Duke Henri III of Brabant & Duchess Adelaide of Burgundy

 47281334. Duke Henri III of Brabant & 47281335. Duchess Adelaide of Burgundy

~1226, Henri born in Brabant, s/o 47279574. Duke Henri II of Brabant & 47279575. Marie de Hohenstaufen.

~1233, Adelaide born in Burgundy, France, d/o 94562670. Duke Hugh IV of Burgundy & 94562671. Yolande de Dreux.

2/1/1248, Henri succeed his father.

1248, The Society of English merchants, called the Brotherhood of St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury, obtained privileges from the Duke of Brabant. (S) Annals of Commerce, V1, Macpherson, 1805, P397.

8/1248, Two of Henry’s knights were sent as messengers to King Henry III of England. [Proposing marriage between their children.]

5/1249, Walter de la Hast, knight of Duke Henry, sent again to the court of King Henry III of England.

1249, The disputed territory of Lothier assigned to Henry by Alfonso X of Castile.

1251, King Henry III of England sent Duke Henry a message asking for him to wait until Easter, 1252, to have his marriage proposals addressed.

[––Henry & Adelaide––]

1250, Henri married Adelaide.

1251, Henry III, duke of Brabant, granted Merchenten a constitution similar to that of Louvain. (S) Gild Merchant, Gross, 1890, P269.

1251, Henri asked by the Pope to lead a crusade against Conrad IV of Germany.

1252, Henri supported Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester in England, with troops to suppress rebels in the Bourdeaux region.

7/4/1253, Henry an important ally of his cousin William II, count of Holland and King of Germany, in William’s campaign in Flanders at the battle of Westkapelle against Guy de Dampierre.

1253, Henri promised by the Pope that the Church would never enter into peace with Conrad IV of Germany “who acts as if he were emperor.”

1254, Henry, duke of Brabant, built the convent of the order of the Trinity of the Golden Valley, Orival, near Nivell. (S) Compitum, Digby, 1850, P309.

1256, By a treaty between the city of Hamburg and Henry, duke of Brabant and Lorraine, Hamburg obtained fundry privileges at the city of Antwerp, even though Henry was at war with the Duke of Holstein. (S) Historical and Chronological Deduction of the Origin of Commerce, Anderson, 1787, P220.

1257, Both Alfonso X of Castile and Richard, s/o King Henry II of England, elected as King of the Holy Roman Empire.

10/1257, Duke Henry appointed as imperical vicar to Alfonso X.

1/1258, Maud, wife of Philip Hurepel, natural s/o King Philip II of France, died. Henry, duke of Brabant, got 2 of his aunts to yield to him their claims to Boulogne, where the right of representation did not exist. Henry was still opposed by Robert, count of Auvergne, also a relative. (S) A Short Course of History, Chepmell, 1857, P180.

1260, Robert, count of Auvergne, sold his claim to Boulogne to Duke Henry.

1260-61, Henri ordered any Jews not willing to change to be expelled from Brabant.

2/28/1261, Henri died at Leuven; his son Henry succeeding.

[––Adelaide––]

1261, Adelaide became Regent during his son’s minorities.

[Undated] Adelaide, in need of money, sent a letter to Dominican Priest Thomas Aquinas (d.1274), asking whether she could, in good conscience, put extra taxation on her Jewish subjects, and possibly confiscate their goods. Thomas responded that their possessions came from ursury, so legally she was within her rights, but he also admonished her to not put them a state where they could not take care of themselves. (S) Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906, Belgium.

1266, Adelaide and her son John deposed the oldest son, Henry (b.1251), who was mentally ill. (S) Courting Sancitity, Field, 2019, P103. [Henry sent to an Augustinian priory where he died.]

1267-73, Bedridden Saint Elisabeth of Spalbeek became famous in Brabant as she displayed stimata every Friday. (S) Three Women of Liège, Borwn, 2008.

10/23/1273, Adelaide died; buried in the Dominican church, Louvain, Brussels, with Henry.

(S) Henry III of England and the Staufen Empire, Weiler, 2006.

Family notes:

·         The genealogy of the family was put on the tomb Duke Henry III. (S) Gothic Tombs of Kingship in France, Morganstern, 2000, P51.

·         Henry III was a poet and song writer. Henry’s songs are still preserved in Royal Library of England. The poet Adenes, who wrote Cleomades, was born in Brabant about 1240. Henry III was responsible for his education and chose him as a minstrel [as stated by Adenes himself.] (S) The Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, V7, 1909, P312.

Child of Henri and Adelaide:

i. Marie of Brabant (23640667), born 5/13/1254 in Brabant.