducal title was transmitted to his son at the Diet of Schwäbisch Hall (September 1190).

Marriages & progeny
Godfrey married twice:

Firstly to Margaret of Limbourg, daughter of Henry II, Duke of Limburg, in 1158, by whom he had two children:
Henry I, Duke of Brabant (1165 - 5 Sep 1235). Henry was installed in 1180 as duke of Lower Lorraine until 1222. He was made count of Louvain in 1183, until 1198. He was installed as Duke of Brabant in 1191.
Albert de Louvain (1166 - 24 Nov 1192). Albert was elected Bishop of Louvain (Liege) in 1191, but assassinated in Reims in 1192.

Secondly Godfrey married Imagina of Loon, daughter of Louis I, Count of Loon, by whom he had two children:
William of Louvain. Lord of Perwez en Ruysbroek. Married Marie of Orbais, daughter of Enguerrand of Orbais.
Godfrey of Louvain (d.1226), who went to England in 1196. He married Alice de Hastings, daughter and heiress of Robert de Hastings (d.circa 1190), feudal baron of Little Easton in Essex.
SOURCE: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfrey_III,_Count_of_Louvain

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Timeline GODFREY de LOUVAIN III

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