John VIII, Count of Nassau-Siegen
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John VIII of Nassau-Siegen (Jan or Johan), Count of Nassau-Siegen, Katzenelnbogen
Katzenelnbogen
Katzenelnbogen is the name of a castle and small city in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde Katzenelnbogen.-History:...
, Vianden
Vianden
Vianden is a commune with city status in the Oesling, north-eastern Luxembourg, with over 1,500 inhabitants. It is the capital of the canton of Vianden, which is part of the district of Diekirch. Vianden lies on the Our river, near the border between Luxembourg and Germany., the town of Vianden,...
and Dietz, marquis of Monte-Caballo, baron of Ronse and baron of Beilstein (Dillenburg
Dillenburg
Dillenburg is a town in Hesse's Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis....
, September 29, 1583 – Ronse
Ronse
Ronse is a Belgian city and a municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality only comprises the city of Ronse proper.- Early settlements to 14th century :...
, July 27, 1638) was a Dutch noble and military of the 17th century.
John VIII was the second son of John VII, Count of Nassau and Countess Magdalena of Waldeck
Countess Magdalena of Waldeck
Countess Magdalena of Waldeck was a daughter of Philip IV of Waldeck-Wildungen and his wife, Jutta of Isenburg .- First marriage :...
.
He was educated in Herborn
Herborn
Herborn is a historic town on the Dill in the Lahn-Dill district of Hesse in Germany. Before World War I, it was granted its own title as Nassauisches Rothenburg. The symbol or mascot of this town is a bear. Scenic attractions include its half-timbered houses; Herborn is located on the German...
, Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
and Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. In 1610 he participated in the Dutch States Army
Dutch States Army
The Dutch States Army was the army of the Dutch Republic. It was usually called this, because it was formally the army of the States-General of the Netherlands, the sovereign power of that federal republic...
in the conquest of Jülich
Jülich
Jülich is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Jülich is well known as location of a world-famous research centre, the Forschungszentrum Jülich and as shortwave transmission site of Deutsche Welle...
.
On December 25, 1613, much to the horror of his family, he openly converted to Catholism and entered in the service of the army of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy
Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy
Charles Emmanuel I , known as the Great, was the Duke of Savoy from 1580 to 1630...
. After the death of his elder brother, Johann Ernst in september 1617, he claimed his rights, but his father chose a Protestant successor. When his father died in 1623, John VIII occupied Nassau-Siegen at the head of a Habsburg Army and started the Contra-Reformation.
In 1624 he became a Knight in the Order of the Golden Fleece
Order of the Golden Fleece
The Order of the Golden Fleece is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1430, to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Infanta Isabella of Portugal, daughter of King John I of Portugal. It evolved as one of the most prestigious orders in Europe...
.
Justinus van Nassau
Justinus van Nassau was the only extramarital child of William of Orange. He was a Dutch army commander known for unsuccessfully defending Breda against the Spanish, and the depiction of his surrender on the famous picture by Diego Velázquez, The Surrender of Breda.His mother was Eva Elincx,...
.
John VIII of Nassau-Siegen is depicted on the famous portrait The Surrender of Breda
The Surrender of Breda
La rendición de Breda , also known as El cuadro de las lanzas or Las lanzas, is a painting by Velázquez, painted during the years 1634–35, and inspired while Velázquez was visiting Italy with Ambrosio Spinola, the Italian general who conquered Breda on June 5, 1625. It is considered one of...
by Diego Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
, third from the left in the Spanish camp, looking straight at the spectator.
In 1630 he was captured by the Dutch Army but released the same year. In 1631, he was in charge of the Spanish
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...
-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....
Fleet defeated by the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Scots
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
mercenaries, at the Battle of the Slaak
Battle of the Slaak
The naval Battle of the Slaak was a Dutch victory during the Eighty Years' War. The Dutch prevented the Spanish army from dividing the Dutch United Provinces in two.-Background:...
, fighting on behalf of the Spanish Governor Francisco de Moncada, 3rd Marquis of Aitona, (1586–1635).
In 1632, Nassau-Siegen was conquered by the Swedes, after which his half-brother John Maurice of Nassau-Siegen re-introduced Protestantism.
John VIII died in 1638 and was succeeded by his only son Johan Frans Desideratus, who had to cede part of Nassau-Siegen to the Protestant branch of the family.
Marriage and Children
John married on augustus 13 1618 in Brussels with the Catholic Ernestine Yolande de Ligne D'amblise (1594–1668), daughter of Lamoral de Ligne, Prince d'Espinoy. They had six children.- Maria (1619–1620)
- stillborn daughter (1620)
- Clara Maria (1621–1695), married with her cousins Prince Albert Henri de Ligne in 1634, and with Claude Lamoral, 3rd Prince of Ligne in 1642.
- Ernestine Charlotte (1623–1668), married in 1650 Prince Maurice Henry of Nassau-Hadamar.
- Lamberta Alberta Gabrielle Ursula (1625–1635)
- Johan Frans Desideratus (Nozeroy, 1627 - Roermond, 1699), Count of Nassau-Siegen