Arnold V, Count of Looz
Arnold V (d. August 22, 1328), Count of Looz (1279-1328) and Count of Chiny (as Arnold III) (1299-1328), son of John I, Count of Looz, and Matilda, daughter of William IV, Count of Jülich, and Matilda of Gelderland.
When first appointed count, he joined with Richardis of Guelders (widow of his maternal grandfather William and sister of his grandmother Margaret), Henry V, Count of Luxembourg, and Renaud I, Count of Guelders, to fight Siegfried II of Westerburg, Archbishop of Cologne. The conflict ended with the Peace of Pingsheim in October 1279, but Arnold was taken prisoner and had to pay a ransom to recover his freedom.
He then had to deal with his kinship with Isabella de Conde, widow of his father, in 1281, and gave Warcq, Agimont and Givet to his half-brothers John and Jacques. In turn, they gave up their rights to the County of Looz. This was the condition that the parents of Marguerite, his bethrothed, on one hand, and his step-uncle Nicolas II, Seigneur de Condé-sur-l'Escaut, on the other, would consent to the marriage of Arnold and Marguerite.
In 1288, he commanded a corps of the army of John I, Duke of Brabant, and contributed much to the victory in the famous Battle of Worringen (on the Rhine), which ended the War of Succession of Limburg between John and Renaud I.
In the war of the families of Awans and Waroux, 1297-1335, Arnold was on the side of the Bishops of Liege, Hugh of Chalon and Adolpf II of Waldeck. He was appointed Regent of Liège after the death of Adolf. In 1299, when his uncle Louis V died without an heir, he inherited the County of Chiny.
In 1312, with the death of Bishop Theobald of Bar, he backed Mambourg of Liege, but faced a revolt of the bourgeoisie. The principality was ravaged and he was excommunicated.
He contributed to the famous Peace of Fexhe, signed on June 18, 1316, which established the sharing of power among the crown, the clergy, the nobility and the cities of the principality of Liège. It provided formal and legal recognition of the division of government among all factions of society. Both in Brabant and Liège, he supported the nobility and generally opposed common revolts.
On June 21, 1280, he married Marguerite Vianden, Lady of Perwez and Grimbergen, daughter of Philip I, Count of Vianden, and Marie de Louvain. They had the following children:
- Louis IV, Count of Looz and Chiny.
- John, who died an infant.
- Matilda (d. 1313), married to Godefroy II, Lord of Heinsberg, son of Dietrich, Lord of Heinsberg, and Jeanne de Louvaine. They were the parents of Thierry de Heinsberg, Count of Looz and Chiny, and John of Heinsberg, Lord of Daelenbroeck, who was the father of Godfrey de Heinsberg, Count of Looz and Chiny.
- Guillaume de Looz (d. after Oct 1317), married to Isabella van Gelre, daughter of Reinald I, Count of Gelre, and Marguerite de Flandre.
- Marie (Mary) (d. 1325) married Eberhard II, Count of the Mark, and had issue. She may have also married Gilles of Berthout and Gerard of Diest, Lord of Antwerp.
- Yolande de Looz, married Dietrich Luf von Kleve, Count of Hülchrath.
- Jeanne de Looz (d. after 1335), married first Arnout van Wesemaal, Heer van Bergen op Zoon, and second William of Oreye, Lord of Rumigny. Jeanne and her son Arnold would eventually inherit the manor of Rumigny from her brother Louis. Arnold became the last Count of Looz and Chiny.
- Margaret, married Guillaume de Neufchatel.
He died August 22, 1328, and was buried in the Abbey of Averbode. His son Louis inherited the titles Count of Looz and Count of Chiny after his death.
Sources
Thonissen, JJ., Arnoul V, Académie Royale de Belgique, Biographie Nationale, Vol. 1, Bruxelles, 1866
Laret-Kayser, Arlette, Entre Bar et Luxembourg : Le Comté de Chiny des Origines à 1300, Bruxelles (éditions du Crédit Communal, Collection Histoire, série in-8°, n° 72), 1986
Lefort, Alfred, La Maison Souveraine de Luxembourg, Reims, Imprimerie Lucien Monge, 1902, 262 pg.
Boffa, S., Warfare in Medieval Brabant: 1356-1406. Coll.: "Warfare in History", Boydell Press, Woodbridge, UK, 2004, 289 pg.
Chisholm, Hugh, John I of Brabant and Lorraine. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press, 1911.
Richardson, Dougles, Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2nd edition, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004.
Medieval Lands Project, Upper Lotharingian Nobility, Comtes de Looz