Catherine of Cleves (1417–1479)

Catherine of Cleves (* May 25, 1417 at the Swan Castle in Kleve, † February 10, 1476 in Lobith ) was Duchess of funds and countess of Zutphen. Her parents were Duke Adolf of Cleves (1373-1448) and Mary of Burgundy ( 1394-1463 ).

Family

Catherine of Cleves was married to Duke Arnold of Egmond, Duke of Gelre and Count of Zutphen (1410-1473) and had six children:

• Maria (1432-1463) ∞ 1449 with James II ( 1430-1460 )
• Edward ( 1434, died as a small child )
• Wilhelm ( 1435, died as a small child )
• Margarete ( born August 11, 1436 † November 2, 1486 ) ∞ 1454 with the Count Palatine Frederick I of Pfalz- simmering ( 1417-1480 ).
• Adolf (1438-1477) ∞ 1463 with his cousin Catherine de Bourbon ( 1441-1469 to ). He was considered the favorite son of Catherine.
• Catherine (1439-1497), secretly ∞ with the Bishop of Liège, Louis de Bourbon ( 1438-1482/86 ). The marriage produced three sons were born.

Life

Catherine is described as a very confident woman because they interfered as a woman in the political situation of the Duchy of Geldern.

At seven, she was engaged to Arnold of Egmond and six years later in 1430 married to him. The marriage was so unhappy that Catherine about 1440 left her husband to live in Nijmegen or Lobith.

As a patron of the arts they had in that time, a Book of Hours customize it for their personal use, which has 157 miniatures, whose book painter known only as Master of Catherine of Cleves. The work is one of the most precious art treasures of the Renaissance.

When her husband 1449/50 set out on a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem, Katharina He was represented by the government. After returning the marriage remained tense and the conflicts spilled over also had a son, who wanted to sell his often wasteful and gesetzeslos living father as Duke. Catherine was in this confrontation as a mother between the father and his son, where they eventually supported her son. Assistance they received while even by their opponents, who also complained about the unspeakable conditions in the duchy of Guelders. On the roads and paths in the duchy in fact occurred at the time by the Duke tolerated countless raids, looting and abductions.

1465 Catherine's husband was taken prisoner at Castle Buren by a conspiracy headed by the son of Adolf. It was only on December 7, 1472 husband Arnold came free again, after he ( is another source of the speech 92000 ) 300000 pledged his duchy for gold florins to his liberator Burgundian duke Charles the Bold. Katharina resulted in Lobith, a family of Egmond, since a retired life. In 1473 they were informed there about the death of her husband. After her death on February 10, 1479 she was buried next to her father, Adolf II of Cleves, in the Carthusian monastery of Our Lady's island near Wesel.