Dirk I (Theoderic) was Count of Holland, thought to have been in office from ca. 896 to ca. 928 or 939.
'Count in Frisia'
The actual title of count Dirk I was 'count in Friesland'.
Dirk is thought to be a son of Gerulf II, 'count in Frisia', who is named by some sources as one of the counts who assassinated their Viking overlord Godfryth 'the Sea King' at a place named Herespich (modern Spijk[disambiguation needed]) in 885.
Regarding Dirk I, almost nothing is known of his life, a situation further clouded by the present-day hypothesis that he had a son, Dirk (numbered Dirk I bis, to avoid confusion with the already established numbering), who succeeded him instead of the traditional view that he was succeeded by his supposed son Dirk II.
Founding of Egmond Abbey
In 922 Dirk was present at a place called Bladella (present day Bladel, in the extreme south of the Dutch province of Noord Brabant), at which he received certain lands ('at a place called Egmond') from the West Frankish king Charles the Simple. Dirk subsequently erected a nunnery at the said lands, at which nuns prayed continuously for the well-being of the comital dynasty. This was the origin of the later Egmond Abbey.
Under Dirk II the wooden convent was rebuilt in stone to house the relics of Saint Adalbert. Adalbert was not well known at that time, but he was said to have preached Christianity in the immediate surroundings two centuries earlier. The monastery was also changed to house a community of Benedictine monks from Ghent, replacing the nuns. Count Dirk and many of his descendants were buried in the abbey church.
The Counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.
Contents
House of Holland
The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia (Dijkstra suggests that Dirk may have been the son of a sister of Gerolf and that his own father died while he was still an infant). He received land around Egmond from Charles the Fat at a place called Bladella (modern day Bladel near Eindhoven, The Netherlands) in 922. This is seen as the beginning of the county of Holland. However, until about 1100, the usual names for the county were West-Friesland, Frisia or Kennemerland; in spite of this the counts from Dirk I onwards are named of Holland.
Note that the chronology of the first few counts is uncertain. The existence of a count between Dirk I and Dirk II was only recently suggested, since it is thought that the references to counts named Dirk between 896 and 988 refer to three, not two, different counts. This third Count Dirk is placed between Dirk and I and II and numbered as Dirk I bis to avoid confusion with the already established numbering referring to the other counts of Holland named Dirk.
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