County of Loon
Encyclopedia
The County of Loon was a state of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

, lying west of the Meuse river in present-day Flemish
Flemish
Flemish can refer to anything related to Flanders, and may refer directly to the following articles:*Flemish, an informal, though linguistically incorrect, name of any kind of the Dutch language as spoken in Belgium....

-speaking Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, and east of the old Duchy of Brabant
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...

. The most important cities (bonnes villes) of the county were Beringen, Bilzen
Bilzen
Bilzen is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. On January 1, 2006, Bilzen had a total population of 30,057...

, Borgloon
Borgloon
Borgloon is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2006 Borgloon had a total population of 10,152. The total area is 51.12 km² which gives a population density of 199 inhabitants per km². Borgloon gave its name to the former county of Loon.-External...

, Bree
Bree, Belgium
Bree is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2006 Bree had a total population of 14,503. The total area is 64.96 km² which gives it a population density of 223 inhabitants per square km...

, Hamont
Hamont-Achel
Hamont-Achel is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2006 Hamont-Achel had a total population of 13,770. The total area is 43.66 km² which gives a population density of 315 inhabitants per km²...

, Hasselt
Hasselt
Hasselt is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital of the Flemish province of Limburg...

, Herk-de-Stad
Herk-de-Stad
Herk-de-Stad is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2006, Herk-de-Stad had a total population of 11,795. The total area is 42.83 km² which gives a population density of 275 inhabitants per km²....

, Maaseik
Maaseik
Maaseik is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. The city is located on the river Meuse , bordering the Netherlands. The Maaseik municipality includes the town of Maaseik and the villages of Neeroeteren and Opoeteren...

, Peer
Peer, Belgium
Peer is a municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium. On January 1, 2006 Peer had a total population of 15,810. The total area is 86.95 km² which gives a population density of 182 inhabitants per km²....

 and Stokkem
Dilsen-Stokkem
Dilsen-Stokkem is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2006 Dilsen-Stokkem had a total population of 19,106. The total area is 65.61 km² which gives a population density of 291 inhabitants per km²....

. Its territory corresponded closely to that of the current Belgian province of Limburg
Limburg (Belgium)
Limburg is the easternmost province of modern Flanders, which is one of the three main political and cultural sub-divisions of modern Belgium. It is located west of the river Meuse . It borders on the Dutch provinces of North Brabant and Limburg and the Belgian provinces of Liège, Flemish Brabant...

. Like other areas which eventually came under the power of the Prince Bishop of Liège, Loon did not become politically linked with the rest of Belgium until the French revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

, but these events also brought the county to an end. Under various new names it first became part of France, and then of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name used to refer to Kingdom of the Netherlands during the period after it was first created from part of the First French Empire and before the new kingdom of Belgium split out in 1830...

 ("Holland"), before finally joining the new kingdom of Belgium definitively in 1839, some 9 years after after the rest of Belgium had been become independent of Holland.

The original centre of this county before it expanded was Borgloon
Borgloon
Borgloon is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2006 Borgloon had a total population of 10,152. The total area is 51.12 km² which gives a population density of 199 inhabitants per km². Borgloon gave its name to the former county of Loon.-External...

, originally just called Loon, in the southern part of the county. This part of the county is geograpically in the hilly Belgian region known as Hesbaye
Hesbaye
Hesbaye or Haspengouw , is a region spanning the south of the Belgian province of Limburg, the east of the Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant, and the northwestern part of the province of Liège.The Limburgish portion contains the cities of Tongeren, Sint-Truiden, Bilzen and...

 in French or Haspengouw in Dutch. It later expanded northwards into the low lieing Campine
Campine
The Campine is a natural region situated chiefly in north-eastern Belgium and parts of the south-western Netherlands which once consisted mainly of extensive moors, tracts of sandy heath, and wetlands...

 or Kempen region which was know as Toxandria
Toxandria
Toxandria is the classical name for a region between the Meuse and the Scheldt rivers in the Netherlands and Belgium. The name is also spelled Taxandria...

 in the early Middle Ages.

History

Very little is certain about the origin of the county. Already in Carolingian times there were 4 counties within Haspengouw, mentioned in the treaty of Meersen, though their names are not known for sure anymore, and it appears that the names and borders of such counties were not fixed. A 10th century document seems to place Loon, still only a villa, in the older county of Avernas, under a count named Rudolph. Another older Haspengouw county name which seems to have been a predecessor was that of Hocht. All these areas seem to have been under the control of two related groups of families referred to today as the House of Reginar and House of Balderik. The first reference to anyone as a count of Loon is apparently one concerning a man named Otto, referred to in one single document of the Abbey of Saint Truiden.

The first definitely known Count (Dutch graaf, Latin comes, French comte) was named Giselbert, although exactly what territory he held was still uncertain, and his brother Arnulf is also mentioned as a count. In 1016 a charter mentions count Arnulf the brother of count Giselbert. In 1018 a place is mentioned as being "in the pagus
Pagus
In the later Western Roman Empire, following the reorganization of Diocletian, a pagus became the smallest administrative district of a province....

 Haspengouw in the county of count Giselbert". In 1036 there is mention of "count Giselbert in the territory Haspengouw". In 1040 comes mention of a "county of Haspinga in the pagus Haspengouw", but this time mentioning the brother of Giselbert, Arnulf, leading some to think that Giselbert had died, and his brother had taken over, while others think that the two brothers ruled together during their lifetimes, and some believe they ruled two different parts of Haspengouw. 1040 was also when the first clear mention of the county of Loon appeared, with Emperor Henry III
Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...

 treating it as land held under the Prince-Bishopric of Liège.

There are several theories concerning the ancestry of Giselbert and Arnulf, whose brother Balderik II appears to have been archbishop of Liège somewhat earlier, around 1008-1018. It appears from records in Liège that all three were the sons of Otto (or Odo), the above-mentioned earlier Count of Loon; or alternatively of one Rudolf, the earlier count of Avernas, who is thought to have been related to the counts of Betuwe and archbishops of Utrecht, in the modern Netherlands. Or perhaps Rudolf was Otto's father. One of the men in this line also appears to have married Luitgarde, daughter of Albert count of Namur. (One document names her as the wife of Otto, discussed above, another as the mother of Emmo and Otto, discussed below. But this is considered chronologically impossible.)

The next generation is again of two brothers, Emmo and Otto, who are thought to be either the sons of Giselbert or Arnold. Emmo became the next count of Loon itself while Otto was count of Duras, in the western part of Haspengouw which also later became part of Loon. There also appears to have been another brother, Herman. The county of Duras, in the southwest of Haspengouw, was held as a fief of the Duchy of Brabant
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...

, and was inherited by Otto's son Ghiselbert, and in turn by his son Otto. It eventually because part of Loon, under Count Gerard around 1194.

In 1106 Count Arnold I, the son of Emmo, was able to strengthen his position, when he acquired the possessions of the extinct Counts of Rieneck
County of Rieneck
The County of Rieneck was a comital domain within the Holy Roman Empire that lay in what is now northwestern Bavaria...

 through his marriage. The enduring conflict with the Liège overlords culminated in an 1179 campaign by Prince-Bishop Rudolf of Zähringen
Rudolf of Zähringen
Rudolf of Zähringen was the archbishop of Mainz from 1160 to 1161 and prince-bishop of Liège...

, whose troops devastated the county's capital at Borgloon
Borgloon
Borgloon is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2006 Borgloon had a total population of 10,152. The total area is 51.12 km² which gives a population density of 199 inhabitants per km². Borgloon gave its name to the former county of Loon.-External...

 (Loon Castle, French name: Looz). Around 1200 the residence was moved to Kuringen near the town of Hasselt
Hasselt
Hasselt is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital of the Flemish province of Limburg...

.

The son and heir of Arnold I was Louis (or Lodewijk) I. He founded Averboden abbey by charter dated 1135, and was count of Loon, Stadtgraf of Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

, and count of Rieneck
Rieneck
Rieneck is a town in the Main-Spessart district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany.- Location :...

. He added Brustem and Kolmont to the territory of Loon, donating charters of freedom in return.

Count Gerard II, the next count of Loon and Rieneck, moved the seat of the count to Kuringen, which is today in Hasselt. In 1190 he also inherited the county of Duras from his relatives, but had to accept Brabant's suzerainty over that territory for the time being. This area gave power over church land in Sint-Truiden
Sint-Truiden
Sint-Truiden is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, near the towns of Hasselt and Tongeren. The municipality includes the old communes of Aalst, Brustem, Duras, Engelmanshoven, Gelinden, Gorsem, Groot-Gelmen, Halmaal, Kerkom-bij-Sint-Truiden,...

, Halen
Halen
Halen is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg, to the east of Hasselt. On January 1, 2006 Halen had a total population of 8,624. The total area is 36.29 km² which gives a population density of 238 inhabitants per km²....

, and Herk de Stad, effectively defining what is today still the southwestern border of Belgian Limburg. His son Gerard III was heir, and he in turn passed Loon to Arnold IV, but Rieneck to another son, Louis.

Count Arnold IV by marriage acquired the County of Chiny
Chiny
Chiny is a Walloon municipality of Belgium located in the province of Luxembourg.On 1 January 2007 the municipality, which covers , had 5,021 inhabitants, giving a population density of 44.2 inhabitants per km²...

 in 1227, and brought the main line of the counts of Loon to the high point of its territorial expansion. The comital line became extinct with the death of Louis VI of Loon in 1336 and the Loon and Chiny estates were at first inherited by the noble House of Sponheim
House of Sponheim
The House of Sponheim or Spanheim was a noble family of the Holy Roman Empire in the High Middle Ages. They were Dukes of Carinthia from 1122 until 1269 and Counts of Sponheim until 1437...

 at Heinsberg
Heinsberg
Heinsberg is the capital of the district Heinsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated near the border with the Netherlands, on the river Wurm, approx...

 with the consent of the Liège bishop. In 1362 Prince-Bishop Engelbert III of the Marck
Engelbert III of the Marck, Archbishop of Cologne
Engelbert III von der Mark was the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne from 1364 until 1368 and the Prince-Bishop of Liège from 1345 until 1364....

 nevertheless seized Loon and finally incorporated it into the Liège territory in 1366.

The county remained a separate entity (quartier) within Liège, whose prince-bishops assumed the comital title. When the bishopric was annexed by Revolutionary France
French First Republic
The French First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly established National Convention. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I...

 in 1795, the county of Loon was also disbanded and became part of the département of Meuse-Inférieure
Meuse-Inférieure
Meuse-Inférieure is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. It is named after the river Meuse. Its capital was Maastricht....

, along with Dutch Limburg
Duchy of Limburg
The Duchy of Limburg, situated in the Low Countries between the river Meuse and the city of Aachen, was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its territory is now divided between the Belgian provinces of Liège and Limburg , the Dutch province of Limburg , and a small part of North Rhine-Westphalia in...

 to the east of the Meuse. After the defeat of Napoleon, the département became part of the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name used to refer to Kingdom of the Netherlands during the period after it was first created from part of the First French Empire and before the new kingdom of Belgium split out in 1830...

 in 1815, and received its modern name of Limburg as a way for the kingdom to preserve the old title of the medieval Duchy of Limburg
Duchy of Limburg
The Duchy of Limburg, situated in the Low Countries between the river Meuse and the city of Aachen, was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its territory is now divided between the Belgian provinces of Liège and Limburg , the Dutch province of Limburg , and a small part of North Rhine-Westphalia in...

, which was nearby. However in 1830, Belgium was created, splitting the Kingdom, and the position of Limburg became a cause of conflict between the two resulting Kingdoms. In 1839 it was finally decided to split Limburg into its two modern parts. The western part, corresponding to the old County of Loon, became part of Belgium, but kept its new name of Limburg.

Counts of Loon

  • Giselbert
    Giselbert van Loon
    Giselbert van Loon was the first count of the County of Loon, a fief of the County of Haspinga.It is not documented when Giselbert started his rule. He was Count until his death, sometime before 18 May, 1046. Giselbert took the initiative to build a castle in Borgloon, the original center of the...

     (- 1046), probably the son of Count Otto in the Betuwe
    Betuwe
    The Betuwe is an area in the Netherlands in the province of Gelderland...

     and Liutgard, daughter of Count Albert I of Namur
    Albert I, Count of Namur
    Albert I was the son of Robert I, Count of Lomme. He became Count of Namur in 998.He married Ermengarde, daughter of Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, and had three children:*Liutgard of Namur*Albert II, Count of Namur...

    , married Erlende de Jodoigne
    Jodoigne
    Jodoigne is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On January 1, 2006 Jodoigne had a total population of 12,440...

  • Emmon (1046–1078), probably the son of Giselbert,
  • Arnold I (1078–1126), son, married Agnes, daughter and heiress of Count Gerard of Rieneck
    County of Rieneck
    The County of Rieneck was a comital domain within the Holy Roman Empire that lay in what is now northwestern Bavaria...

    , Burgrave
    Burgrave
    A burgrave is literally the count of a castle or fortified town. The English form is derived through the French from the German Burggraf and Dutch burg- or burch-graeve .* The title is originally equivalent to that of castellan or châtelain, meaning keeper of a castle and/or fortified town...

     of Mainz
    Archbishopric of Mainz
    The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...

    ; with his son
    • Gerard I (1101–1103)
  • Arnold II (1126–1139), son of Arnold I
  • Louis I (1139–1171), son, married Agnes, daughter of Count Folmar V of Metz
    Metz
    Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...

  • Gerard II (1171–1191), son, married Adelaide, daughter of Count Henry I of Guelders
  • Louis II
    Louis II, Count of Loon
    Louis II was count of Loon between the end of the 12th century to 1218.He waged war against duke Henry I of Brabant for the inheritance of Albert III of Moha and the rights on Maastricht and Sint-Truiden. He had the rights of both cities, because he was regent of Duras.Louis married Ada, Countess...

     (1191–1218), son, married Ada
    Ada, Countess of Holland
    Ada was Countess of Holland between 1203 and 1207.-Biography:She was the only surviving daughter of Dirk VII, Count of Holland and his wife Adelaide of Cleves. She succeeded her father as Countess in her own right. She immediately had to deal with her uncle William, who claimed Holland for his...

    , daughter of Count Dirk VII of Holland
    Dirk VII, Count of Holland
    Dirk VII of Holland , Count of Holland from 1190 to 1203. He was elder son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon....

    , also Count of Holland
    Count of Holland
    The Counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.-House of Holland:The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia...

     1203 - 1207, followed by his brothers as guardians of his minor nephews Louis III and Arnold IV:
    • Henry (1218)
    • Arnold III (1218–1221), Count of Rieneck
      County of Rieneck
      The County of Rieneck was a comital domain within the Holy Roman Empire that lay in what is now northwestern Bavaria...

      , married Adelaide, daughter of Duke Henry I of Brabant
      Henry I, Duke of Brabant
      Henry I of Brabant , named "The Courageous" Duke of Brabant and Duke of Lower Lotharingia until his death.-Biography:...

  • Louis III (1221–1227), nephew of Louis II, son of Count Gerard III of Rieneck, also Count of Rieneck 1221 - 1243, renounced Loon in favour of his younger brother:

  • Arnold IV
    Arnold IV, Count of Loon
    Arnold IV of Loon, , was Count of Loon from 1227 to 1273 and Count of Chiny from 1228 to 1268. He was the son of Gerard III, Count of Rieneck and Cunegonde Zimmern....

     (1227–1273), son of Count Gerard III of Rieneck, married Joanna, daughter of Count Louis IV of Chiny
    Chiny
    Chiny is a Walloon municipality of Belgium located in the province of Luxembourg.On 1 January 2007 the municipality, which covers , had 5,021 inhabitants, giving a population density of 44.2 inhabitants per km²...

    , also Count of Chiny
  • John I (1273–1279), son, married Matilda, daughter of William IV, Count of Jülich
    William IV, Count of Jülich
    William IV, Count of Jülich was the son and heir of William III of Jülich and Mathilde of Limburg, daughter of Waleran III, Duke of Limburg....

    , secondly Isabelle de Condé
    Condé-en-Brie
    Condé-en-Brie is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-Population:-References:*...

  • Arnold V (1279–1323), son, also Count of Chiny 1299 - 1313, married Margaret of Vianden
    Counts of Vianden
    The Counts of Vianden, ancestors of the House of Orange-Nassau, were associated with the castle of Vianden .-House of Sponheim:* Bertolph count of Vianden * Frederic I of Vianden...

  • Louis IV (1323–1336), son, also Count of Chiny since 1313, married Margaret, daughter of Duke Theobald II of Lorraine
    Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine
    Theobald II was the duke of Lorraine from 1303 to his death. He was the son and successor of Frederick III and Margaret, daughter of King Theobald I of Navarre....


Line extinct, succeeded by:
  • Theodoric, (1336–1361) son of Gottfried of Sponheim
    House of Sponheim
    The House of Sponheim or Spanheim was a noble family of the Holy Roman Empire in the High Middle Ages. They were Dukes of Carinthia from 1122 until 1269 and Counts of Sponheim until 1437...

    , Lord of Heinsberg
    Heinsberg
    Heinsberg is the capital of the district Heinsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated near the border with the Netherlands, on the river Wurm, approx...

     and Mechtild of Loon, sister of Count Louis IV, also Count of Chiny and Lord of Heinsberg
  • Gottfried (1361–1362), nephew, son of John of Heinsberg, married Philippa, daughter of Count William V of Jülich, also Count of Chiny and Lord of Heinsberg, sold the comital title to:
  • Arnold VI of Rumigny
    Rumigny, Ardennes
    Rumigny is a commune in the Ardennes department in the Champagne-Ardenne region in northern France.It lies near Rozoy-en-Thièrache, from Mon Idée on the border with Belgium, at the junction of routes D877 and D977.-Population:...

    (1362–1366), claimant, renounced in favour of Liège.
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