House of Luxembourg

This article is about a Medieval royal dynasty. For the earlier ducal family of Lotharingia, see House of Ardenne–Luxembourg. For the present-day ruling family of Luxembourg, see Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg.

The House of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: D'Lëtzebuerger Haus; French: Maison de Luxembourg; German: Haus Luxemburg) or Luxembourg dynasty was a royal family of the Holy Roman Empire in the Late Middle Ages, whose members between 1308 and 1437 ruled as kings of Germany and Holy Roman emperors as well as kings of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia. Their rule was twice interrupted by the rival House of Wittelsbach. The family takes it name from its ancestral county of Luxembourg which they continued to hold.

House of Luxembourg Maison de Luxembourg
Royal family
Parent family	House of Limburg
Country	Holy Roman Empire, Bohemia, Hungary, Croatia, France, Luxembourg
Founded	12 February 1247 (1247-02-12)
Founder	Henry V, Count of Luxembourg
Final ruler	Elizabeth of Luxembourg
Titles	Holy Roman Emperor (elective) King of Bohemia King of Hungary Croatia Count/Duke of Luxembourg Others Margrave of Brandenburg Margrave of Moravia Duke of Görlitz Count of Tyrol Count of Soissons Counts of Ligny Count of Saint-Pol Count of Brienne Count of Conversano
Distinctions	Order of the Dragon
Dissolution	2 August 1451 (1451-08-02)
Deposition	1443 (1443)
Cadet branches	Luxembourg-Brienne (extinct in 1648)

History

As shown below, this royal Luxembourg dynasty were not male-line descendants of the original counts of Luxembourg. They descended instead from the House of Limburg-Arlon, who had been dukes of Lower Lorraine in the 11th century. In 1247 Henry, younger son of Duke Waleran III of Limburg inherited the County of Luxembourg, becoming Count Henry V of Luxembourg, upon the death of his mother Countess Ermesinde. Her father, Count Henry "the blind", was count of Namur through his father, and count of Luxembourg through his mother, who was also named Ermesinde. This elder Ermesinde was a member of the original House of Luxembourg, which was a branch of the House of Ardenne, and had ruled Luxembourg since the late 10th century.

There were two other houses descended from the women of the counts of Luxembourg as shown in the family tree in the House of Ardenne–Luxembourg: the Counts of Loon, the Counts of Grandpré, along with the Dukes of Limburg. All three families had a place in relation to the succession of the House of Ardennes. Indeed, the Count of Grandpré was the next heir of Conrad II of Luxembourg, who was the last representative of the Ardennes dynasty. But, Emperor Frederick II preferred that Luxembourg was held by a lord Germanic rather than French and attributed the county to Henry of Limburg-Arlon (see below), son of Conrad's aunt Ermesinde and Count Godfrey I of Namur. The Counts of Loon are also in position to claim the inheritance Luxembourg, albeit weaker position.

 

Holy Roman Empire under Charles IV

  Habsburg

  Luxembourg

  Wittelsbach

Henry V's grandson Henry VII, Count of Luxembourg upon the death of his father Henry VI at the 1288 Battle of Worringen, was elected Rex Romanorum in 1308. The election was necessary after the Habsburg king Albert I of Germany had been murdered, and Henry, backed and orchestrated by his brother Archbishop-Elector Baldwin of Trier, prevailed against Charles, Count of Valois.

Henry arranged the marriage of his son John with the Přemyslid heiress Elisabeth of Bohemia in 1310, through whom the House of Luxembourg acquired the Kingdom of Bohemia, enabling that family to compete more effectively for power with the Habsburg and Wittelsbach dynasties. One year after being crowned Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, Henry VII, still on campaign in Italy, died in 1313.

The prince-electors, perturbed by the rise of the Luxembourgs, disregarded the claims raised by Henry's heir King John, and the rule over the Empire was assumed by the Wittelsbach duke Louis of Bavaria. John instead concentrated on securing his rule in Bohemia and gradually vassalized the Piast dukes of adjacent Silesia from 1327 until 1335. His son Charles IV, in 1346 mounted the Imperial throne. His Golden Bull of 1356 served as a constitution of the Empire for centuries. Charles not only acquired the duchies of Brabant and Limburg in the west, but also the former March of Lusatia and even the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1373 under the Kingdom of Bohemia.

The family's decline began under Charles' son King Wenceslaus, deposed by the prince-electors in 1400 who chose the Wittelsbach Elector Palatine Rupert. In 1410 rule was assumed by Wenceslaus' brother Sigismund, who once again stabilized the rule of the Luxembourgs and even contributed to end the Western Schism in 1417; however, with his death in 1437, the senior branch of the dynasty became extinct. He was succeeded by his son-in-law, the Habsburg archduke Albert V of Austria. The Habsburgs finally prevailed as Luxembourg heirs, ruling the Empire until the extinction of their senior branch upon the death of Maria Theresa in 1780.

Notable members

 

Emperor Charles IV

• Baldwin (c. 1285–1354) – prince-archbishop of Trier and thereby archchancellor of Burgundy 1307–1354.
• Henry VII (1275–1313) – elected king of Germany in 1308 in succession to the assassinated Albert I, crowned emperor in 1312. He was succeeded by Louis IV from the House of Wittelsbach. Brother of Baldwin.
  • John the Blind (1296–1346) – only son of Henry. He was enfeoffed with Bohemia by his father in 1310, married the Přemyslid heiress Elisabeth of Bohemia and deposed the Bohemian king Henry the Carinthian.
    • Charles IV (1316–1378) — eldest son of John. He was elected king of Germany in opposition to Louis IV in 1346 and succeeded his father as king of Bohemia in the same year, crowned emperor in 1355.
      • Wenceslaus (1361–1419) – eldest surviving son of Charles. As margrave of Brandenburg from 1373 to 1378, he was elected king of Germany in 1376 and succeeded his father as king of Bohemia in 1378. Declared deposed by the prince-electors in 1400, he was succeeded by Rupert of Wittelsbach.
      • Sigismund (1368–1437) – younger son of Charles. Margrave of Brandenburg from 1378 to 1388, he was king of Hungary and Croatia from 1387 in right of his wife Mary, and was elected king of Germany in 1411,^[1] succeeding his brother as king of Bohemia in 1419, being crowned emperor in 1433 yet he left no male heirs.
        • Elizabeth of Luxembourg, only child of Emperor Sigismund, married Archduke Albert V of Austria from the Albertinian line of the House of Habsburg in 1422, becoming queen of Hungary from 1437 as well as queen of Germany and Bohemia from 1438 until Albert's death in 1439. She was the heiress who conveyed the major portion of the Luxembourg inheritance to the Habsburgs and, later, the Jagiellons through her daughter Elisabeth of Austria.
    • John Henry, Margrave of Moravia – younger brother of Charles. He married Countess Margaret of Tyrol, daughter of Henry the Carinthian in 1330.
      • Jobst of Moravia (1351–1411) – eldest son of John Henry. Margrave of Brandenburg 1388–1411, elected King of the Romans in 1410.
      • John Sobieslaw of Moravia (1352–1380) – second son of John Henry, and junior margrave of Moravia.
      • Prokop of Moravia (c. 1358–1405) – son of John Henry. Margrave of Moravia from 1375 until his death in 1405.
        • George of Luxembourg (died 1457) – illegitimate son of Prokop. The last known member of the Luxembourg family.

Genealogy

See also: German monarchs' family tree

 

House of Limburg–Arlon

Having succeeded to the county of Luxemburg, the younger branch of the House of Limburg-Arlon is the family that succeeded in getting one of its scions elected Holy Roman Emperor. From there descended the Kings of Bohemia, several other Emperors and a King of Hungary as shown below.

House of Luxemburg

Henry V Count of Luxembourg (1217 †1281)   Henry VI Count of Luxembourg (1250 † 1288) Waleran I (1252 † 1288)   Lord of Ligny Henry VII (1275 † 1313)   Holy Roman Emperor Waleran II (1275 † 1354)    Lord of Ligny John the Blind (1296 † 1346)   King of Bohemia John I (1300 † 1364)   Lord of Ligny Charles IV (1316 † 1378)     Holy Roman Emperor King of Bohemia John Henry (1322 † 1372)   Margrave of Moravia Wenceslaus I (1337 † 1383)   Duke of Luxembourg Guy (1340 † 1371)   Count of Ligny Count of Saint-Pol Wenceslaus IV (1361 † 1419)     King of the Romans King of Bohemia Sigismund (1368 † 1437)     Holy Roman Emperor King of Bohemia and Hungary John (1370 † 1396)   Duke of Görlitz Jobst (1351 † 1411)   King of the Romans Margrave of Moravia and Brandenburg Waleran III (1356 † 1415)   Count of Ligny and of Saint-Pol John (1370 † 1397)   Lord of Beauvoir Count of Brienne Albert II of Habsburg Duke of Austria King of the Romans King of Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia Elizabeth of Luxembourg (1409 † 1442) Elisabeth (1390 † 1453)   Duchess of Luxembourg, sold duchy to the Dukes of Burgundy Peter (1390 † 1433)   Count of Saint-Pol and Ligny m. Margaret of Baux   John II (1392 † 1441)   Count of Ligny Elizabeth of Austria (1436 † 1505) Queen consort of Poland, Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania, from her descends the Kings of Bohemia and Hungary to 1918 and Kings of Poland, 1458-1668 Ladislaus the Posthumous (1440 † 1457)   King of Hungary and Bohemia, Archduke of Austria Louis (1418 † 1475)   Count of Saint-Pol and Ligny Thibaud († 1477)   Lord of Fiennes, Count of Brienne, Bishop of Le Mans Jacqueline "Jacquetta" of Luxembourg (1415/1416 – 1472) 1m. John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford 2m. Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers, one daughter was Peter II (c. 1440 † 1482)   Count of Saint-Pol Anthony I (1450–1519) Count of Ligny   from here descends the Dukes of Piney-Luxembourg in France Jacques († 1487)   Lord of Fiennes and Gavre Elizabeth Woodville (c. 1437[1] – 1492) Queen consort of Edward IV of England from here descends the Houses of Tudor, Stuart, and the Royal Family of the United Kingdom

Earlier Luxembourg counts

Main article: House of Ardenne–Luxembourg

The royal House of Luxemburg are named after their ancestors in the Luxembourg branch of the earlier House of Ardenne (or Ardennes, French Maison d'Ardenne). This was an important noble family from Lotharingia, known from at least the tenth century. They had several important branches, descended from several brothers:^[2]

• The House of Ardenne–Luxembourg, including the counts of Luxembourg, descended from Count Sigfried of Luxembourg
• The House of Ardenne–Verdun, with several dukes of Lower Lotharingia, descended from Count Gozlin of Bidgau
• The House of Ardenne–Bar, with several dukes of Upper Lotharingia, descended from Duke Frederick I of Upper Lorraine.

The Luxembourg ancestry of Henry V, count of Luxembourg, ancestor of the royal house of Luxembourg

Sigfried (†998), count of the Ardennes, ruler of "Lucilinburhuc" Frederick I (†1019), count of Luxembourg and Salm Giselbert (†1059), count of Luxemburg Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine, (†1065), count of Limburg Conrad I (†1086), count of Luxemburg Jutta Henry III (†1086), count of Luxembourg William (†1131), count of Luxembourg Ermesinde (†1143) Godfrey I, Count of Namur (†1139) Henry I, count of Limburg, († 1106), Duke of Lower Lorraine Conrad II (†1136), count of Luxembourg Waleran Paganus, Duke of Limburg (†1139) Henri IV (†1196), "the blind" count of Namur and Luxembourg Henry II, Duke of Limburg (†1167) Henry III, Duke of Limburg (†1221)   Theobald I, Count of Bar Ermesinde of Luxembourg (†1247) Waleran III, Duke of Limburg (†1226)   Henry V (†1281), count of Luxembourg, Arlon and Namur

See also

• Jacquetta of Luxembourg

References

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to House of Luxembourg.

1. "Sigismund (Holy Roman emperor)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2014-03-29.
2. Parisse, ‘Généalogie de la Maison d'Ardenne’, La maison d'Ardenne Xe-XIe siècles. Actes des Journées Lotharingiennes, 24 - 26 oct. 1980, Centre Univ., Luxembourg, (1981) 9-41