Adelaide of Vianden

Countess Adelaide of Vianden (; ) was a countess from the House of Vianden, the cadet branch of the House of Sponheim that ruled the County of Vianden, and through marriage Countess of Nassau-Siegen. She acted as regent of the County of Nassau-Siegen for her eldest son during his minority in the period 1351–1362.

Adelaide, described as a clever and energetic woman, endeavoured to gradually settle the numerous feuds inherited by her and her son with the local noble families, the powerful lords of , Walderdorff and , although she herself did not disdain to take up the gauntlet forced upon her on one occasion or another. On the other hand, she also resolved many of the pledges entered into by her husband. In the underdeveloped County of Nassau-Siegen, where the local nobility thought they had a free hand, she kept the reins tight.

Biography Adelaide was the only daughter of Count Philip II of Vianden and Countess Adelaide of Arnsberg. When and where Adelaide was born is unknown.

Marriage

Adelaide married (marriage contract 23 December 1331 ) to Count Otto II of Nassau-Siegen ( – between 6 December 1350 and 25 January 1351 ).

Adelaide and Otto were second cousins once removed. Adelaide's great-great-grandfather, Count Gerard III of Guelders and Zutphen, was an elder brother of Countess Matilda of Guelders and Zutphen, a great-grandmother of Otto.

Otto succeeded his father in July or August 1343 The following year, Otto sold the castle and lordship of Löhnberg to Count palatine Rupert I and Count Gerlach I of Nassau.

Otto is not considered to have been a good regent. His short reign was a succession of feuds during which the country was devastated and the sources of prosperity were blocked. To control his expenses, he was forced to pledge possessions frequently and as a result the development of a powerful activity inwardly as well as outwardly was hampered. in a battle, that, according to charters, must have taken place between 6 December 1350 and 25 January 1351. As the children were still minors, Adelaide assumed regency over the county.

Regency

Adelaide is considered to have been a good regent. She had built the castle on allodial land of the lords of Bicken and had the ownership rights to the castle hill known as 'Murstein' confirmed in 1352. This way, the feud with Gerlach and Friedrich von Bicken, whose allies were the lords of Wildenburg and Elkershausen, which was highly damaging for both sides, was settled.

Also in 1352, Adelaide succeeded in buying back the former Nassau half of the city of Siegen from the Electorate of Cologne for "zwey dusent alte schyldgulden" ("two thousand old shield guilders"). The beneficial consequences of peace and tranquillity became apparent in the next few years. Adelaide and her son, as it seems, sought satisfaction for the aforementioned debt of Emperor Charles IV to the toll of the Electorate of Mainz at Oberlahnstein, which was closest to them. In any case, they had even older claims on the Electorate of Mainz, probably dating back to Roman King Louis IV's time. As usual, a feud ensued. In the autumn of 1362, Archbishop , invaded Nassau-Siegen with 500 horsemen, each of whom, according to the custom of the time, were accompanied by a few armed footmen. The long known belligerent peasants of the Rheingau scorched, looted and devastated the county, but had to retreat across the Rhine when the floods came, to prevent being cut off.

Adelaide died on 30 September 1376. It is unknown where she was buried.

Legacy When Elisabeth of Sponheim-Kreuznach, Countess of Vianden, died without issue in 1417, Adelaide's grandsons, Adolf I, John II 'with the Helmet', Engelbert I and John III 'the Younger' of Nassau-Siegen, inherited the County of Vianden with the lordships of St. Vith, Bütgenbach, Dasburg and Grimbergen.

First marriage? In his genealogy of the House of Nassau, A.W.E. Dek states that Adelaide was first married to Johan v. Dollendorf-Cronenberg. Count John I ( – Herborn Castle, 4 September 1416), succeeded his father as Count of Nassau-Siegen. He married on 30 November 1357 to Countess (d. 29 September 1409). Henry 'the Swashbuckler' (d. Kassel, 5 September 1402), was canon at the Cologne Cathedral since 1356. Otto (d. 1384), was canon and provost of Saint Maurice Church in Mainz since 1357 and canon of the Cologne Cathedral and the Mainz Cathedral since 1380.

Adelaide and Otto signed a marriage contract with Count Adolf II of the Mark and Countess Margaret of Cleves, for a son of Nassau to marry a daughter of the Mark, on 14 August 1343.

Ancestors