Henry II of Nassau

Henry II "the Rich" of Nassau (; – 26 April 1247/48/49/50, before 25 January 1251) was Count of Nassau. He distinguished himself in particular by his chivalrous and devout spirit. He was charitable and made great donations to the church, so that the monasteries and prayer houses in the area of present-day Nassau experienced the most significant bloom in his time. The greatest favour was the Teutonic Order to enjoy, to which he donated especially for the renunciation of his brother's, upon his entry into the order. Henry participated in the Sixth Crusade. He was the builder of the castles Sonnenberg, Ginsburg and Dillenburg.

Life

Henry II was the eldest son of Count Walram I of Nassau and a certain Kunigunde, possibly a daughter of a count of Sponheim or a daughter of count Poppo II of Ziegenhain. Henry was in 1214 with Emperor Frederick II in Jülich, in 1223 with Frederick's son Henry in Worms, and in 1224 in Frankfurt. In 1231 Henry attended the Imperial Diet of Worms and in 1232 he was at the imperial assembly of Frederick II in Ravenna. The Nassau possessions in this area were expanded around 1214 when Henry received the Imperial Vogtship (Reichsvogtei) over Wiesbaden and the surrounding Königssondergau, which he held as fiefdoms.

Towards the end of the 12th century, Walram I had been able to strengthen his power on the lower Lahn. As part of the inheritance of the Counts of Arnstein, he succeeded them as the Archbishopric of Trier's Vogt in Koblenz, Pfaffendorf (now a borough of Koblenz), Niederlahnstein, and Humbach (Montabaur). However, by the 1230s, Trier's influence near the Rhine and Lahn had strengthened enough to oust Nassau from the majority of the Archbishopric's vogtships.

Henry's brother, Rupert, had joined the Teutonic Order in 1230. On his death in 1239, Rupert bequeathed his legacy to the Order. Henry continuously disputed any division of his realm with the Teutonic Order.

Henry also held the Upper Vogtship over the Diocese of St. George in Limburg an der Lahn during the construction of the Limburg Cathedral. In 1239 he transferred, at the request of his vassal Friedrich vom Hain, the income of the Netphen parishes to the Premonstratensian Keppel Abbey near Hilchenbach. His descendants took over the patronage of the monastery.

Henry's policies in the Herborner Mark angered the local aristocratic families. Around 1240, Henry built Dillenburg Castle Rupert (died 19 September before 1247), was a clergyman. John (died Deventer, 13 July 1309), was Bishop-Elect of Utrecht 1267–1290. Catharine (died 27 April 1324), became Abbess of Altenberg Abbey near Wetzlar in 1249. Jutta (died 1313), married around 1260 to John I, Lord of Cuijk (died 13 July 1308). ? Irmgard (died 1 August 1297), was abbess of Val-Benoît.