John I, Count of Holland

John I
John I as imagined in the 16th century
Count of Holland
Reign	Count of Holland: 1296–1299
Predecessor	Floris V
Successor	John II
Born	1284
Died	10 November 1299 Haarlem
Spouse	Elizabeth of England
House	House of Holland
Father	Floris V, Count of Holland
Mother	Beatrice of Flanders

Coat of arms of Holland

Holland, penny or 'kopje' with portrait of John I, Count of Holland.

John I (1284 – 10 November 1299) was Count of Holland and son of Count Floris V. John inherited the county in 1296 after the murder of his father.

Shortly after his birth, after negotiations between Floris and King Edward I of England in April 1285, he was betrothed to Elizabeth, a daughter of Edward and Eleanor of Castile. Soon after this the infant John was sent to England to be raised and educated there at Edward's court. In 1296, after the murder of John's father Count Floris V, King Edward invited a number of nobles from Holland with English sympathies, amongst whom were John III, Lord of Renesse, and Wolfert I of Borselen. On 7 January 1297 John married Edward's daughter Elizabeth at Ipswich. Soon after this, he was allowed to return to Holland, although being made to promise to heed the council of Renesse and Borselen. Elizabeth was expected to go to Holland with her husband, but did not wish to go, leaving her husband to go alone. After some delay and spending Christmas 1297 with part of her family in Ghent, Elizabeth did join her husband in Holland in 1298.

At first Renesse acted as regent, but on 30 April 1297, John had appointed Wolfert van Borselen regent in his stead, until his fifteenth birthday. As regent, Wolfert van Borselen, pursued a policy of neutrality towards Flanders and England. He came into conflict with the city of Dordrecht and was killed there by a mob on 30 August 1299. After this Count John II of the house of Avesnes took over the regency, for a few months. Count John I of Holland died at Haarlem in the same year, on 10 November, childless and only fifteen years old, reportedly of dysentery, but there were suspicions he was murdered.

With his death without descendants, and all his siblings having died young, the heirs to the county of Holland were his father's cousins of Hainaut, sons of John's grandaunt Adelaide of Holland. From this time to the extinction of Hainaut as an independent county, Holland was in personal union with Hainaut.

Three years after John's death, his young widow remarried to Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford.

Ancestors

William I, Count of Holland

Floris IV, Count of Holland

Adelaide of Guelders

William II, Count of Holland and King of Germany

Henry I, Duke of Brabant

Matilde of Brabant

Mathilde of Boulogne

Floris V, Count of Holland

William of Winchester, Lord of Lüneburg

Otto I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Helena of Denmark

Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Albert II, Margrave of Brandenburg

Matilda of Brandenburg

Mathilde of Landsberg (Wettin)

John, Count of Holland

Guy II of Dampierre

William II, Lord of Dampierre

Mathilde of Bourbon

Guy, Count of Flanders

Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders, Emperor of Constantinople

Margaret II, Countess of Flanders

Marie of Champagne

Beatrice of Flanders

William II, Lord of Béthune

Robert VII, Lord of Béthune

Mathilda of Dendermonde

Matilda of Béthune

Arnold, Lord of Morialmez

Elisabeth of Morialmez

Jeanne of Bailleul

External links and sources

• Jan I, graaf van Holland (Dutch)
• Count Holland and Frisia, Chapter 2. COUNTS OF HOLLAND (900)-1299

See also

• Counts of Hainaut family tree
• Counts of Holland family tree