William I, Count of Holland
William I of Holland (* 1170, † February 4, 1222 ) was from 1203 until his death, Count of Holland.
Family
He was the son of Count Florens III. of Holland and Adelaide of Huntingdon, daughter of Prince Henry of Scotland.
William I married in 1197 Adelheid von Geldern ( * 1190, † February 4, 1218 ) daughter of Otto I of funds and Richardis of Bavaria. From this marriage the children come from:
- Florens IV, Count of Holland (* 1210, † 1234)
- Otto III. , Bishop of Utrecht ( † 1249 )
- Wilhelm ( † 1238 )
- Ada († 1258 ), from 1239 abbess in Rijnsburg
- Ricarda († 1262 )
He married in 1220 Maria of Brabant († 1260 ), the widow of Emperor Otto IV. Marriage remains childless.
Life
He took in 1189 with his father Florens III. in the Third Crusade under Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa part. In this his father in 1190, died in Antioch.
After his return, he rebelled against his brother Dietrich VII, who had taken over his father's county of Holland. This William was supported by the Count of Flanders and the Frisians. 1195 were he and his allies, however, decisively defeated by his sister Adelheid von Kleve at Egmond and he had to give up his rebellion.
After the death of Dietrich in 1203 he took up the struggle for the succession in Holland again, this time against Dietrich's daughter Ada and her husband Louis II, Count of Looz. Until 1206 he had prevailed against his opponents.
In the battle of the Hohenstaufen and Guelphs he tended to the camp of Hohenstaufen. Although he fought in 1214 in the army of Emperor Otto IV at the Battle of Bouvines. However, he soon changed the side and joined the French Crown Prince Ludwig ( VIII ) when he invaded England in 1215/16 to.
His support for the Hohenstaufen party brought him into disfavor of Pope Honorius III. , Which is why William looked in 1217 led to join the Fifth Crusade.
In the summer of 1217 he set out with a fleet of Dutch, Flemish and Frisian crusaders from Holland to the Holy Land. In Portugal, he was persuaded the thicknesses by the local King Alfonso, to winter there and conquer for him Al -Qasr, Setúbal and Rabeta Ruta from the Moors. Until April 1218 he arrived in Acre. With his help, succeeded in August 1219 after 16 months of siege and fierce fighting, the conquest of the Egyptian city of Damietta. After the conquest of the fortress he regarded as fulfilled his vow and returned to their homeland.
His first wife had died in the meantime and he married in 1220 his second wife Maria of Brabant, the widow of the Emperor Otto. Three years later he died.