Engelbert I of Nassau was a son of Count Johan I of Nassau and Margaretha, Countess van der Marck, daughter of Count Adolf II van der Marck.

Early years

Engelbert of Nassau was a student in Cologne, Germany in 1389 and a dean in Münster from 1399-1404. He became counselor to the Duke of Brabant, first to Anton of Bourgondia, and later for his son Jan IV of Brabant. He would later serve Philip the Good.

Marriage and issue

Engelbert's brothers were childless and he left the deanery so he could marry Johanna van Polanen in 1404. They had six children:

• Jan IV of Nassau
  Jan IV of Nassau
  Jan IV of Nassau was Count of Nassau, Dietz and Dillenburg. He was the son of Engelbert I of Nassau, Count of Nassau and Dillenburg, Lord of Breda and Johanna of Polanen....
  
   (born 1 August 1410) married Maria van Loon-Heinsberg
• Hendrik II of Nassau (born 7 January 1414) married 1) Genoveva of Virneburg 2) Irmgard of Schleiden-Junkerath
• Margaretha (born 1415), married Diederik, Count of Sayn
• Willem (born December 1416)
• Maria (born 2 February 1418), married Count John II of Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein
  John II, Count of Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein
  John II of Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein was a son of Adolph II, Count of Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein and his wife Margarete of Baden, a daughter of Margrave Bernard I, Margrave of Baden-Baden en Anna of Oettingen...
  
  
• Philip (born 13 October 1420 - died 1429)

Engelbert had an illegitimate daughter with an unknown mistress:

• Margaretha of Nassau. She married Hugo Wijnrix

He died May 3, 1442 in Breda

Breda

Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The name Breda derived from brede Aa and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. As a fortified city, the city was of strategic military and political significance...

. A mausoleum was built for Engelbert in the Church-of-Our-Lady (the Great Church) in Breda. The construction took thirty years, from 1460 to 1490.