Henry I of Nassau-Siegen

Henry I of Nassau-Siegen (; – between 13 July and 14 August 1343) was Count of Nassau-Siegen, a part of the County of Nassau, and ancestor of the House of Nassau-Siegen. He comes from the Ottonian branch of the House of Nassau.

Life Henry was the eldest son of Count Otto I of Nassau and Agnes of Leiningen, a daughter of Count and Elisabeth.

In 1288 Henry took part in the Battle of Worringen alongside Archbishop Siegfried II of Cologne and fell into the hands of the citizens of the city of Cologne, whom he had to swear in 1289 the so-called Urfehde. He came to an agreement with the Archbishop on his claim for compensation in 1295 at the court day in Frankfurt.

In 1292 Henry supported his cousin Adolf of Nassau in the royal election by agreeing to the pledging of Nassau property to the Archbishop of Cologne. In 1297-1298 Henry was deputy to the Roman King and governor of the Margravate of Meissen and Pleissnerland.

No matter how faithful Henry had been to his cousin Adolf in his fight against Albert of Habsburg, after Adolf died, Henry soon passed over to Albert. Already in 1301, Albert took Henry and his brothers into his army for a reward of 1000 marks. Part of that amount had to be paid by Kraft of Greifenstein, on which the later claims of the Counts of Nassau on the lordship Greifenstein were based. and the lordship Westerwald.

Henry participated in the feud of Archbishop Wigbold I of Cologne against the Counts of Mark in his attempts to reduce the damage sustained by the Archdiocese of Cologne after the Battle of Worringen. to Henry as a fief, stipulating that his shire would pass to his brother with his death.

In the conflict between Frederick ‘the Fair’ of Austria and Louis ‘the Bavarian’, Henry and his brothers stood by the former. In November 1314, the brothers attended the crowning of Frederick ‘the Fair’ by the Archbishop of Cologne at Bonn. The brothers obtained several benefits, including again Greifenstein. Louis ‘the Bavarian’, however, gave the lordship Greifenstein as a fief to Count Godefroy of Sayn – an opponent of the counts of Nassau.

After his brother John died in the Battle of Hermannstein near Wetzlar in 1328, Henry inherited all John's possessions (the County of Nassau-Dillenburg) because his other brother Emicho renounced his share of the inheritance.

In 1336, Henry's sons Otto and Henry signed a distribution treaty for their father's county. In 1339, however, the youngest son Henry married against the will of his father and brother. It came to battle between the two brothers. Otto entered into an alliance with Landgrave Herman I of Hesse against his brother Henry. A reconciliation could be achieved through the mediation of the counts Gerlach I of Nassau and Dirk III of Loon-Heinsberg. A new distribution treaty followed in 1341.

At the end of his life, Henry was embroiled in a controversy with Reinhard of Westerburg about the lordship rights in the Westerwald, in which Henry was victorious. After that he partially left the government to his eldest son Otto. The last known activity of Henry is when he reached a comparison with Archbishop Walram of Cologne over the joint rule over Siegen, in the summer of 1343. Henry was succeeded by his sons Otto and Henry in accordance with the distribution treaty of 1341.

Marriage and children Henry married before 1302 to Adelaide of Heinsberg and Blankenburg († after 21 May 1343), a daughter of Lord Dirk II of Heinsberg and Blankenburg and Johanna of Leuven (a granddaughter of Duke Henry I of Brabant). ‘Aleydis uxor… Henrici comitis de Nassouwia’ renounced the legacy of ‘felicis recordationis … Walrami domini quondam de Blanckenberch fratris nostri’ in favor of ‘nostrum consanguineum … Theodericum dominum de Heymsbergh et de Blamckenberch militem filium quondam domini Godefridi fratris nostri’, with the permission of ‘domini Henrici nostri mariti comitis prelibati nec non Ottonis militis primogeniti ac Henrici prepositi Spirensis nostrorum filiorum’, in a charter dated 8 March 1333.

From this marriage were born: Agnes (died 29 October 1316/18), married about 1314 to Lord Gerlach II of Isenburg-Limburg (died 2 April 1355). Otto ( – December 1350/January 1351), succeeded his father as count of Nassau-Siegen. Henry ( – 24 February 1378 (1380?)), succeeded his father as count of Nassau-Beilstein.