Floris V, Count of Holland
Encyclopedia
County of Holland
The County of Holland was a county in the Holy Roman Empire and from 1482 part of the Habsburg Netherlands in what is now the Netherlands. It covered an area roughly corresponding to the current Dutch provinces of North-Holland and South-Holland, as well as the islands of Terschelling, Vlieland,...
and Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...
(24 June 1254 – 27 June 1296), "der Keerlen God" (God of the Peasants), is one of the most important figures of the first, native dynasty of Holland (833–1299). His life was documented in detail in the Rijmkroniek by Melis Stoke
Melis Stoke
Melis Stoke was a Dutch writer who lived in the 13th century.-Biography:Melis Stoke was probably born in the Dutch province of Zeeland around 1235...
, his chronicler. He is credited with a mostly peaceful reign, modernizing administration, policies beneficial to trade, generally acting in the interests of his peasants at the expense of nobility, and reclaiming land from the sea. His dramatic murder engineered by King Edward I of England
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
and Guy de Dampierre, count of Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
, made him a hero in Holland.
Early life
He was the son of Count William II (1227–1256), who was elected King of the RomansKing of the Romans
King of the Romans was the title used by the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire following his election to the office by the princes of the Kingdom of Germany...
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...
in 1248, and was slain in 1256 by Frisians
Frisians
The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...
when Floris was just two years old. First his uncle (Floris de Voogd
Floris de Voogd
Floris de Voogd "the guardian" of Holland, son of Floris IV, Count of Holland and Matilda of Brabant . He reigned temporarily for William II of Holland, King of the Romans, while the latter was engaged in Germany. After King William's death in 1256 he was guardian of Floris V, Count of Holland,...
from 1256 to 1258), then his aunt (Adelaide of Holland
Adelaide of Holland
Adelaide of Holland or Aleide van Holland was a daughter of Floris IV, Count of Holland and Matilda of Brabant. She was also a sister of William II, Count of Holland and King of Germany...
from 1258 to 1263) fought over custody of Holland. At the battle of Reimerswaal on 22 January 1263, Count Otto II, Count of Guelders
Otto II, Count of Guelders
Otto II, Count of Guelders was a nobleman from the 13th century. He was the son of Gerard III, Count of Guelders and Margaretha of Brabant.-Life:...
defeated Aleidis and was chosen regent by the nobles who opposed Aleidis.
Otto II served as Floris V's guardian until he was twelve years old (1266) and considered capable of administering Holland himself. Floris’s mother (Elisabeth) continued to reside in Holland after her husband’s death in 1256. She died May 27, 1266 and is buried in Middelburg abbey church. She died in the same year that Count Floris V was declared old enough to rule without guardianship, on July 10, 1266.
Political life
Floris was supported by the count of HainautCounty of Hainaut
The County of Hainaut was a historical region in the Low Countries with its capital at Mons . In English sources it is often given the archaic spelling Hainault....
of the house of Avesnes
House of Avesnes
The Avesnes family played an important role during the Middle Ages. The family has its roots in the small village Avesnes-sur-Helpe, in the north of France....
who was an archenemy of the count of Flanders
Count of Flanders
The Count of Flanders was the ruler or sub-ruler of the county of Flanders from the 9th century until the abolition of the position by the French revolutionaries in 1790....
of the house of Dampierre
Dampierre
Dampierre is the name of several communes in France:*Dampierre, Aube, in the Aube département*Dampierre, Calvados, in the Calvados département*Dampierre, Haute-Marne, in the Haute-Marne département*Dampierre, Jura, in the Jura département...
. Floris married Beatrix of Dampierre, the daughter of Guy of Dampierre
Guy of Dampierre
Guy of Dampierre was the count of Flanders during the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302.Guy was the second son of William II of Dampierre and Margaret II of Flanders. The death of his elder brother William in a tournament made him joint Count of Flanders with his mother...
, count of Flanders, in 1269.
In 1272 he unsuccessfully attacked the Frisians in a first attempt to retrieve the body of his father. In 1274 he faced an uprising by nobles led by the powerful lords Gijsbrecht IV of Amstel
Gijsbrecht IV of Amstel
Gijsbrecht IV of Amstel or Gijsbrecht IV van Amstel was a powerful lord in medieval Holland. His territory was the Heren van Amstel, and his son was Jan I.-Life:...
, Zweder of Abcoude, Arnoud of Amstel, and Herman VI van Woerden
Herman VI van Woerden
Herman or Hermanus VI van Woerden was a lord of Woerden.He was the son of Herman V van Woerden and Badeloch Clemeta van Amstel, daughter of Gijsbrecht III van Amstel. It is assumed he became ruler of Woerden after 1252, the last year that his father was mentioned...
, who held lands on the border with the adjacent bishopric
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
of Utrecht
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht
The Archdiocese of Utrecht is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands. The archdiocese is the metropolitan for 6 suffragans, the dioceses of Breda, Groningen-Leeuwarden, Haarlem-Amsterdam, Roermond, Rotterdam, and 's-Hertogenbosch....
(the area of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Abcoude
Abcoude
Abcoude is a town and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. Since 2011 it has made part of the municipality of De Ronde Venen.- Population centres :...
, IJsselstein
IJsselstein
IJsselstein is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. IJsselstein received city rights in 1331. IJsselstein owes its name to the river Hollandse IJssel which flows through the city....
, and Woerden
Woerden
Woerden is a municipality and a city in the central Netherlands. Due to its central location between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, and the fact that it has excellent rail and road connections to those cities, it is a popular town for commuters who work in those cities.-Population...
) at the expense of the bishop. Gijsbrecht and Herman were supported by the craftsmen of Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
, the peasants of Kennemerland
Kennemerland
Kennemerland is a region in the Netherlands, near the coast in the province of North Holland. In includes the sand dunes north of the North Sea Canal, as well as the dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park.-History:...
(Alkmaar
Alkmaar
Alkmaar is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of Noord Holland. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination.-History:...
, Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
, and surroundings), Waterland (north of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
) and Amstelland (Amsterdam and surroundings) and the West Frisians
West Friesland (historical region)
West Friesland is a historical region in the northern part of the Netherlands. It was located in parts of what now is Noord-Holland and the Waddenzee. The region was bordered by the rivers Vlie and IJ...
. He assisted the weak bishop, John I of Nassau
John I, Bishop-Elect of Utrecht
John I of Nassau was Bishop-elect of Utrecht from 1267 to 1290.-Biography:...
, by making a treaty with the craftsmen. The bishop would become dependent on Hollands support, and eventually added the lands of the rebellious lords to Holland in 1279. He gave concessions to the peasants of Kennemerland. Kennemerland was a duneland, where the farmers had far fewer rights than the farmers in the polders. Floris got rid of the Avesnes influence and switched allegiance to the Dampierres.
In 1282 he again attacked the troublesome Frisians in the north, defeating them at the battle of Vronen, and succeeded in retrieving the body of his father. After a campaign in 1287–1288 he finally defeated the Frisians. In the meantime he had received Zeeland-bewester-Schelde (the area that controls access to the Scheldt river) as a loan from the Holy Roman King in 1287, but the local nobility sided with the count of Flanders who invaded in 1290. Floris arranged a meeting with count Guy of Flanders, but he was taken prisoner in Biervliet
Biervliet
Biervliet is a town in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Terneuzen, and lies about 16 km South of Vlissingen.Biervliet received city rights in 1183. It is originally a fishing village...
and was forced to abandon his claims and then set free.
Floris immediately wanted to resume war, but King Edward I of England, who had an interest in access to the great rivers for wool and other English goods, convinced Floris to stop hostilities with Flanders. When in 1292 Floris claimed the throne of Scotland in the Great Cause, (his great-grandmother Ada being the sister of King William I of Scotland
William I of Scotland
William the Lion , sometimes styled William I, also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough", reigned as King of the Scots from 1165 to 1214...
) he did not receive the expected support from Edward, but England did support his claims in a new, this time more successful, war on Flanders.
Capture and death
After Edward I moved his trade in wool from DordrechtDordrecht
Dordrecht , colloquially Dordt, historically in English named Dort, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the fourth largest city of the province, having a population of 118,601 in 2009...
in Holland to Mechelen
Mechelen
Mechelen Footnote: Mechelen became known in English as 'Mechlin' from which the adjective 'Mechlinian' is derived...
in 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...
, to gain Flanders's support against France, Floris switched sides to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1296. Edward I now prohibited all English trade on Holland and conspired with Guy of Flanders to have Floris kidnapped and taken to France. The humiliated lords Gijsbrecht IV of Amstel and Herman of Woerden enter the scene again as part of the conspiracy. Together with Gerard van Velsen
Gerard van Velsen
Gerard van Velsen was lord of Beverwijk, Noordwijk and Velsen.He was the son of Albrecht van Velsen and Hildegonde.Gerard was married to Machteld van Woerden, a sister of Herman VI van Woerden...
they captured Floris during a hunting party and brought him to Muiderslot
Muiderslot
The Muiderslot is a castle in the Netherlands, located at the mouth of the river Vecht, some 15 kilometers southeast of Amsterdam, in Muiden, where it flows into what used to be the Zuiderzee...
castle. The news of the capture spread quickly; afraid of the people, four days later the lords together with their captive left the castle to get to a safer place. They were stopped by an angry mob of local peasants. In panic Gerard of Velzen killed the count, and the lords fled. Gerard of Velzen was captured later and killed in Leiden. The other conspirators fled to Brabant, Flanders and perhaps to Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
, to which many colonists and crusaders from Holland migrated.
Legacy
The life and death of Floris V inspired songs, plays, and books in the Netherlands. Best known is the play "Gijsbrecht van AemstelGijsbrecht van Aemstel (play)
Gijsbrecht van Aemstel was a 17th century history play by Joost van den Vondel, written to inaugurate Amsterdam's first city theatre. The first production was planned to take place on 26 December 1637, but was postponed until 3 January 1638...
" by 17th century playwright and poet Joost van den Vondel
Joost van den Vondel
Joost van den Vondel was a Dutch writer and playwright. He is considered the most prominent Dutch poet and playwright of the 17th century. His plays are the ones from that period that are still most frequently performed, and his epic Joannes de Boetgezant , on the life of John the Baptist, has...
, which is about the sacking of Amsterdam in the days after the death of Floris V.
The nickname "God of the Peasants" was introduced after his death in the nobility, and was originally intended to be an insult. He earned the name because he behaved "as if he were the Good Lord himself with his peasants". He apparently knighted 40 peasants as members of the Order of St. James without permission of the church, provoking the anger of the church and of the 12 existing noble members of that knightly order. This story has no historical basis, just like another story that claims that Gerard of Velzen participated in the conspiracy because Floris supposedly raped his wife. What is certain is that Floris was remembered as a saint by the peasants of Holland, and that the "God of the Peasants" became a symbolic hero in the struggle for independence from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648).
Family
Floris V was the son of Count William II of Holland and Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In ca 1271 Foris married Beatrice of Flanders, daughter of Guy de Dampierre, count of FlandersFlanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
and Matilda, heiress of Bethune, Dendermonde, Richebourg and Warneton. Floris and Beatrice had several children including:
- John I, Count of HollandJohn I, Count of HollandJohn I was Count of Holland and son of Count Floris V. John inherited the county in 1296 after the murder of his father....
, who married ElizabethElizabeth of RhuddlanElizabeth of Rhuddlan was the eighth and youngest daughter of Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile...
, daughter of King Edward I of England. No issue. After John's death Elizabeth returned to England and married Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of HerefordHumphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of HerefordHumphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford was a member of a powerful Anglo-Norman family of the Welsh Marches and was one of the Ordainers who opposed Edward II's excesses.-Family background :...
. - Margaret, engaged to Alphonso, Earl of ChesterAlphonso, Earl of ChesterAlphonso was the ninth child of Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile. During his lifetime, he was first in line to his father's throne of England and to his mother's county of Ponthieu in France....
, son of King Edward I of England from 1281 to his death in 1284.
Further children are mentioned in the Chronologia Johannes de Beke, giving a total of eleven children:
Dirk (Theodricum), Floris (Florencium), William (Wilhelmum), Otto (Ottonem), William (Wilhelmum), Floris (Florencium), Beatrice (Beatricem), Mechtild (Machtildim), and Elizabeth
Floris had several illegitimate children, including:
- Witte van HaemstedeWitte van HaemstedeWitte van Haemstede was a bastard son of Floris V, Count of Holland. His half-brother John I, Count of Holland, gave him the property of Haamstede, in Southern Holland. He married Agnes van der Sluys, sometime before 1307...
, son of Anna van Heusden (daughter of Jan van Heusden). Married Agnes van der Sluys had issue. - Catherina van HollandCatherina van HollandCatharina van Holland was the bastard child of Floris V, Count of Holland. She married Zweder van Montfoort. Their son was Hendrik II van Montfoort.-External links:...
(Katherin), married Zweder van Montfoort
Ancestors
External links and sources
See also
- Counts of Holland family treeCounts of Holland family treeThis is a family tree of the Counts of Holland from 916 to 1299, when a personal union was formed with the County of Hainaut. After this date, the diagram continues at Counts of Hainaut family tree.-See also:*Holland - Other family trees...